Cover image courtesy of Freedom Off The Track
On the side of the road in country New South Wales, you might spot two people and two ex-racehorses steadily walking along. If you are between Aberdeen and Wallerawang, that may well be Freedom Off The Track rider, Stephanie Toms, aiming to be the first person to trek the entirety of the National Trail with an ex-racehorse at her side. But that isn't her only goal.
Growing up moving around the world with “non-horsey but very supportive” parents, Stephanie Toms jumped at every opportunity to spend time with horses.
“I’d go to any stable I could get to and ask, ‘Can I muck out your paddocks and watch you ride and be there and be a general pest’,” Toms said. “And sometimes they would let me get on a horse!”
She bought her first horse when she was 17, moving up the levels in showjumping, and it wasn’t long before she was hooked by the power and athleticism of thoroughbreds.
“It’s very cliche, but they’re my favourite breed,” she said. “I fell in love with them because of their heart. They will go all day and if you ask any of them, as long as it makes sense to them, they'll just keep going. It’s really special.”
“It’s very cliche, but they’re (thoroughbreds) my favourite breed. I fell in love with them because of their heart.” - Stephanie Toms
One such special horse arrived in her life in early 2023, just eight months before she would embark on the first leg of her trek. New Future (The Factor {USA}), a then 6-year-old gelding who had returned from racing in Hong Kong, was looking for a home through Amy Taylor’s International Thoroughbred Retirement adoption programme. It was a perfect match.
“I wouldn't trade him for the world,” said Toms. “He’s the coolest horse I've ever owned. He takes to anything; nothing fazes this horse. Going along highways, past trucks and sirens - he's a rock. I've done horseback archery with him, trick riding, showjumping very mediocre dressage, and he’s had kids on him. He does anything that I ask and he does it happily.
“His breeder found us through the trek, and I found out a lot about his history. He’s been to Tasmania, to Hong Kong, and now we’re trekking across Australia, so he's well-travelled. He’s incredible.”
Originally Toms started her adventure in August last year, after friend and colleague Zsofia Homor approached her about trekking the entire length of the National Trail with ex-racehorses for company. The longest self-contained trail in the Southern Hemisphere, the National Trail is a 5330km route from Cooktown at the top of Queensland to Healesville in Victoria, that was established in 1972. A team of volunteers provide maps and guidance with the trail, and raise vital funds to maintain the route. It is estimated that only 50 people have completed the trail in its entirety. Aiming to add to that tally, Homor and Toms launched a website and social media for their adventure under the banner of Freedom Off The Track.
Raising awareness for youth mental health
“We wanted to do it for a good cause,” Toms said. Homor and her were aware of the magnitude of the journey ahead of them and wanted to use their adventure to raise awareness for a good cause. “We're doing it for youth mental health awareness. The whole point is one step at a time, taking each day as it comes. You don't always need to know how you're going to finish things.”
“We're doing it for youth mental health awareness. The whole point is one step at a time, taking each day as it comes. You don't always need to know how you're going to finish things.” - Stephanie Toms
They settled on Freedom Youth as their banner charity - a project run by Toms’s showjumping coach and mentor, Alycia Barton. Over the last decade, Barton has delivered youth mental health programmes across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Barton’s 520-acre property in southeast Queensland is host to camps and retreats all year round, offering regular access to various therapists and different activities to help vulnerable youth. Horses are, of course, a key part of the services offered by Freedom Youth.
“I work for her and volunteer for the charity,” Toms said. “We provide immediate suicide prevention, youth camps and retreats, and all through the holidays we have youth coming to stay with us and experiencing living out on the 500-acre property, working with the horses.”
“We (Freedom Youth) provide immediate suicide prevention, youth camps and retreats, and all through the holidays we have youth coming to stay with us and experiencing living out on the 500-acre property, working with the horses.” - Stephanie Toms
Homor was a seasoned trekker, having completed the world’s longest race on horseback, the Mongol Derby, but Toms had never done anything like it before. Initially, she wasn’t sure what to expect.
