Sport
1 August, 2024
Brymaroo boy wins silver
Brymaroo Pony Club’s Chris Burton has claimed an Olympic silver medal with horse Shadow Man in the individual eventing competition at the Chateau of Versailles. Here’s an exclusive look at his life in equestrian competition.
Raised on the family farm “Box Ridge” at Brymaroo, and educated at Kulpi, Oakey and Toowoomba, Chris’ talents, and those of his brother Karl, were part of the reason mother Ruth helped co-found the Brymaroo Pony Club.
It was here on the Downs that he begun his riding career “on a naughty pony called Clancy” as he describes it, which he received for his 3rd birthday.
When he was 6, Chris was given a pony called Spice which was to really kick-start his career.
“Both our boys had a strong desire to want to ride,” mother Ruth Burton, who is still an instructor at Brymaroo, says.
While his older brother, Karl, now a professional campdrafting and cutting rider at Cooranga near Bell, was out helping muster cattle, Chris was busy building jumps using bricks and broomsticks for Spice to jump.
Chris showed talent at an early age, winning multiple Darling Downs events and moving on to State Zone Events.
In 1994 Chris did his first Equestrian Federation of Australia event on a horse called Just Joshin.
Shortly after Chris started riding his first real super star, Deo Juvante.
‘Deo’ and Chris rose through the ranks to a 5-star level.
After school, Chris returned home at “Box Ridge” for a little while, before moving south to work as a groomer for a professional rider.
It wasn’t long before his drive to succeed saw him open his own business in the Hawkesbury district of NSW, an area with a proud equestrian history.
Following several years of winning on the local circuit, Chris began to turn his focus on the Olympics.
Ruth Burton said there are several key aspects to her sons’ success.
“I tell all my students that my boys had to learn how to lose as well as win,” she said.
Another important aspect is the relationship between a rider and their horse.
“The Horse-Rider rapport is one of the most important aspects of the sport and Chris was very fast to pick it up,” Ruth said.
In 2011, Chris moved to the United Kingdom ahead of the London Olympics, which would be his first Games.
Ruth said a key element of his success in the Olympics has been wife Rebekah, a fellow rider from New South Wales who hit it off with Chris while he was on a return trip to Australia.
“She was a one-start rider and had heard of Christopher and wanted to meet him,” Ruth says.
“He came out from England and she made a cake for him.
“It’s quite a lovely story, actually.”
While Chris is out competing Rebekah runs the family business, Burton Equestrian in Dorset, England, where they live with their two sons, aged 7, and 5.
He trains at the Chedington Equestrian facility in the south-western English county
Chris plans to compete as long as he is fit and able and will return to Australia next year, when he and Rebekah expect to settle in Goulburn, NSW, where she hails from.
In an interview with the Nine Network, Chris revealed he had taken out a large loan to pay for 14-years-old gelding Shadow Man, who was purchased from British rider Ben Hobday, and owned by Steve Hobday and Jane Chambers.
Ben Hobday conceded in March that it was tough letting Shadow Man go, but that he wanted the horse to have an opportunity to shine on the sport’s biggest stage, which it now has.
After his selection in the Australian team this month, Chris thanked his supporters, the Guy family in Dorset.
“We knew from the beginning he was an incredible horse, and he was the starting point for this whole journey in the first place,” Chris said before the Games.
“I knew that if I could bring him into the team, we’d have a real shot at Paris, and I’ll always be in awe of his ability.
“However, neither of us could have reached this goal without the tireless efforts of my family and our whole team, both home and abroad, as well as our incredible supporters in the Guy family at Chedington Equestrian.”
The result is Chris’s second Olympic medal following a bronze at the Rio Olympics in the team eventing with Australia on Santano II.
Chris was also close to a gold medal in this event.
On Monday night, two-time, now-three time champion in the event Germany’s Michael Jung finished with a score of 21.8, narrowly ahead of Chris on 22.4.
Australia has had two previous winners in individual eventing - Matthew Ryan in Barcelona in Kibah Tic Toc and Lawrence Morgan in 1960 on Salad Days.
