2007 Congress News

Australian Returns to the Congress with Plans for the Future
by Carly Williams

Jack Cooper returned this year to the Congress for the first time in fifteen years. Cooper originally came to the Congress in 1974 and again in 1976 just to watch and see what the Congress was all about. “The bug got me,” Cooper explained. “Once I was here and saw the quality of competition and the high standards of the horse show, I knew I needed to show this to more people.”

Cooper went back to Australia after those first two years and gathered up a youth team to compete at the Congress National Youth Activity Team Tournament (NYATT). “After seeing the Congress and realizing the level of competition, I went home with a goal. I wanted to raise the standards of the youth competitors in Australia to be as close as possible to the standards of the United States.

“It’s not that I think Australian competition is bad, we just have not had the time to expand our training and showing repertoires. The first Quarter Horse only came to Australia in 1956, so we have actually come a long way in a short amount of time in Quarter Horses.”

Cooper brought six youth teams to the Congress between 1979 and 1992. In his 1979 team, three of the four members went on to become professional horse trainers (one of them was also his daughter). In the 1992 team, one of the three members went on to become a professional horse trainer. “I think that those numbers really show that our program worked. I was able to introduce these youth members to a new equine world and help them to advance themselves to a higher level.”

Eventually, Cooper left his positions within the Australian Quarter Horse Associations and also stopped taking youth teams to the Congress. After he left, the team continued coming to the Congress two more times, but then stopped. “Unfortunately, the remaining committee members did not have the enthusiasm for the Congress and the teams were unable to continue,” said Cooper.

Coming to the Congress from Australia is an extremely difficult task. As Cooper explained, it took the help from the entire board of directors and several committees within the Quarter Horse associations in Australia, as well as a tremendous amount of help from the United States side.

“Charlie Menker spent a lot of time and put in a lot of effort to help us bring over those teams,” Cooper said. “I really don’t think I could have done it without his help.”

Menker worked with Cooper to arrange for the youth members to purchase American horses to show at the Congress (to follow AQHA rules) and then sell them back once the Congress was over.

“Charlie really helped find us some nice horses,” Cooper explained. “We always had good horses to ride and really felt that we made great improvements within the skill of the youth members. We had horses on different occasions from Gil Galyean, Doug Lilly and Steve Brown from the University of Findlay.”

Each year that Australia sent a team to compete in the NYATT competition, Cooper also brought over a Queen candidate from Australia. “We brought over a Queen candidate every time. We may not have won the competition, but our girls always won – or did very well – in the Congeniality portion of the competition.

In fact, Cooper’s goal with the Australian youth teams was to bring the youth members to the United States so they could learn and emulate the professionalism of the youth that show at the Congress. “Not only are the riders talented here, everyone is also polite. Courtesy really does reign supreme here. From the staff to the competitors, everyone is extremely polite,” Cooper explained.

“Being back at the Congress is seriously making me think of bringing one or two youth members with me to show next year. I won’t have the resources to bring an entire team, but I would love to help as many youth as I can.”

In addition to working with the National Youth Activity Team Tournament, Jack Cooper was also integral in the formation of the AQHA Youth World Cup. The idea formed in Cooper’s mind in 1974 when he was at an AQHA show in New Mexico that Richard Shrake was judging. Cooper was so impressed with Shrake’s talent and professionalism that he asked him to come to Australia to judge. In 1975, Shrake made the 20-hour flight to judge.

At that point, Cooper brought up another idea to Shrake: to have a competition in Australia the following year between a team of four American riders and four Australian riders. Once the plans were on the way, the two decided to add Canada to the mix and have Ed Merrill form a team to come from Canada.

That first Youth World Cup had over 5,000 people show up at a horse show that was only big enough to hold 1,000 people.

Cooper continued managing the Youth World Cup for the next two years, and then left his position for Skip Parker from the Texas Quarter Horse Association to take over.

Cooper, however, is a humble man and would never brag or boast about his credentials or successes. In fact, he says one of his favorite moments was during the Congress Opening Ceremonies in 1979. It was the first year Cooper had brought a team to the Congress, and when the Australian team was announced, Cooper said the roof nearly lifted off of the arena.

“It really is one of my most cherished moments,” Cooper said. “It seemed like everyone in the stands was cheering and clapping for us. The team and I felt so accepted and welcomed.”

For 2007, Cooper’s Congress experience is very different than his last visit fifteen years ago. “The competition and quality of horses today is just fantastic,” Cooper pointed out. “I have seen nearly every discipline that I can throughout our six-day stay here and I simply cannot believe the ability and talent of these horses. They all excel at what they do, and are extremely disciplined and patient.”

Returning to the Congress this year has rekindled Cooper’s enthusiasm for the event. “I am especially enthralled with the Freestyle Reining,” Cooper said with a gleam in his eye. “We have the Freestyle event in Australia, so I already have competed in it before. We do it slightly differently in Australia, so I am excited to bring more of our style to next year’s class.”

Check the November/December issue of the Ohio Quarter Horse News to find out more about Jack Cooper, and don’t forget to look for him in 2008!