AQHA Timed Games Incentive Award
Clint van den Broeke
C
lint van den Broeke is a 16
year old boy from Esperance
WA who loves the sport of
Team Roping, and has been actively
competing for the last three years.
His father was a keen horseman and
Clint has grown up around horses,
but didn’t start to ride until his teens.
Clint was always a keen Motocross
rider, but the death of a friend and
mentor in a motorbike accident
had impacted his way of thinking
and gave him the courage to try
something different.
He watched his father Steve go to
a friend, John Doutch, from Dark
Horse Arena every week to be taught
the skill of roping. Whilst he was
happy to only watch at this point,
little did he know it would become
a sport he’d love. Mr Doutch taught
Clint the basics, starting on the
ground and roping the dummy and it
wasn’t too long before he was hooked.
Whilst Clint regularly competes in
WA with his Quarter Horse, Sunny, a
lot of determination dedication and
practice is involved to be a successful
team and work as one. Practising
can get very frustrating especially
if you have no cattle. Day after day
his mum would pull a readymade
dummy around with the motorbike
to try and help him get in the right
position with his horse, practice his
swing, his timing and then try and
put it all together.
It was here in WA that Clint was
very fortunate to have met a very
talented and aspiring cowgirl from
Qld, Lacey Jae O’Halloran. Lacey was
on holidays and Clint teamed up with
her at an ATRA event in Bullsbrook,
but little did he know then that
he would be lucky enough to be
welcomed into Lacey’s family’s home.
Clint has, and is still learning so
much from this family who also Team
Rope, Barrel Race etc. Pat and Liz
O’Halloran are also very successful
in the breeding industry at the OH
Corral Quarter Horses with their
Hollywood lines.
Clint’s 2015 goal was to qualify for
the National Team Roping Finals held
in Capella Qld. With a lot of support
from friends, families and sponsors
Clint’s family was able to help fulfil
his wish. Due to the distance from
WA and upon a lot of deliberation
it was decided they would try and
borrow a horse whilst over there.
They knew Sunny and Clint were a
good team and whilst Sunny always
travelled well, they felt that maybe
the trip to Qld. would be too far, and
they didn’t want to risk any injury or
stress along the way.
Clint was so lucky to then be
offered the use of one of Lacey’s
family horses from OH Corral. Not
only veterans of the sport, the
O’Hallorans’ are very kind to others
who aren’t so experienced. Doing the
big trek from across the other side
of Australia was well worth it, and
it is here Clint created a formidable
bond with two horses Hollywood
Classic, and Kakadu Bushmen, both
registered Quarter Horses. Lacey
told them about the Incentive Award
in the 9’s Event the Quarter Horse
Association was putting up for the
High Point AQHA registered rider
horse combination. Clint’s family
thought what the heck, so they filled
in the paperwork and never thought
much more of it
A couple of weeks prior to the
Nationals, Clint would practice and
learn with the O’Hallarans’ and a
friend from down the road, working
on his swing and his handling, etc,
and getting a feel for things to come,
before they started the road trip
from Thangool to Capella.
The National Final was fantastic and
Clint did exceptionally well making it
into two finals on Hollywood Classic
(no Junior Divisions) and getting
11th out of 263 teams, which was
more than they ever anticipated. It
was quite sad when they had to leave,
as they didn’t want to leave their new
found roping family.
It wasn’t until they had flown back to
WA and making the eight-hour drive
home that they got the news of Clint
winning the Quarter Horse Incentive.
It was by fluke that someone had
seen the announcement on the ATRA
Facebook page, so of course they then
had to check it out for themselves.
Clint felt pure disbelief that he’d won
it - he was ecstatic! Even though he
had a great National Finals this was
the icing on the cake for him. The
Australian Quarter Horse Incentive
is a great idea for competitors, as
it doesn