By Jane O'Connor

 

Every sport has its iconic heroes and in many instances, we recognise them by surname alone. Take a Bradman, for instance. For equestrian sports, there was Laurie Morgan - the first Australian to win Olympic Gold on horseback. His son, Warwick, has written a book about his father that is as much a collection of valuable lessons as it is an historical record of a remarkable man.

 

A lot of people like to claim a slice of Laurie Morgan. It seemed that whatever he set his mind to, he emerged with champion after his name. The name first came to prominence on the Australian Rules football field in the 1930s when the country boy from Yea, North of Melbourne, played 24 games as a ruckman for Fitzroy. A career in that heady sports arena would have been enough for most. But, Laurie wasn't 'most'. He also took to boxing, notching up a junior heavyweight boxing champion title and then turned to championship rowing.

 

Pitch forward to the 1960 Rome Olympics and at the age of 42, Laurie Morgan saddled up the horse he had nicknamed 'Sad Sack', but who would go down in history as 'Salad Days' and not only took the individual three day event Gold, but the team Gold with Neale Davis and Bill Roycroft. He was the only Australian dual Gold medal winner at those games. It may have been a surprise to a public not yet imbued with an equestrian Olympic culture, but for his son, Warwick, this was typical of dad. Warwick has captured the rollicking yarn of the life that his father led - and fully included his family in - in his book 'Too Tough To Lose'. An accomplished horseman, equine dentist and riding instructor, Warwick's life was never without horses - they were a part and parcel of daily life. He began riding at the age of five and after years spent managing sheep and cattle properties, moved to Tasmania where he and his wife established a bush riding business. Warwick is an accredited judge and has been a riding instructor for both children and adults for the past 20 years. The Morgans were seen as quintessentially Australian 'blokes' who knew the land and showed the sort of tenacity that took a remote colony into a new era. But, this would also be to belie the fact that Laurie was equally at ease transferring the family to the elite world of top competition in England and rubbing shoulders with royalty.

 

Laurie had his first taste of competing at country shows at the tender age of three, which was followed by hunter classes, point to pointing and pony racing. In 1948 he took to the Polo field and was a sought after player when his team won the1951 Australiasian Gold Cup. Growing up with Laurie was an adventure in itself. It would take Warwick, his mother, Anne, and sister Luise across the gamut of the equine world. From their Thoroughbred stud in NSW to time spent living and competing in the UK, the Olympics and then into a whole new venture breaking wild brumbies and mustering feral cattle in the Northern Territory to establish a cattle station. 

 

Warwick's observation of a lifetime with his family's horses is a treasure trove. There was no sponsored Show Jumping, Eventing or professional riders. The Morgans' horse pursuits were purely amateur in those early days. Warwick says that it was in the late 1940s that jumping events started to wow the public, but it wasn't until 1951 that the FEI Show Jumping we know today was introduced at the Royal Melbourne Show by Englishman, John Shedden.

 

It was at that show that Laurie spotted some trucks pulling up while he was judging a hack class. Out came new jumping fences. But, the ring master didn't have a plan for them and others didn't know what they were for, so Laurie stepped up. He'd read a book by British Jumping expert, Mike Ansell, and started building the course. None of the riders had a clue how to approach them. It led to a considerable stoush. At the time, Laurie wrote: "The first class, there were quite a number of falls, but in the next class - the pair jumping class - sometimes both fell and the crowd roared for more. After three days there were some very sore horses and some crippled riders and this led to an open discussion about Show Jumping. I had to take the chair and it was one of the most frightening things I have done. They were out for blood and they meant to have it and I seemed to be responsible for it all. However, I am alive to tell the tale and FEI jumping has taken off all over Australia." Prior to that jumping events were over hurdles and high jumps.

 

The following year at the Sydney Royal Show, Englishman, Captain Jimmy Pearce, ran a clinic. Warwick says his father had little interest in Dressage and instead suggested Luise ride one of his Polo ponies, Gold Ross, in the clinic. Jimmy Pearce was so impressed he told Laurie the horse could be a good eventer. Laurie had to give it a go and his entry into Eventing began from there. Warwick says that Gold Ross, a chestnut ASB, 16.1HH Thoroughbred, played Polo on a loose rein 'and would turn on a five cent coin'. "The whole family rode him from mustering livestock to chasing kangaroos on our property near Condolbin, NSW," Warwick says. It was typical of Laurie's attitude to horses. They had to be versatile. While Laurie and the family were heavily involved in the show world, he was also breeding race winners - Laurie's horses were winners of the AJC Derby and Golden Slipper. Gold Ross was entered in the riding classes, Novice Dressage and Station Hack at the 1953 Sydney Royal and won places in all three. A short time later he won best Polo pony prize in the NSW Polo Dudley Cup. In 1956, the first chance to field an Olympic team arose, but because of quarantine restrictions, equestrian events would be held in Stockholm rather than Melbourne. Laurie and Gold Ross continued to play Polo and won various one day events during the selection process. But, what Warwick describes as 'some dissent' meant Laurie wasn't selected for that team.

 

"Instead, the family boarded a ship with Gold Ross for a six week trip to England," Warwick says. Laurie ploughed into the top level competitions that he had heard so much about and the message came through that The Queen was particularly impressed by their performances. Back in Australia, Laurie continued his farming and breeding pursuits and came across a scrawny dark horse while he was out with Warwick buying livestock. He paid 50 pounds for him. But, this turned out to be Laurie's ideal horse. He demanded absolute loyalty from his horses and this one would do absolutely anything he asked. Salad Days was on his way to equine glory.

 

But, as Warwick points out, Laurie wasn't one to just dine out on Gold medals. After the Rome Olympics, the family headed back to England and Laurie's interest in steeplechasing saw him win the Aintree Fox Hunter's Cup on Salad Days. The Duke of Beaufort invited him to Badminton. The story goes that Laurie found himself stuck in traffic and in danger of missing the veterinary examination. The horse came out of the float, Laurie saddled him up and rode him for several kilometres over fences, hedges and walls and pulled up in time. They won the three day event from 85 combinations from eight countries.

 

Australia beckoned again and Laurie embarked on a new venture. "He wanted to develop cattle properties in the Northern Territory," Warwick says. Before they left, Laurie gave Salad Days to the Queen. She won the Royal Household Stakes with him. But, for Warwick, it was a case of leaving England's green and pleasant lands to a life, initially under canvas, in the outback. Warwick was 19 and would spend years in the harsh world of stockhorses, days on end of mustering and needing a clear understanding of the environment. Again, Laurie's belief that a horse should be an all-rounder was firmly drummed into him. Even a good Dressage horse, he would say, should be taken out for a ride in the bush and not just confined to an arena. Not only was it good for the horse, Warwick says, but it made the rider far more aware and switched on. "We always did a lot of things with them," he says. A lot included everything from steeplechasing to Show Jumping and Polo as out of hours entertainment and competition. The Morgans ran the Northern Territory property for 25 years.  Laurie Morgan died in 1997 aged 82.

 

 

This article first appeared in a previous edition of Equestrian Life magazine. For more information or to subscribe, visit our home page here.