Gail Ritchie: A Pioneering Female in Cutting Horse Industry

It is difficult to corral Gail Ritchie. As, where do you put the rider, trainer, breeder, developer, administrator, promoter, organiser, speaker, consultant, leader and author? ('A Good Hand' - The story of her father, horseman, Gregory Lougher)

“I didn’t need to go to university to develop my skills,” explains Gail, “I had on-the-job training, which is the best of all. It was a boom or bust situation; if we didn’t do it, we would bust, so you get in, and you do it, and you make the best of it.” Gail was brought up with a sense of duty and, if our interview is anything to go by, a sense of fun. At the time of writing, she is the only woman to have won the NCHA (National Cutting Horse Association) Open Futurity, and she has won it twice. Gail’s riding talent earned her a Royal Command Performance in front of the late HRH Queen Elizabeth in 1977. She was a girl who rode horses, but that is by no means the full story.

Gail’s father, Gregory Lougher, was a horseman’s horseman. After visiting Australia as a GI during WWII, Lougher decided to move his family and 31 horses to Australia. He and his daughters Gail and Lori (MacKay) introduced the working Quarter Horse to Australia, and Lougher was the first person to be inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame.

“I went in my first cutting event when I was six years old, riding a 15.2hh gelding,” begins Gail. “When I was very young, dad was sent a pony that had been mistreated by children and, as a consequence, was attacking them. Whenever he saw any children, he would chase them. He was perfectly fine with Dad, but when a little person came along, he would attack them. So, I was the guinea pig and had to go out with a broom! I was only bitten twice. We were inducted into the family business early on.

“I was fifteen when we left California, and I had mixed feelings. It was an exciting prospect going to a new country, but then we were leaving family and friends behind. The culture shock of arriving in a new country was a bit yes and no. Both countries were English-speaking (with the occasional challenge on both sides); it was not as if we had to learn a foreign language. Arriving in Sydney did not pose a culture shock, as it was a busy city, and cities are much like one another worldwide. But when we moved to Murrurundi, NSW, it was certainly different there. The countryside was different, and there were no supermarkets; it was a totally different way of shopping. It was a different culture, different ways, even building fences was different. Mum felt it worse. The first thing she wanted when she went shopping was coffee for our percolator, and she wanted a particular brand. All they had was an international roast. The milk wasn’t homogenised, and the bread was different. There was not even much fresh fruit, and the lack of refrigeration caused her some stress. I think initially, the move was much tougher for her than for Lori and I, who were much more flexible. Mum left behind a beautiful home, a lovely life and a lot of good friends. Mum was a horsewoman and had ridden lovely, quiet pleasure horses, but what you have to understand is that Dad had no fear of horses or anything. As a breaker and trainer, Dad put her on horses that weren’t so quiet, so she didn’t ride as much.

“It was all an adventure for Lori and I, but when we arrived, it was full on. There wasn’t a day we didn’t have visitors at Clover Leaf. We had to show the horses off, talk about Quarter Horses, take the stallions out, etc. Building the facilities, looking after the breeding horses and mares foaling, there was always so much to do.

“We didn’t think we had anything to prove. Dad was a total horseman; he just thought he was bringing something interesting to Australia. He thought the Quarter Horses would be a very good cross over the Stock Horses; give them a more trainable brain and a little more cow. He wasn’t trying to say our horses were better; he loved all horses, but we just came out showing what we did. What Dad brought to Australia was horsemanship and horses he liked to ride. He trained every breed of horse, dressage horses, jumpers, and hunters; he could drive them; he could do everything with a horse. He wasn’t trying to say the Quarter Horse was the best of all breeds; although other people did; Dad never said that. He just said these are the horses I’ve bred; this is the type of horse I like, and this is what they can do. Initially, it did not go down well, as we were booed, heckled, and called names; people were standoffish and not very accepting.

“But when we were invited to Sydney Royal to do demonstrations in 1968, there were people from all over Australia that were perhaps a little more open-minded and admired the horsemanship, and the horses, and what we were doing with them, and that started the Quarter Horse Industry going. There had been Quarter Horses in the country for some time, but they had not been shown. People were so impressed with what we did and our horses; it was amazing.

“I never had a choice other than to work in the family firm. I had a lot of different interests and things I wanted to do, but when we got here, it was Dad and Lori and I, and we didn’t have a choice. When we got home from school, we worked horses; that’s what we did. As young girls, there was quite a bit of pressure put on us not to get it wrong. It wasn’t fun because we knew we had a job to do, and Dad was a strict taskmaster. He never blamed us for anything, but we knew we had to get it right, and we did. And for us girls, it was hard to make friends because of the media attention; we were considered in some way unapproachable. For me, it was more challenging and frightening
than exciting.