“We (would) plan a section at a time and it definitely felt incredibly overwhelming at first. You end up genuinely taking it day by day, and it's a lot more safer and manageable than I thought it would be. We're lucky we have the maps and contact numbers, and we meet a lot of great people in the middle of nowhere.”
From setbacks to serendipity
Unfortunately, Homor’s ex-racehorse Corr was injured in a freak accident towards the end of the first month on the trail, and the trek was postponed until April this year. By the time Toms set foot back on the trail in Ravenswood, the team dynamic had changed a little. She is joined by another retired racehorse, Kal El (NZ) (Savabeel), and her partner, Daniel Grubb. To Toms, it felt destined to be.
“I met my current partner (Grubb) through the trek in a manner of speaking,” she said. “And now we're doing it together. He was a friend of my cousin, who put us in touch. He was planning to do the National Trail in reverse order and we were going to meet along the way, then we ended up meeting prior to that and deciding to just do it together.
“It’s the best thing I've ever done. When you know, you know. He’s hiking (the trail), which I think is both mad and inspiring.”
Kal El - now known as Karmic Prodigy - was another fateful acquisition. Toms retrained the 8-year-old when he finished racing in mid 2021 and sold him to a client. When she started looking for another horse to join her and New Future on the trek this year, the client reached out and offered him back to Toms to use for the adventure.
“He’s the funniest little dude, he's so happy-go-lucky. Anytime we meet people on the trek, he's the one to go up and see if they have any carrots and be cuddly. I picked him up 3 or 4 weeks before the trek, and he's taken to it so well. Anywhere Future goes, he’ll go.”
A warm welcome in Scone
On Wednesday, the quartet passed through Scone in the Hunter Valley, where their presence was celebrated by the local thoroughbred community. They were welcomed onto the prestigious nursery of Arrowfield Stud to meet some of the spring’s new arrivals.
“The welcome has been amazing,” said Toms. “We come past and people will come over to talk, and when they see we have thoroughbreds, they’ve asked us to come in and see what they’re doing. Matt Hill picked us up yesterday as we didn’t have a car, which is really lovely, and showed us around Arrowfield, it's amazing. The whole area is beautiful.
“The thoroughbred community is so close knit, they’ve been letting people know we’re coming through. You can clearly see the love they have for their own horses, as well as loving our thoroughbreds.”
“The thoroughbred community is so close knit, they’ve been letting people know we’re coming through. You can clearly see the love they have for their own horses, as well as loving our thoroughbreds.” - Stephanie Toms
On Friday, the team left Aberdeen, having completed the eighth section of the twelve-part trail and ticking off over 3800km of the trek. They have been on the road for an incredible four months this year, on top of the month last year before the trek’s postponement. It’s still a long way to Healesville, but the thought doesn’t dampen Toms’s spirits, or her love for her equine companions.
“Their welfare comes first, they don’t owe me anything,” she said, when thinking ahead to the end of the trip. Grubb’s family has a property in Victoria that will serve as New Future and Karmic Prodigy’s spelling destination upon completion. Eventually they will head home to southeast Queensland with Toms, but they will have a well-earned break first. “I think they'll enjoy being turned out and not having responsibilities for a while.”
Aside from raising awareness for Freedom Youth, Toms also wants to highlight the versatility and nature of the thoroughbred.
Gallery: Stephanie Toms at Arrowfield Stud, images supplied
“I had a lady message the other day who met us early on and had been very skeptical about thoroughbreds, and she said, ‘I'm sorry I doubted them, they're doing a really good job, I'm really impressed.’ That was special.”
“I’ll definitely be doing more treks again, it's something I really enjoy. With all the research I've done, I haven't seen anyone do this trek to completion with ex-racehorses before, and I haven't seen anywhere online of a thoroughbred doing the same distance trek ever.”
There is still approximately 1500km left of the trek to go, but the distance doesn’t trouble Toms. With her trusted equines and human partner at her side, she is taking it one step at a time.