Hosting world class competitions on a weekly a basis and home to some of the top eventers of our time, the United Kingdom is one of the best places to be if you want to make it in this sport. Many up and coming riders will make the trip over from Australia for a season or two and base themselves with a top eventer but few choose to stick around and make a go of it on their own. Former Victorian and proud Australian Warren Lamperd is one horseman who made that tough decision over 15 years ago.
“My brother (Murray) and I grew up in Australia on a farm at Ocean Grove in Victoria where my Dad had a riding school. Basically we just used to ride cross country all the time,” Warren recalls. Warren studied Agricultural Science at University and was able to keep riding because his dad kept his horses going for him.
After a tragic night that saw his team of three horses getting out on the road and being killed, Warren was left to start again. He show jumped a stallion that his parents had brought over from Ireland called Brannigan’s Pride before the opportunity arose for him to set off for a season in the UK in 1996.
“At the time I was riding in New Zealand and through that I got the opportunity to go and do a season as a rider for Mark Todd.”
After a year with the now Sir Mark, Warren was offered to return for a second season. He claimed English ancestry and got himself a four year visa. “When I knew I could get the visa I literally went home, worked a few horses for people, sold a few horses and put the money together,” Warren recalls.
“I had a nice young horse at home that I took with me and did that second year with Mark Todd as a sort of rider/ yard manager.” This horse was called Bootlegger and Warren took him to the Young Event Horse Championships in Le Lion d'Angers in 1997. “I was more interested in going somewhere like France and seeing something different. I’d heard about it and it was just brilliant, you know it was like nothing you’d ever see in Australia.”
There's still always time to catch up with Toddy at events
After finishing up with the Todds that year, Warren set out to survive in the UK on his own. Bootlegger moved up the grades, competing in 2* classes across the UK before they headed off for a 3* in Germany in 1998. “It coincided with Munich Beer Fest so we got trucked into that one night,” Warren recalls. The expat remembers feeling like an Australian on tour and just happening to have his horse with him.
Bootlegger made it to Burghley where the pair finished in the top 10. However afterwards he tweaked a leg and never had the opportunity to make it back to top level competition. Bootlegger ingested a type of fungus and, after surgery was ruled out as being too dangerous, he was unfortunately put down.
“I think that the hardest thing is trying to find stability, I think there’s plenty of guys here riding and there’s plenty of competition for the same rides,” Warren says. It is incredibly difficult to make it in any sport and eventing is no different.
Warren and Silvia in the CCI3* at Blenheim 2013
“Before we went to Germany I was driving tractors all night ploughing.” Rather than trying to fund his riding through work in the equestrian trade, Warren turned to other industries.
“One of the best things I came up with was a Class 1 driving license and I then started driving trucks, agency work, milk tankers, all sorts of stuff that actually paid me quite decent money.”
“I met my wife Susannah through some mutual friends; she had a Grand Prix dressage horse that had hurt itself. It was at a friend’s spa rehabilitation place near where I was; one thing led to another and we moved back down to where she was from near Newbury.”
White Hart Stables provides the perfect location for Warren and Susannah
After getting married the pair rebuilt the yard that Susannah had ridden at as a child. “We’ve got eight boxes, built a new school and basically started from scratch.” Warren was introduced to Steve Lamb and as a result gained a supply of decent horses from Europe. “We bought three year old, four year old horses, all Warmbloods.”
“I started teaching to build up that side of the business and kept driving trucks.” Warren has also furthered his own qualifications. “From a business perspective I have gone on and done what they call here a UKCC.” This was a scheme put together alongside the 2012 Olympics which focused on generic aspects of coaching as well as branching into discipline specific material.
The process involved eight days of onsite training and this got Warren thinking about where he could go from there. “It’s really interesting; it’s certainly changed the way I think about coaching and also my own riding.” The qualification is also recognised outside of the equestrian world.
“I think that a lot of other qualifications that exist are sport specific and you can’t really take those outside of your environment unless someone specifically understands it. Off the back of that I’ve nearly finished a Masters in Coaching Science and those sorts of things have opened up lots of opportunities.”
Warren has some very clear beliefs about his own riding and competition and he tries to take these into his coaching. “You’re training riders all the time to be very aware of why they’re coming to an event,” he says. “You see people sort of turn up and then get caught up in the competition and become extra competitive and they end up really disappointed because they haven’t won when they were never here to win in the first place.”
“Whereas if you know what you’re here for then you know whether you’ve had a good weekend or not.” You need to keep it in perspective he suggests. “There are probably half a dozen horses that are really in with a shout of winning and the others are all at various different stages.”
For now Warren has a small team of horses and he hopes to continue to develop his business and work towards doing some international coaching.
Warren and CatWalk II in the KBIS British Eventing Young Horse Championship at Osberton
“The horses that we have got are just quietly coming through,” he says. “We own our own team of horses and we’re not subject to owners.” Warren and Susannah are situated in a great location with most of the major competitions being within two and half hours and it is just a short boat trip to Europe.
“I love winning but it is the result of being a good technician rather than good luck and that’s what I aspire to,” Warren believes. “You’re just learning all the time and I love it, I really, really love it.”
There is no telling what the future will hold but there is no doubt that Warren has some promising horses and the right attitude to continue to make his stamp on not just the equestrian world but within sport in general. “I think that if you can enjoy the experience then everything else will come of it.”
Article by Emily Penney. Some photos thanks to White Hart Stables
