Reg Cleland honoured with OAM in Australia Day awards

ABOVE: Reg Cleland - former equestrian administrator and now member of the Order of Australia.

REG Cleland has been recognised for 60 years of service to equestrian sport with an Order of Australia medal in this year’s Australia Day Honours list.

The medal adds to an already impressive list of accolades collected over the years, including an Australian Sports Medal for service to equestrian sport awarded in 2001.

He is also an inductee to the Victorian Showjumping, Equestrian Victoria and Equestrian Australia hall of fames.

Reg is an equestrian all-rounder with an immense knowledge of all disciplines and has given thousands of hours to the sport to assist at events, never once requesting payment.

He specialised in show jumping as a course designer, a path that took him around Australia and overseas for events and conferences.

Doubtful start

Reg’s career with horses started when his father bought home a pony from the pound.

It turned out to be impossible to keep in a yard, jumping from paddock to paddock by himself, so Reg and his best mate of the time, Murray Wheatley, decided to give it a go over the rails.

The pony, measuring a top height of 14.2hh, was christened Doubtful, and with Murray the rider and Reg the strapper and truck driver, the pair began attending shows together.

It was while doing this that Reg began helping in the jumping ring, picking up poles and doing anything else that was needed.

In 1960, he trained as a course designer and judge under Lester Lowerson and Colin Kelly and has since built courses and assisted at most of Australia’s major shows.

Reg has judged showjumping in most Australian states and South Africa, and many of today’s noted course designers, including John Vallance, did their first course design jobs under his guidance.

After 20 years as chairman of the Melbourne Showjumping Club, Reg was added to the Victorian Showjumping Hall of Fame in 2012.

ABOVE: Reg Cleland officiating at a Young Rider of the Year event in the 1990s with Victorian Minister for Sport Tom Reynolds (left) and Olympian Bill Roycroft (right).

Giving back

Reg has always liked working with young people and was vice-chairman of the Victorian Pony Club Association for many years.

He gave clinics and ran training days to assist the youngsters.

He was influential in creating the Equestrian Victoria Young Rider of the Year Awards, which recognise the achievements of young riders in all disciplines.

He has also held the position of vice chairman of the Horse Riding Clubs Association of Victoria (HRCAV).

At the elite end of the sport, Reg served on the Equestrian Victoria board for more than 20 years, was a branch chairman for eight and is a life committee member.

Nationally, he was a member of the Equestrian Australia board for 11 years and also acted as a showjumping selector.

For many years he was the chairman of the Barastoc Horse of the Year Show and, holding the dual role of EV chairman, oversaw the creation of the two indoor arenas and stable blocks at Werribee Park Equestrian Centre.

During the Equine Influenza outbreak he worked at the centre without pay to keep it in good condition until it could be used again.

He was added to the Equestrian Victoria Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Equestrian Australia Hall of Fame in 2018.

Now in retirement Reg still takes a great interest in all equestrian sports from his home he shares with wife Fran and son Jeff at Kilmore.

ABOVE: Reg Cleland OAM.

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