The Forsyths, “Training for strength together.”
Written by Mel Gauld, Western Horse Annual 2020 edition
In 2019 John and Roz Forsyth moved to Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland for a change of pace and to really enjoy their love for western show horses. How they got to where they are, living the good life and owning some of the country’s most amazing western show horses, has come from many years of working hard, and they are now reaping the benefits of that dedication to their careers.
John Forsyth
John started boxing when he was ten years old and Taekwondo at twelve. This naturally progressed through to Zen Do Kai; a martial arts and self-defence school originated by Bob Jones. Their basic rules of “Everyone works, nothing is for free and all start at the bottom,” ingrained in John’s psyche, setting him up to carry the mindset that would see his career flourish. He was attending a dojo (training facility) in Melbourne and working as a bouncer at the local pubs in the area when Bob Jones noticed him. He offered John a job as one of his personal bodyguards, and also provided protection services to the entertainment community. “There were four of us who lived in the house,” said John. “When we were not looking after Jones, we guarded every major band that came into Australia, from Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, and Billy Joel to INXS, Kylie, and Jimmy Barnes.”
A production company who knew John approached him to source challengers for a new show concept they were bringing over from America. The show was called Gladiators, and John was hired to source both one-off contestants and permanent gladiators. The show’s concept was contestants versus gladiators who had to battle through events and obstacle courses to ascertain who would be the champion of each episode. With Bob’s martial arts connections, and access to over 2000 black belts, John got on the phone, and it wasn’t long before each state had set up trials. “We had entertainment centres booked in each state, and we put 2000 people through their paces each day to get maybe 10-20 people,” John explained. It was gruelling, and John was employed as director of training for both contestants and gladiators alike. The 1995 show was a ratings hit and ran for three seasons. “We went all over the world. We went to the UK and had the Ashes series, and six different countries came together, the Australian team beat them all every time. It was great.”
A change of format to the show saw the ratings slump, and John received the call to say they were not progressing with the 4th season. Without a job or future income, John had to think on his feet. So, he did just that, with the 2000 Sydney Olympics on their doorstep, he emptied his bank account and decided to open a bodyguard school. He hired a room in Pymble, NSW and started his marketing campaign. “We virtually had desks and boxes to sit on as furniture. We put the phones in and went right, let’s get started,” said John, “So I rang up Kerry Anne Kennerley and went on her morning TV show. I said ‘I’m the best bodyguard in the world and we are opening up a bodyguard training school.’ Next minute we’ve got press coming. We’re in magazines, the phones were ringing, and away we went.”
Intercept Training was born and was soon the biggest full-time bodyguarding school in the world. Courses branched out to security and firearms training, first aid, bar service and food licencing. These days they also train over 2,000 people in hospitals, cleaning and asset maintenance and aged care, with two training facilities set up in Newcastle and Tuggerah NSW. “Not bad from just being a dumb old bouncer and bodyguard to setting up a massive training facility.” John laughed.
Roz Forsyth
Roz grew up in the ’burbs, one of those not-so-rare kids that are obsessed with horses but have no genetic input from her parents to understand why the attraction to equines was so strong. Her aunt bred and raised trotters, and Roz spent every spare moment and school holidays picking stone fruit on their property (regardless of being allergic to the fluff on the fruit)—so she could ride her cousin’s pony club horses and go to the race track with her aunt.
Not only did she have a love for horses and animals in general, but she also became passionate about sports and fitness. She was a Commonwealth-level swimming champion, and represented New South Wales in netball. Roz was also the winner of the Australian middleweight class of the Australian Natural Bodybuilding Federation and various other bodybuilding and fitness competitions in the 1990s.
The fitness competitions led to Roz’s application as a contestant on Gladiators, and where she first met John. “When she started training for Gladiators, she was just a standout,” John recalls. “We decided we can’t have her as a challenger; she keeps knocking the gladiators around!” Like the rest of the gladiators, John trained Roz hard in Thai boxing. Now known as ‘Electra’, Roz became a combat-trained weapon. “I remember she was sparring ‘Commando’—he was in the British marines, a paratrooper, a real soldier. Rozzy leg kicked him, threw knees into him, and he was begging mercy. I laughed, thinking here’s this big commando getting dished up by Roz!”
Electra featured on three episodes of the third season of Gladiators and was on the winning side of the Australia vs Russia international show. She was set to continue into the next season, which unfortunately was axed. Roz then enrolled in training to become a bodyguard—at Intercept Training.
