By BEN CAMERON
CATANI’S Suzanne Lee has been “animal mad” for as long as she can remember.
But right now she’s simply mad keen on a new plan she hopes will strengthen equine sports in the area, and create some tourist appeal in the process.
It’s a business plan to put “more bums in saddles”.
Going under the working title of “Kiltie Park”- named after her “beloved pony buried out the front”- her vision of an all weather equestrian and agricultural centre at her 90-acre property just needs some serious investment and support.
To fully grasp Mrs Lee’s incredible passion for the project you need to go back more than 30 years to Ayrshire, Scotland, when she was on the cusp of her teenage years and an appreciation of animals bordering on obsession.
“I was animal mad,” she laughs.
“I was always a bit of a country girl – which made me the black sheep of the family.
“I didn’t have time for boys. If it didn’t have four legs and a tail I wasn’t interested.”
Also a keen ballet dancer, her father thought it was simply a phase she’d eventually kick.
“The family thought I was a bit strange that I wanted to be around cows and sheep and horses as much as I did,” she said.
However a primary school excursion to a farm sealed her love affair.
“We were all in pristine school uniforms, blazers and ribbons in our hair,” she says.
“They lost a particular child, couldn’t find her.
“Several hours later they found me in the calves shed on the ground in my pristine uniform with calves sucking on my ribbons in my hair and my fingers, I couldn’t get enough of it,” she laughed.
“That story actually made the local paper back then. From that day I was smitten and always wanted to be around them.”
From that moment until just after her 16th birthday, she spent every weekend at a local goat farm; before her parents dragged her “kicking and screaming” to Australia 28 years ago this month.
While she and her husband Brad have spent over a decade rearing beef calves on the property, horses are her first love.
With a background in dressage, show jumping and now focusing on the “fastest growing equestrian sport, globally” of reining, Mrs Lee runs horsemanship clinics from her unofficial horse hub, employing professional trainers from Queensland while local riders travel several hours simply to use her arena.
So with a healthy demand for equestrian sport in the area, the mother of two has high hopes for the centre, which could also be used by a range of community groups like Riding for the Disabled and education centres, and host rallies and conferences.
“There are a number of clubs of all disciplines that currently struggle to find a suitable venue for clinics, rallies and training days,” she said.
“There are a number of agistment facilities in the shire however none offer the kind of facilities and services we plan to provide.
“Those that currently off the standard dressage size indoor riding arena cannot or will not accommodate many of the other equestrian disciplines that have become so popular over the past five to 10 years.”
She said the centre would have “enormous community benefit”.
“(But) we need some traction (for the idea),” she said.
“We don’t want to compete with what’s already in the shire, we want to complement it.
“The amount of work I have done for this is insane.”
So far, her plan has won goodwill from politicians and councillors (“they agree it’s a fabulous concept … one councillor called me ahead of my time”) but what she really needs is somebody to “put their neck out”.
“I need some clout,” she says.
“I’ve rung (Channel Seven personality and horse aficionado) Hamish McLachlan, I’ve contacted celebrities like John Farnham, I sent an email to (Farnham’s manager) Mr Wheatley asking him, I need some high-profile people saying this is a damn good idea.
“How do I get somebody high-profile to say ‘See what you’re trying to do, I believe in this, we’re going to help you get there’.
“But how do you get hold of these people? It’s very difficult.”
The centre, with rough estimates of $590,000 needed to get it off the ground, would be a boon for the local economy.
At a recent horse meet in Werribee she asked colleagues “How much money do you think we’ve tailed over the West Gate Bridge?”
“Why can’t we keep that money in our shire?
“To come to Catani, you have to come through one of the larger towns (in the shire).
“Everybody coming through here will buy petrol, go to the local feed store, go to the local pub for dinner.
“Local businesses will benefit.”
She said the equestrian community deserved a bit more support to meet the millions it puts back into local economies.
Her business plan found recreation equestrian users in the Cardinia Shire alone contributed $6.5 million to the economy, going by 2001 figures.
“The economic input from the equestrian community is phenomenal, we’re talking millions and millions of dollars,” she said.
“But we’re not accommodated very well.”
She said the centre was needed for a sport that was always at the mercy of the weather.
“We battle the weather all time,” he said.
“Every clinic is a risk. It can be cancelled by the weather. It can be heart-breaking.
“We want people to be safe and comfortable, regardless of age and ability.
“They don’t have to be at the top end, they can be a 46-year-old mum like me who just wants to have fun.”
