Dot Dewsbury and Jett in action in a break-away roping event. Her best time is 1.4 seconds. Photo: Amy Mcllrick.
Shorty was a promising quarter horse but came with a reputation, according to Dot Dewsbury.
“He was good at his job on his day but then some days he liked to stick it into you a bit,” said the Goulburn rider who is currently leading break-away roping fields on national rodeo circuits.
Dot recounted three horses that shaped her journey to the top, and that story began with her promise to a friend before he passed away at a young age from cancer that she would look after Shorty.
In her early 30s about 15 years ago she was practising break-away roping at her friend Jodie Rigby’s property, and had hit full speed and reached out with her rope when Shorty bucked her.
“I came off and fractured my pelvis,” she said. “He was just a grub. A little grub: he came with a reputation,” she said. “He was cunning; he knew how to get you off. That was just him.”
After that fall she considered giving it all away, but persevered and was back in the saddle six weeks later.
Now retired, Shorty is seeing out his days in a paddock, along with Fui, who was forced to retire last year with arthritis in her knees. Seeing Fui, her 18-year-old quarter horse no longer on the road with her, just about breaks Dot’s heart.
The buckskin mare had belonged to Tommy and Janice Smith, who have become such valuable mentors for Dot she calls them her ‘rodeo mum and dad’.
“Fui was a good competition horse and stepped back to my level and when I was ready, when I got my confidence back she went with me. She knew. I owe her a lot,” she said. “She changed my life. She made me want to be a better person.”
Dot slimmed down and redoubled her efforts on the rodeo circuit, setting fresh goals each year. Now working at the Ultimate Horse Shop in North Goulburn, she is focussed on a showcase event at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, where break-away roping will be held for the first time.
Leading the Australasian Team Roping Association’s national and NSW and Victoria titles and coming fourth in the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft and Rodeo Association’s titles, Dot Dewsbury is enjoying the best form of her riding career. Her work and leisure time centres on competing with her quarter horses. Photo: John Thistleton.
“I just live and breath it now,” she said. “I’m up at 5 am, do cardio, I come to work, I lift hay, we talk rodeos, we rope,” she said.
These days she is riding Jett, a liver-chestnut quarter horse she bought from Goulburn friends Brett and Chloe Robson. “Chloe barrel-raced him and Brett team roped off him and steer wrestled,” she said.
She’s been with Jett for seven months. “He is a little quirky. He’s not naughty; he has his own little attitude. He’ll nip at you and just be a jerk, generally, but we get along well,” she said. “I like him; he is fast onto his cattle and tries his hardest for you.”
Jett will eat anything. He loves Chicken Crimpies and Tiny Teddy biscuits.
Dot said it had taken the support of an army of friends to get to where she is, including her boss Warren Byers, who owns the Ultimate Horse Shop and an arena on his property at Tiyces Lane and calves to practise roping with. His partner, Holly Beard, is into break-away roping too.
Her partner Mick Heath, a former bull rider, is on the road with her and her horses in their Gooseneck transporter. “We’re sick of camping in a float; it has a living area up the front and horse section up the back,” she said.
Dot has been in a saddle for almost all of her life. She tagged along with her mother Val Dewsbury when she was a riding and pony club instructor. She remembers Vim and Prince, her first two horses, and then switching to the sporting side of riding as a teenager with her friend from high school Jodie Rigby.
“I love that it is me and my horse against the clock, whereas showing and things like that, you are judged on different things,” she said.
Riding her buckskin quarter horse Fui and regaining her confidence, Dot Dewsbury has become a leading figure on the rodeo circuit and will join 35 other women showcasing break-away roping at this year’s Royal Easter Show. Photo: Amy Mcllrick.
Her father, Leicester Dewsbury, has driven horses and is still making coaches using his blacksmithing skills. Dot will help Val, who is still on the show circuit at Olympic Park in Sydney for the Royal Easter Show, before turning her attention to the break-away roping events.
She has her sights on the ATRA finals at Capella in Queensland in October and hopes to make the finals of the ABCRA finals at Tamworth in January. Her other goals are to continue encouraging others and having fun along the way.