Having been friends for years, John and Roz became a couple, and it wasn’t long before the pair were travelling all over the world. In America, they trained and managed the security for a massive fundraising concert called “Wave to the World” to raise money for the paralympians who had had their funding cut. Roz was in charge of looking after the Jacksons and other celebrities like Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, and Corey Feldmann were all in attendance.
Running Intercept Training became their life for many years for Roz and John, and as their kids Tori and Jackson grew older, horses became part of the Forsyths’ future.
Horses & the Australian Equine Institute
“We started off with Thoroughbreds for ourselves and ponies for the kids,” said Roz. “We used to gallop all along these bush tracks. Jack had a 14.3hh paint called Patch and all you could hear was him hollering as they ploughed through the bush—Patch just couldn’t be stopped. Tori had an 11.2hh Welsh mountain pony called Buggerlugs. There were big steep hills we used to race up, we reached the summit and looked back and here’s poor Buggerlugs puffing and panting; he had to have a rest halfway up.”
As the kids grew older, Jackson wanted to get into polo cross, and Roz followed suit. So, into stock horses the Forsyths went. John had just gone through major back surgery and against his doctor’s prediction of doing nothing other than a light walk or a swim for the rest of his days, had recovered enough to look at getting back into riding. He bought himself a palomino paint called Everlasting Effects and started riding in stock horse classes; however, his back wasn’t agreeing.
“You should try this western stuff. It looks effortless!” Roz had told John, referring to the slow gaits and long drapes in the reins being a more comfortable ride for John. They took lessons with Vicky Morrow, and they soon realised it wasn’t as easy as it looked! The Forsyths later purchased the Morrow property and turned it into the Australian Equine Institute (AEI). With John’s training background, he saw a necessity to introduce some form of education to the horse world. “Back when we took the kids to pony club,” John explained, “we realised most of these parents didn’t know what they were doing. There needs to be a course for this.” The Certificate III of Horsemanship was created, and it took Intercept Training seven years to write it. Incorporating everything from first aid for horses to feeding, handling, and riding, the course is available nationwide and is included in school curriculum. The course can be completed online and has been highly popular, especially in the Northern Territories’ indigenous communities. AEI provides workplace health and safety courses, first aid and business training for our professional horse trainers. With traineeships now being available and government-funded; the Australian Equine Institutes courses are set to take off.
The AEI has hosted many clinics and three-day camps on their property, going through units of competency in the “horse course.” BBQs and parties were often held at night, and hungover Zumba (to western music!) was held the next morning. Roz introduced the Hunter Health Haven for Horse and Human where she taught equestriennes of every discipline rider fitness, yoga (for both horse and human) and discussed health and nutrition, shortly followed by wine and cheese. “The girls loved it,” said John. “They get to ride their horses all weekend, then they get to cook and drink wine and have a ball!”
The pair had some great horses and were winning and placing at all the major western performance shows. However, the fairytale horse story nearly came to a crashing end after John had two significant accidents when riding. In both, he broke ribs and punctured a lung. One accident on one side and in the second accident evened himself up by doing the same damage on the other side. He even got a helicopter ride out of that last one.
“I was lying there going ‘we are done with horses,” said John, “we are selling up and getting out of them.” Contemplating their future in hospital, John realised they couldn’t walk away from it. “I’d come off twice in 20 years, and both of them were horrific,” said John, “I couldn’t let these two freak accidents stop Roz’s dream, so I said, we’ll move to Queensland, get five acres, Roz can have one show horse, and I’ll have my boat and the beach close by.” So the pair moved, bought 20 acres and still have a pile of horses! Oh, and John’s back in the saddle and preparing for the next show season. Didn’t quite go to plan, did it?
In 2020, John won husband of the year status when he surprised Roz with an outstanding gift. She had fallen in love with a horse that was at her trainer’s—Travis and Tash Humphries at TNT Training Stables. Nicknamed Sparkles, the horse was the subject of Roz’s chatter non-stop. “She would talk about this horse constantly,” said John. “Everyone wanted to buy the horse at this time, and Roz never asked, but it was Sparkles this, Sparkles that.”
Unbeknownst to Roz, John had made a call to Travis and on the quiet arranged to purchase the three-year-old roan filly. Roz was ready to retire her current show horse as the mare had decided she would rather be a broodmare. “I had come home from Summer Sizzler, I was talking to John and said I determined to persist with her, but the mare was hard work, and I wasn’t enjoying myself,” said Roz. “I just kept talking about Sparkles, showing John all the photos I’d taken of her and John just sat back and said, ‘alright… she’s yours.’”
