Barty Deane: A Master Horseman

Barty Deane: A Master Horseman

Barty Deane,  a grazier from Longreach in Western Queensland, first started training his horse Fiddlesticks to jump from books, following the methods of Count Toptani and then in Dressage following two books by Henry Wynmalen, ‘Equitation’ and then ‘Dressage’. In 1958 he travelled over 2000 km from Longreach to Sydney over some of the roughest roads in Western Qld and NSW (most were not sealed then) to compete in his first three day event at the Sydney Royal Show. Having only previously competed in hunting classes in Western Queensland this was a huge jump up in competition and he gave the officials the shock of their lives. He rode a near faultless dressage test on the first day. On the second day he lost points in the Cross Country just through inexperience in riding the times and then jumped a faultless show jumping round. When asked where he learnt his dressage technique officials were amazed when he said ‘from a book’.

Barty joined the Equestrian Federation of Australia NSW branch as a life member in 1958 before there was any branch in Queensland. When there was a branch formed in Queensland he then joined.

He was selected for the 3 day event training squad for the 1960 Rome Olympics where Australia won gold, but was unable to be selected as it was simply too far for him to travel as well as his commitments as a grazier, for him to be able to attend all of the training sessions required. He continued competing on Fiddlesticks, at the Sydney Royal Show in 3 day eventing, showjumping and dressage until 1967. In 1959, he also travelled all the way to Melbourne to compete in the Melbourne 3 day event only for it to pour with rain and the cross country course was a metre under water.

He was again selected in the training squad for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics but again could not attend all of the training sessions. When he was asked to join the squad for the 1968 Olympics he declined as he felt that Fiddlesticks was too old to continue competing.

Over the period from 1958 to 1967 Fiddlesticks only competed at the Sydney Royal Show in March/April and the Longreach Show in May, once in Melbourne and once or twice in Brisbane. He won numerous events and was Champion Show Jumper at the Longreach Show many times.

When Fiddlesticks retired Barty started training another young horse Firesticks who competed up to Grand Prix level dressage in both Sydney and Brisbane, once making the long trek to Adelaide to compete in the very first Australian Dressage Championships. Firesticks won events at all levels and was Champion Hack at the Longreach Show for 7 consecutive years.

Barty was tireless in his support for Equestrian Sports in Western Queensland starting the Longreach Pony Club and being Chief Instructor for many years. He started the Central Western Queensland Equestrian Club and also the Longreach Polocross Club. He was a member of the executive of these and the Longreach Show Society for many years. He was also a member of the Queensland Pony Club Chief Instructors Panel for many years. Barty was instrumental in starting Show Jumping at the Longreach Show and built all of the jumps for the Show Society and also the Jump Shed where they were stored, as well as many of the horse stalls that are still used at the Longreach Showground.