Tracey Mallia has brought America’s latest equine craze to Nar Nar Goon. She told Casey Neill about her ‘extreme trail’.
“It’s a bit more of a challenge. It gives your horse something else to think about. I want to see people enjoy the sport.”
A year abroad gave Tracey Mallia the push she needed to pursue her passion.
Six years ago, her farrier husband, Tony, landed a 12-month job in England.
“I’d worked for BMW for 16 years. I said ‘if we’re going, I’m going to change my whole career’,” she said.
“So I did an equine massage course over there.
“When we came back here I did an Australian course as well and then just started going out on my own.
“I did have a couple of office jobs, I worked at Berwick Mazda for three years.
“I left there to go into shockwave and massage full time.”
Extracorporeal shockwave therapy involves concentrating energy waves to stimulate tissue turnover, new blood vessel formation and enhanced healing.
“It’s for soft tissue injuries, so tendons and ligaments when they’re torn,” Tracey said.
“I do a lot of sacroiliac problems.”
She discovered the treatment when her own horse needed help.
“I thought ‘There is no way I can do for this horse what this machine can do, with my hands’,” she said.
She invested $26,000 in her own machine.
“I just want to help horses,” said.
“I can help most injuries and I make it affordable.
“Plus I treat a lot of dogs.
“It brings a smile to your face to know that you can help them.
“I don’t get lot of money out of it but that’s not the point.
“Pay it forward.
“A good turn will come your way.”
Tracey’s dad bought her first pony when she was about 13 years old and living in Dandenong.
“He was a beautiful pony, his name was Prince,” she said.
She now owns a spotted horse she named King to keep the regal theme.
“I went on from there,” she said.
That was 37 years ago.
“Tony’s been in horses since he was about 15,” she said.
“That’s 70 years of knowledge between us.”
Tracey said she could take a video of a problem horse and bring it home to Tony for advice.
“Together we can nut out things,” she said.
“We have worked as a team with a lot of our clients.
“He’ll shoe them and I’ll shockwave them.
“Most of our clients think we’re a pretty good team.
“We’ve only been together about 16 years.
“We’ve achieved a lot in 16 years.”
Tracey and Tony moved onto their 52-acre property in 8 Mile Road, Nar Nar Goon, just under two years ago.
It was then a “big cattle farm”.
They’d lived in Army Road, Pakenham, and toyed with selling their farm but had all but given up when the right buyers came along.
“I had it on horse properties and then I had it with an agent but it never sold,” she said.
“They came and offered us the right money.
“We had 10 horses at the time.
“This was on the market so we came and had a look at it.”
Tracey thought ‘extreme trail’ the moment she saw one of the paddocks.
“I’d been looking at extreme trail for six years,” she said.
“A guy in America founded it, Mark Bolender.
“They were getting plenty of hits on Facebook and all that sort of stuff.”
Tracey said that some people were setting up temporary courses but she didn’t want to set up and pack up.
“You really need to have somewhere to put it,” she said.
“I wanted to build my own course on my own place.
“With the big cypress trees and right near the lake…
“I said to Tony ’This is perfect, we’ll use this paddock’.”
Getting the course in place wasn’t smooth sailing. Tracey described the process as a comedy of errors.
They battled wet weather, harvesting hay and juggling their jobs.
“Over Christmas Tony had a week off, which he never does,” Tracey said.
“Me and Tony and a couple of my friends – two Lisas and an AJ – helped us build all the obstacles.
“We got an excavator in to dig all the tracks.
“We just slowly added to it.”
There’s a seesaw, a rock path, dirt mounts, valleys and a water box that sprays water upwards as the horse steps onto it.
She’s also added an arena to the property.
“Basically people just come and hire it at an hourly rate, or I’ve been getting clubs coming and hiring for a daily rate,” she said.
“They’ll do combined training days.
“They’ll use the arena and then they’ll go over and use the course in the afternoon.
“It’s better than doing flat arena work.
“It’s a bit more of a challenge.
“It gives your horse something else to think about.
“I want to see people enjoy the sport.”
Tracey shows horses.
“There’s so much competition out there. You’ve got to have the right saddle, a top hat …” she said.
“Out here you just wear whatever you want to wear.
“Just jump on and ride.
“The only thing you have to do is wear a helmet and you have to put boots on your horse.”
Tracey built the course with riders of all ages in mind.
“I’ve got grandkids,” she said.
“My granddaughter and her Shetland pony went around the course.”
She’s also had a mum and daughter complete the course together.
“We called it a social ride day,” Tracey said.
“They were eight people who didn’t know each other and we just had the best fun.”
The Bark King has sponsored the course with mulch and free merchandise for riders to take home.
“They get a sticker that says ‘Urban Trails – I Smashed It’,” she said.
“I just want to make it fun.”
