THE TEGAN TOUCH - I'M HAPPY TO BE ENJOYING SOME SUCCESS BUT I'M NOT TAKING ANYTHING FOR GRANTED

By Tegan Harrison | Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Tegan Harrison has joined the HRO stable. A little known fact is that last season Tegan rode more winners than any other apprentice in Australia which means the city success she is currently enjoying has been built on a solid foundation of hard work spurred on by a strong level of ‘dedication and desire’, two factors that fellow HRO blogger and Premiership leader Michael Cahill labels as being essential ingredients behind any success story. ‘The Tegan Touch’, the personal blog of this exciting young rider will appear every Wednesday exclusively on HRO.

As far as my background is concerned, I absolutely never had any inclination to get involved in the racing game.

My mom was a jockey and when I was about fifteen they tried to push me in the direction of becoming a jockey. I was into show horses then and I simply had no interest in racing.

I said I didn’t want to be a jockey.

I kept show-riding for a few years. Then I was going to Uni. I needed money. I started riding track-work … and I thought, you know, this jockey thing looks alright.

So, I thought I’d give it a go. I thought I’d got to have a go while I’m young.

I guess you can say I’ve always had a passion for horses. Until that time though, I was fully into showing and not racing. Now I’ve got the gist of the racing game I know why they say that ‘once you are in it, you can’t get out of it’. You just love it!

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Not that it is an easy road. You get tested all the time as a rider on so many different levels.

Every time you have to take the next step it is quite daunting.

After my first couple of meetings in town for example … I think Bruce (Hill) has kept the message I sent … I said I wanted to go back to the Gold Coast. That was my comfort zone at the time. I’d left the Gold Coast to ride in town and I wanted to go back … but Bruce just said, ‘well too bad, you’re staying in town.’

Before that there was a bit of give and take between Bruce and me. I didn’t want to go to town until I was ready and he was sort of giving me the cue when he thought it was time for me to step up. Then, when I went to town, he made me stick it out … and it has all worked out well now.

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Town was a tough transition though. At the Gold Coast I knew the riders around me and their way of riding. They were good riders but when I went to town where suddenly I was up against all the really classy riders in the state.

They think quicker than you and there’s a lot of hard work involved in trying to get up to their level so that you can actually compete against them.

I only went to town for the first time towards the end of last season. I wasn’t going earlier because I was trying to win the Gold Coast Apprentice Premiership so I probably started riding in town on Wednesdays about a month before the new season started. Then I started in town on Saturdays after I’d finished the season on the Gold Coast.

In spite of my misgivings, it was probably the right time to make the move. I was coming off the back of a season in which I’d won the Apprentice Premierships at the Gold Coast, The Sunshine Coast and Ipswich and also for Provincial Queensland.

I also couldn’t believe it when I was told that I’d ridden the most winners for the season of any apprentice in the country. I thought somebody was trying to be funny, but then I got sent a copy of the stats which showed that Peter Moody had trained the most winners, one of the big gun riders had the most winners and I’d ridden the most winners as an apprentice.

I was pretty proud of that. There are some outstanding apprentices around and I got a bit of a thrill out of that. I thought that was pretty cool.

So, yeah, I couldn’t argue with the fact that I had a very good springboard into town.

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You can never get carried away with any of that though.

I remember what it was like starting out. I don’t think I was a natural at any of this.

I was good as a show rider where I was teaching other riders and showing them how to ride and then I came to racing and suddenly I’m the one that needs to be taught.

That, in itself, was a bit hard to take. It was something that felt horrible because I knew so much about horses, but nothing about racing … and to ride them in track-work even was a challenge.

I didn’t know what to do … when to do … what not to do. It was real challenge for me.

You sort of go back to being a beginner and that’s quite hard to accept mentally at that stage. You are back at the bottom again and you have got to try and learn it all over.

While I had to make that mental adjustment, from the day I decided to do it, I decided to learn. I wasn’t coming into it half-hearted. I was full steam ahead from the start.

When I said I was going to give it a go, I wasn’t waiting for something to go my way. I was always giving it a full go. I wasn’t going to waste my time.

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I was learning all the way, but I didn’t learn fast.

In fact, things started off pretty ordinary. I had to go all the way to Mt Isa to get a kick-along. I remember at that stage Ben (Hull) said to me, if you don’t ride a winner soon you might as well give it away.

I said, I don’t care about that. I’m not giving it away!

Since I’ve come into racing, whether I’m having a good time with some success or whether I’ve been at the bottom of the barrel … I still enjoy it. It really didn’t cross my mind when things were tough to give it away. I’m pleased I didn’t.

In fairness to Ben, I was a slow learner. I was looking like I was never going to get it. Thanks why I have to give a big thanks to Ben and Lennie Maund, who stuck by me early when I was going no good.

I wanted to learn and I was asking questions and I was annoying them … and they were getting frustrated with me … but, in the end, they did help me achieve what I have achieved.

As far things like using the stick, Ben was forcing me to practice. He was making sure I practiced hard. Lennie was the same. When he took on his job, I feel like my riding improved.

Look, there are a lot of others who have helped me. I have taken good advice from so many people along the way, but Ben and Lennie were there for me early when I needed help the most.

There are a lot of people who offer help to me now that I’m up and going … don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate their input … but the point I’m making is that, back then, when I looked like I was going nowhere, Ben and Lennie really helped carry me through.

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I like to try to do the same for somebody else. Sometimes there is an apprentice who is not getting a kick-along and maybe, like I was, not picking it up so quick … and I try to encourage them as much as I can myself because I know the only way you get anywhere in this game is to keep working at it.

I know I’ve made up a lot of ground this season already and various people are pointing out the success I’m having, but they either don’t realise or have forgotten that it hasn’t been like this the whole way through for me.

I did start off doing it tough. That hardship I think helps keep me grounded and the best thing about it is that I will never take success for granted.

It didn’t come easy … and it is not going to be easy to keep it going.

Next week is a whole new week.

Till then,

Tegan

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