Queensland country trainer John Manzelmann says he’s not dying or retiring after wild cow encounter

Queensland country trainer John Manzelmann isn’t in the best way after a painful encounter with a cow but insists he isn’t dying or retiring from training.

Trainer John Manzelmann. Picture: Vilimone Baleilevuka.

Champion Queensland country trainer John Manzelmann wants to make a couple of things clear.

He’s not dying.

And he’s not retiring from training.

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He’s had some phone calls from concerned citizens asking both questions.

But after a painful encounter with a cow, the renowned Mackay horseman is downsizing his racing business a bit and also letting his stable staff step up while he recovers.

“I got hurt the other day, a cow ran into me and hurt my back,” Manzelmann said.

“I can’t do what I need to be doing work wise at the moment, so I am just going to scale down a bit until I am feeling better.

“There’s plenty of things going around about me.

“People have got me retiring, dying, and just about every other thing.

“But I have just got a sore back and I’ll ease up for a while until I come good.”

John Manzelmann with partner Jade Doolan.

While Manzelmann’s health battle is an agonising one, it is relatively minor compared to one he conquered earlier in life.

Once, Manzelmann was so sick with terminal leukaemia they paid out his life insurance policy.

After making a miraculous recovery after a long stay in hospital and repeated bouts of chemotherapy, he had enough money from the life insurance cheque to pay off his mortgage and plough some cash into setting up a thoroughbred stable.

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This time, Manzelmann chuckles through gritted teeth as he tells of the run-in with a cow which has sidelined him.

“I was over feeding the cows and the cow didn’t mean to do it, it just banged into me sideways against the fence and twisted me,” Manzelmann said.

“After a couple of days, the pain got worse and worse and they had to carry me to the ambulance.

John Manzelmann is downsizing his stable.

“I had some morphine to stop the pain and then did some scans, and I’ve got a couple of bulging discs in my back.

“They found a cyst on my kidneys but everything is all good in that regard, no dramas.

“I’ve just got to have a spell.

“I just hope it settles down and if it doesn’t, they might have to operate.

“But it should settle down with some painkillers and rest.”

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Although not quite business as usual, Manzelmann said staff and family members will step up to help his stable as he recuperates.

He is downsizing to some extent with up to 30 horses he is in the ownership of going up for sale on online auctions this week.

“I’ve still got my staff here to help at the stable, so no worries there,” he said.

“In a work sense, I just can’t be going as hard as I was.”

Originally published as Queensland country trainer John Manzelmann says he’s not dying or retiring after wild cow encounter