Jon Templeton is a Territory boy. He grew up at Camfield Station, 4 hours South-West of Katherine on the Victoria River where his parents,Ted and Sue, were the managers. Life was pretty isolated and his schooling was School of the Air, so getting to a couple of drafts a year was a big deal. Secondary school saw Jon at Nudgee College in Brisbane, but the holidays saw him return to Camfield and the local Campdraft circuit of Katherine, Daley Waters and Timber Creek.
He was always really keen, but didn’t reach great heights as a Junior drafter as the circuit was always dominated by Jackie Bright. His enthusiasm didn’t wane and he has continued to look, learn and listen in his quest for improvement.
After leaving school he returned to the Territory, but a year later his parents moved to Duaringa and the family left the Territory behind for the more populated lifestyle of the East Coast. Jon then moved to Havilah Station at Collinsville where he worked for the Stanbroke Co. for 3 years. During this time he continued drafting and with his Omega mare, Madeline, he won his first Open at Twin Hills and began to see that to succeed he needed to refine his style and learn a lot more from the elite trainers.
With a view to becoming a professional trainer, he began work for Ian Francis in 2005. This experience was invaluable and after 18 months he left having learnt the way to “feel” a horse, and that hard work and dedication were the basics for success.
Jon moved to Kingaroy and was just setting himself up as a trainer when the opportunity of a lifetime arose. After selling som horses to be used in the movie “Australia”, he was seen by the casting staff and selected to appear throughout the movie as the stunt double for Hugh Jackman.
This opportunity was a great experience and took six months to complete, however Jon remembers that it wasn’t all fun and definitely wasn’t glamorous. The pace was very steady with too much waiting around and the idea of spending the time in the outback didn’t hold the same romantic ideals for Jon. To him it was simply going back to the Territory and living in a stock camp.
With the movie behind him, it was back to establishing himself as a horse trainer. So with a moderate team of horses his first steps were taken.
Jon attributes all of these life experiences to helping him become the rounded horseman he is today. From the need to get things done in the Territory to having to work out how to achieve results to suit movie directors who weren’t horse savvy, through to the finer details of horsemanship required in Challenges. It has been a wide and varied road resulting in some major stepping stones, but his achievements are testament to his dedication and hard work.