Sparkles, aka MTC Locked Out A Heaven became a Forsyth. COVID-19 has been a blessing in disguise, while Sparkles has missed out on her three-year-old show year, Roz and John have been able to ride and enjoy their horses, without the pressure of showing. “It’s made us realise why we all show, we all go because we loved the camaraderie, everyone’s so supportive. We all want to have a bit of fun and get dressed up and look like princesses,” said Roz. “This year I think everyone has been able to realise why we do this, and it’s simply because we love our horses.”
Roz and John now have two matching red roan mares, Sparkles and Hope, and with the recent addition of the bay roan filly Martha (who is a sister to both Sparkles and Hope), the competitive edge between the pair is always fun to watch. “Tash is my trainer,” Roz laughed, “and Trav and John are the boys’ club.” But, the main aim in the show pen for these two is fun, and they both plan to do a lot of it in the coming show seasons.
Jackson Forsyth
Jackson inherited a deep love and compassion for animals from his mum, and from the age of eleven, wanted to be an equine dentist. “The first time I saw a dentist come and work on our horses, as silly as it might seem for an eleven-year-old to make a choice like this, I really knew from that day that this is what I wanted to do with my life,” said Jackson. So, when he was old enough, his parents sent him to America for a year to train with the best of them. “I had the opportunity to learn under and work with world-class dentists. However, I have continued to further my education and knowledge in the field since returning home three years ago. I have also gone back to the American School of Equine Dentistry as an instructor to help share my knowledge with new students.”
This profession has given Jackson what he believes is the opportunity to give back and help those animals that have been such a big part of his life. “I gain the most satisfaction from my job when I get to see the good it does for the horses,” Jackson explained. “Watching skinny horses get fat, seeing the relief in them when you can tell they are no longer in pain or something as simple as taking off sharp points to make them a little more comfortable. To me, the most rewarding feeling in the world is knowing you’ve made a difference.”
Because of this ideology, Jackson has accumulated a long list of happy clientele around New South Wales with his business JF Equine Performance Dentistry, and with calls for interstate treatments, he’s going to be a very busy dentist. “Everyone just loves him,” said John. “He is so gentle, and he cares so much about the horses.” Roz added, laughing, “If there are dogs on the property; it takes him another hour to get the job done once he’s finished playing with them!”
Jackson has nothing but praise in return for his parents. “I have watched them work so hard my entire life. As a kid, I remember sleeping in the office on some weeknights—so they could get more work done to support our family. I couldn’t have been given better role models to guide me through life and to help me get to where I am now. I owe everything to them, and I couldn’t be prouder of what they have accomplished and continue to accomplish!”
Tori Forsyth
Tori has always been the individual in the family. Not so involved in horses these days, she has forged her career in the music industry. “I’m not good at sports, every sport I tried I was just terrible at it, and I’d quit. So when I asked dad for singing lessons, he just thought I’d quit that too.”
It was at a school play that John heard Tori sing for the first time. He recalls, “Our next-door neighbour was sitting beside me and said, ‘I didn’t know Tori could sing.’ I said, ‘Neither did I!’” Only singing when no one else was around, Tori kept her skill to herself until that school assignment. She got her music lessons, and the rest is history.
She first sang at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2016. “It was a really good introduction to doing live gigs—to sing in front of people—and it was good networking. I’ve been doing my own gigs there for the last three years.”
Tori was nominated for the 2019 APRA Country Work of the Year against nominees such as Kasey Chambers and Morgan Evans. In 2018 her first album, “Dawn of the Dark” was released, and Tori was subsequently nominated for three Country Music Association Australia (CMAA) Awards including New Talent of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and Alternative Country Album of the Year. Tori was also recently sponsored by Fender guitars.
Like any artist, Tori’s style is continually changing. Her original country ballad vibe has morphed into a more grunge-rock feel; her audience is vast and varied, and everyone can take away from her songwriting. Tori’s second album was released in 2021 titled "Provlepseis", and her current music is available on all online platforms and is currently writing another country record for 2023. Tori now also works in the family business The Australian Equine Institute as well as being part of the VMQH team.
“My parents have always had big things happening, and everything they have done, they have done on a massive scale,” Tori said. “While the horses feel like a super-small chapter, during my lifetime, they have always just been there.”
And, like the name of Tori’s latest song, it sounds like horses in the Forysths’ lives will continue to just “Be Here.”
