Brett Welsh is more than the accomplished assistant horse master for the australian outback spectacular – he wants to help cure cancer.
Story By Jessica Owers
Beneath Brett Welsh’s stockman’s hat is an innocent, austere-looking face with two brilliant blue eyes. Remarkably, he is still rather pale. The relentless sunlight of the Gold Coast hasn’t given him a leathery, weather-beaten complexion yet, so he looks like porcelain, delicate in expression and rather quiet. “I had a pretty strict timeline with this one,” he says, motioning towards a bay colt tied up against the shed row behind him. “I gained his confidence and I was riding him the day after he got down here. If I’d tried to rough him up or gone about things the wrong way, he would have taken offence to me.” The colt is ‘Warrenbri Hope’, and with a strong white blaze and kind eye, he is the product of Brett’s disposition – subtle, unfussy and intelligent. At 27, Brett is the assistant horse master at the Australian Outback Spectacular presented by R.M.Williams. He has lived in the glittering surrounds of the Gold Coast for nearly four years now and remains one of the founding cast members, auditioning back in 2005 when there was simply an idea and a construction site. His role involves not only the schooling and wellbeing of the show’s horses (there are upwards of 58 involved in the entire production and 37 during each night’s performance), but he is also a lead performer. “My work is probably the best job you could dream of come to life,” he says. “You wake up, you come to work and you get to show off in front of 1000 people every night.”
This story excerpt is from Issue #62
Outback Magazine: Dec/Jan 2009
