By Margaret Maccoll
It’s a long journey from Cooran to the showjumping World Cup in Paris but it is where Billy Raymont will be heading in three months after last year winning the Australian League of the World Cup Showjumping series.
For Billy it’s an ultimate goal in a lifetime of riding that began when he was six or seven years old. “My parents had a couple of ponies on our property at Cooroy so there was always something available to ride,” he said.
“As kids my three brothers and I started going to pony club, musters then Gymkhana’s and from there our interest turned more to showjumping so we started going to more jumping events.
“I just really enjoyed doing it and always got a kick out of improving horses through training them.”
Triple Olympian Vicky Roycroft has described Billy as “a genius” for his ability to bring out the very best in the horses that he rides, being able to place horses very exactly in the spot where they are safest for take-off and giving them confidence to go where other riders dare not take their horses.
To Billy it’s an ability that has developed naturally.
“When I was young we were all just farm boys that liked to compete. There was no such thing as going and buying a ready-made horse,” he said.
“Right from our first pony club horses, they were mostly horses my father had picked up and broken in and it was the same for all our friends in the area that were into horses too.
“We didn’t know any different. We just trained them then competed with them so I guess I dealt with lots of different horses over the years slowly developing the skills to get the best out of them.
“I like to think I train my horses but with an attitude to meet them in the middle a little. I think they give their best in a way that is their more natural way.
When training a horse Billy uses a basic set of training methods that begins with training on the flat to get their ride ability established then combining it with free jump training once they’re rideable.
“I’m very lucky in being able to place horses well for take off to a jump as I have a very good eye for distance so I can see the take-off spot from a long way away, therefore I have a long time to make adjustments,” he said.
“However if you train your horse to be very rideable you can make adjustments easily last second if you have to.”
Finding just the right horse for world standard showjumping isn’t easy and is the reason Billy gives for not having returned to Europe since 2004 when at 23 years of age he last won the series but he considers himself lucky to have ridden many great horses.
“Anton was a tricky horse and I have certainly developed a name for working with these kind of horses as somehow I manage to give them great confidence,’ he said.
“The same goes for Oaks Redwood who I am taking to the world cup final in Paris.
“He was having some troubles early last year so I was given the ride and he’s been going amazingly.
“Great horses come in all shapes and sizes but I guess it all depends on their own heart or will to be a good horse, I have had lots of very nice horses during my career including 15 different world cup horses so I have been very lucky as lots of horses don’t make it that far.”
The long term local attended Cooroy Primary School followed by Noosa State High School but there was no question for him which direction his life would take.
“By the time I was 14 I was already taking 5-6 horses to local shows so I was pretty certain by then that I wanted a career with horses and I never really considered anything else,” he said.
Billy’s showjumping career has been dotted with wins. His first big win was in 2005 when he first won the Australian league of the world cup series. It wasn’t until 2013 that he had next major win with the New Zealand National title with Stardom though he claimed plenty of world cup qualifiers in between.
When he’s not competing Billy moves between his own property where he trains showjumping horses and runs a breeding program to raise some of the world’s best showjumping horses and the Sunshine Coast Showjumping Club operated by his brother Jamie and parents, Paul and Sue.
“My role with the sunshine coast showjumping club is mainly to be a role model to other young riders coming through and to offer help to them where I can,” he said.
“I do a lot of teaching when I’m able to with lots of young riders, pony club and inter school as well and quite a few eventing riders.
“It’s nice to help and watch riders improve through my influence.”
2018 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for Billy as he progresses into the world of international competition and taking his own horse to Europe is another hurdle of overcome.
“I’m heading to Hong Kong Masters first on the 9-11 February which is a 5-star invitational competition for the top 30 riders in the world, however, Jamie Kurmond and I have been given a wild card entry which will be great preparation for the world cup final in Paris,” he said.
In an sport where participants can compete for decades the future looks bright for Billy.
