Tribute to a Champion 'Snowy River Ginger Meggs'

As seen in the June 2017 edition of Horse Deals Magazine

Can you think of a performance pony? I was asked and without hesitation the first name that came to mind was Snowy River Ginger Meggs. The 14.1¾hh pony jumper has left such a favourable impression, especially when ridden by Emma Smith and Monique Barrett, that I could think of no better pony for a tribute in this Performance Pony feature edition. A tribute feature does not have to mean the subject is now grazing in the green fields of heaven, as at the time of writing, Ginger is enjoying a quiet semi retirement, but as always he continues to teach young riders. Like all horses and ponies, their success has everything to do with their handling and management and Ginger was lucky all along the way, beginning with good horsemen like the late John Canning and the late Geoff Smith. This story could well be a tribute to them, but this is Ginger’s tribute.

Albury/Wodonga jumping rider, Tull Canning begins; “dairy farmer, Ian Gibson from Dederang (between Albury and Mt Beauty) bred Ginger and he was foaled in 1989. Ian principally breeds Australian Stock Horses, but Ginger is by the ASH stallion Quidong Tobruk out of the Welsh Pony mare, Strawberry Fields. I don’t know what was behind that breeding, but my father, John Canning knew Ian and when at ten years old I was growing out of my pony, we went and looked at a pony Ian had for sale. We saw this two year old unbroken roan pony standing in about six inches of mud at the dairy and that was Ginger. We bought him for $400 and dad broke him in and he actually tipped dad off and broke his ribs and about two weeks later I was thrown on him. He was pretty quick. For obvious reasons, we called him Ginger Meggs right from the start.

“I had grown out of my pony, Jingle Bob and we dropped him off at Geoff and Sue Smith’s for Emma to ride. I had been riding Ginger for a couple of years by then and dad showed Geoff a photo of Ginger and Geoff asked to have first option on him if we decided to sell him, as I was always going to grow out of him. Ginger was leading showjumper at Wangaratta Show with me against all the Open horses and in his first six bar he jumped 1.50m and he would have only been six years old. He won everything around here; he was always a good pony. At the time I had two very good ponies and just assumed that all ponies and horses were as good. I have since learned that is not the case and Ginger was just a freak. I still have jumping horses and I would love to have one like him that is 16.2hh. (Wouldn’t we all!)”

Professional jumping rider, Emma Smith takes up the story. “Dad commented when we picked up Jingle Bob that we were taking the wrong pony. John Canning said they were not ready to sell Ginger and they would let us know. That was in May and we got a call in November. The Cannings were at Wodonga show and Jeff Bloomfield was keen to buy Ginger. We had first offer, so we bought him without actually seeing him in the flesh and drove over the mountain to collect him. Ginger was seven and I was eight years old. When we went to register him with EA, we couldn’t have Ginger Meggs. I had Snowy River Nutmeg at the time, so we asked Lofty Chester if we could use the Snowy River prefix. As it has turned out Ginger has been pretty good advertising for Snowy River.

“I started out in the 60cm and 80cm classes and we didn’t expect him to become what he did; he just kept jumping a bit bigger, a bit bigger and a bit bigger. I remember the Bega World Cup Show in 1999/2000, I had to wait until New Year’s Day, the year that I turned 12 to compete in official Junior classes. We won two at that show. I did the North Queensland run with dad when I was about 14 and we did 22 shows and Ginger won 47 classes. I remember at Mt Isa Show one year he was first in the Junior Puissance and jumped a triple bar that was just over 1.50m by 1.70m and an almost 1.60m wall. Ginger was also Champion Galloway hack at Mt Isa that year. I never got to compete in Juniors at Sydney which is still a disappointment. We sold him in February/March of the last year I was eligible for Juniors at Sydney. I never got to have a Sydney, but Monie (Barrett) sure did.”

“Dad and I always had an eye on Ginger, we loved him as everyone else did and we had some great years,” says now jumping professional, Monique Barrett. “We bought him in 2004; I was eleven and he was the next step up from small ponies to needing a Junior horse. We suggested buying him to my coach, George Sanna and he thought it a good idea. We tried him out at Chatham Park and it went well. The first 12 months were a bit handicapped because he developed an infection in a tooth and it had to go to surgery which turned out to be quite a big facial surgery, which took him quite a while to recover. Then it took me a while to get used to him too, as he was such a jumper. In 2005 I jumped in my first Junior on him at Camden Show and we won it. That was the beginning of everything and after that we really clicked, and off we went.

“Sydney Royal came around in 2007 when I was old enough to compete. George, dad and I were a little worried because we did not know his limit and we thought the Sydney Juniors would be pretty big. But we thought we would give it a go and Ginger certainly rose to the occasion. That year, he placed in every class and we won the Junior Grand Prix and I won the Helen Rose Memorial Trophy for Most Successful Girl Rider in the Junior Competition. In 2008 we had a great year again, winning the Grand Prix and the Helen Rose Trophy. In 2009, Olivia Hamood just pipped me by one point for the Helen Rose and I had to settle for Runner Up.

Out of 12 starts at Sydney over the three years, Ginger had ten placings including five wins. I especially remember the 2008 Grand Prix. The jump off was just before the lunch break, so there were a lot of people there. Ginger thrives on a pressure situation and he had his little ears pricked and almost touching, as they always are when he jumps. We took some very tight turns then galloped the last, a big oxer and I could hear the crowd cheering; it was amazing. It was just the best feeling and I have never since had that feeling in a jump off. Due to the Equine Influenza outbreak, they held the 2007 National Championships at SIEC at the beginning of 2008. We won the Australian Junior title there ahead of Tom McDermott and we were also members of the winning NSW Team. The 2008 Championships were held at Canberra in November and I was Runner Up to Tom. Ginger placed or won in every major Junior Event in NSW at one point when I rode him; the Copabella Classic, the NSW State Titles, the Youth Showjumping Festival and Jumping in the Orchard etc.

“Ginger was allergic to wood; he was unbelievable. But you had to give him a good ride and if you did you knew he would never have a rail. But he did not want to attempt anything he thought he would have down, so if you gave him a bad ride, you knew about it, and quickly. I am so lucky I had Ginger when I did, as it really gave me a passion for the sport. The feeling of being competitive in the ring with a horse like that is what you strive for your whole life. Getting that connection where you know he wants to go as much as you. I ride professionally now and work for Oaks Sporthorses. I have ridden and tried a lot of horses here and overseas. You look for scope and talent of course, but attitude is the bottom line and Ginger really set the bar high for attitude. If you have a horse that really wants to jump as he did, then you know the rest will come.

“At the end of 2009 as I was heading in to Young Rider competition, we thought as Ginger was getting on a bit that he should be retired from that top level of Junior competition. However, he was certainly not ready to stop completely, so we passed him on to Junior rider, Valentina Aliprandi to ride and learn from for a couple of years and she gained some good experience on him. More recently Emma Handley, a girl from the Oaks Sporthorses Riding School had the loan of him for about 12 months and jumped him around 80cm courses. Ginger is now in semi retirement at my dad’s property at Castelreagh. He has never had an unsound day in his life and we did not want to just stop, so now my two seven year old twin half siblings, Nick and Nalini are riding him. They love him and he gives them great confidence. Ginger loves attention and semi retirement really suits him, as he has just enough work to keep him ticking along at 27. Ginger was the nicest horse to have around and quite sensitive and I knew if I let him do his job, he would always come out on top.”

Written by Anna Sharpley

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