EA COACH OF THE MONTH Clem Smith

(February 2022)

COACH OF THE MONTH is a regular Education series on our EA website. It is a way of highlighting the EA coaches and educators who work with dedication and passion all over Australia.

Clem Smith is an EA Level 1 General Coach, based in Lanesfield, Queensland.

"I started riding at a very early age. As a toddler, I used to go mustering with Mum & Dad on our family's cattle property in Central Queensland.

Everyone in the family rode, it was part of life. My parents were certainly my role models, both being extremely capable horse people.  I started competitions in Pony Club and Camp Drafting, then Show Jumping became my focus.

Nowadays, we run a horse & cattle property called ‘Orange Grove’ in Lanefield Southeast Queensland, where we do breaking in and training, as well as campaigning our Show Jumping Team. My wife Sharlene used to compete, now she manages the stables, bookings and show entries. Jessie, our daughter, is also a keen show jumping competitor.

We have a lovely string of competition horses, from homebred youngstock starting their careers this season, to Grand Prix horses. One of these is ‘Quantico 12’, who is one of the most competitive horses I have ever ridden; he notched up 18 wins last season.

I am very excited about my up-and-coming Grand Prix horse, ‘Oaks Conjuror’. He is still green at the top level, but shows lots of scope and talent.

Clem Smith and 'Oaks Conjuror' at the Summer Classic 21 - Photo credit Oz Shots

Recently, I competed at the 2022 Australian Show Jumping Championships where, as a member of the Queensland State Senior Team, we convincingly won the National Teams Title. I am looking forward to a big year of competitions, including World Cup Qualifiers, Australian Jumping Teams League and the 2022 Australian Titles.

My coaching sees me teaching at home and throughout Australia and New Zealand most spare weekends that are not filled by competing. Coaching is a very rewarding job, it gives me the opportunity to share the knowledge I have gained over my many years in competition and training horses. It’s great to be able to help riders progress to reach their goals.

Show Jumping is a fair, but tough sport. Keeping both rider and horse confident and happy is the key. Seeing happy horses and riders at the end of a lesson is always the best part of coaching.

Both Sharlene & I have run the Show Jumping ring at the Annual Gatton Show for the last 15 years. We like being able to give back to our sport.

I have been extremely lucky over the years to have ridden some truly wonderful horses that have given me success and joy. In the future, I want to continue to coach and also endeavour to keep jumping competitively at the highest level of Show Jumping."  Clem Smith