“I wanted to show, but there weren’t many events for ridden Quarter Horses in those days, so I rode hacks and jumped a little and did a bit of dressage and that sort of thing. The late Bud Hyem and her husband Bill were good friends and very influential; Jill Cobcroft was influential, and (dressage legend) Judy McKay used to come down to Clover Leaf all the time.

We also saw a lot of polo greats including Sinclair Hill, so we were exposed to all of the horse world. A lot of people came to Dad for lessons, and they admired him as a horseman. Even the famous jockey George Moore sent a horse to be bred.
“Gradually, the Quarter Horse competition grew, and all the while, we were doing exhibitions with our horses, and we showed in the AQHA events. Dad sustained quite a severe brain injury, and Blyth Ritchie and I took over running the stud, and then Blyth and I married and moved to Woolnorth in North West Tasmania. I took some of the young horses and trained them there; we had 50,000 acres and 6,000 head of cattle to work. When we moved to Tasmania, Lori took over running the stud, but Blyth and I still had a major interest in it. I took Clover Kamili with me, and I trained and won the 1974 Futurity with her. We were equal first with Paul Luckie and Garswood Red Flash. Another horse I took was Clover Ned Kelly, who was an exceptional horse. We would travel back and forth from Tasmania, and in 1975, at the Equestrian Expo in Adelaide, I did a cow-horse demonstration with him for HRH Princess Anne and her then-husband, Captain Mark Phillips. It must have impressed Anne, as when the Queen came to Adelaide in 1977, she requested to see the same demonstration, so we went to Adelaide and put on a demonstration, and my husband commissioned a painting of me and Ned Kelly to commemorate the event. I won the Futurity again on Clover Honky Tonk in 1983 and am the only person to have won the Open and Non-Pro Futurity on the same horse.

“We were travelling back and forth from Tasmania and eventually returned to the Mainland in 1975. We sold the Murrurundi property, and we all moved down to Holbrook and worked there. I had two boys, Brett and Rafe, by that time, and that took a few years of competition out of me and I lost the need to compete, but I did when I had to, but I always enjoyed the breeding and the training.

“We decided to disperse the stud, just keeping the horses we wanted. The Holbrook property was sold, and we moved north to a place called Kooralbyn in Queensland for a few years, where I showed a few horses. It was still all the horses all the time, but I had my two boys and was very involved with them. We moved back to Tamworth and became interested in the running of the NCHA, which Dad helped establish. Blyth became General Manager and I was on the NCHA board and eventually became President. After that, I took over as General Manager, so literally, I have done everything you can do in Cutting. We put on schools with Buster Welch, Lindy Burch, Kathy Daughn, Leon Hurrel, and so many of the greats. We put on judge’s clinics and schools all over Australia. Blyth and I did everything we could possibly do in the organisation and promotion of the NCHA.

“Along with others, I was instrumental in the organisation and building of AELEC (Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre) in Tamworth. I was General Manager of the NCHA at the time, and it was obvious we had outgrown the Showgrounds. I was the one being interviewed all the time about the proposed new facility. I left the NCHA and went and worked for the Tamworth Council during the AELEC building process. It is a wonderful facility, and I worked with the Council on that project for five years. It enabled me to be involved with the nitty gritty planning of it. Certainly, there were many on the AELEC building committee, but I was the one they turned to for little things and worked directly with the council to make sure our plans came to fruition. The Council had an extremely progressive General Manager in Glen Inglis, and he was instrumental in the building of AELEC and keeping the Council involved with the project. During the process, we met with the Premier of NSW and I went and worked directly with Tourism NSW, so it was a growth period for me as well.

“I worked at AELEC for four years after its construction, and it was obvious how much money it was bringing into the local community. I left AELEC because I had done my bit, and I then worked in the Tourism Department of the Council. I am now semi-retired and do consultancy work for some studs. Before we moved back to Tamworth, Blyth and I ran Yulgilbar Station for five years, and I still do some work for Yulgilbar Quarter Horses. I was involved with the NCHA 50th Anniversary Futurity (AELEC 26th May-9th June 2024), and I love to watch the Futurity horses. We love to see the new ones coming through, so I like to at least see the first couple of go-rounds. The sport of Cutting allows the horse to reach its own level of balance, which makes it more spectacular to watch.

“Both my sons are continuing the Clover Leaf breeding programme, and we are now on eight generations of our bloodlines. I don’t ride anymore, as when you were good at something, and you know you are no longer as good, and no, I don’t want to feel like a puddin’ on a horse, but I’m as involved with the horses as I want to be.”

Article: Anna Sharpley.

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