Outback Spectacular trainer Heidi Mackay on the hunt for the perfect ride

Australian Outback Spectacular animal trainer Heidi Mackay works with her four-legged cast to create dazzling shows of bravado, writes Sarah Hudson.

Giddy up: Horse whisperer Heidi Mackay riding high on Bandit. Picture: Luke Marsden

ANIMAL trainer Heidi Mackay will go anywhere in Australia to source the perfect horse.

“I’ve been on those little planes, which I’m not a fan of, to get to a remote location, then I hire a car and drive to an area where there’s no internet service,” Heidi laughs.

“We need horses that can handle a very unique environment.”

As equine manager for Village Roadshow’s Australian Outback Spectacular on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Heidi’s job is to source horses that can be trained for trick riding, including having cast members hanging on the horse’s side, carrying flags, rearing, walking through fog and on a stage that has sound and lights (which to a horse would appear like the floor is moving).

Heidi says horses need to be aged between four to eight, between 15 to 16 hands, be a gelding only (because “mares can get tricky”) and be the right colour.

“The colour depends on the show, but right now we have a black horse as the lead and we can’t have other black horses otherwise it will confuse the audience,” she says.

Handler and trainer is Heidi Mackay at Outback Spectacular. Picture: Jerad Williams

“We are thorough in our search, but even then we may get the quietest horse and they come here and they don’t like it. That doesn’t happen very often.”

All up, Heidi is in charge of 25 human cast members, 40 mainly Stock horses, and nine dogs — Kelpies and Border Collies — who perform in the show and which she also trains, as well as a performing mob of 22 Brahman cattle.

For 25 years she has worked for Village Roadshow, currently focused on Australian Outback Spectacular’s two-hour Heartland performance, with shows changing about every three or four years, with previous ones including training sheep, pigs and chickens.

With coronavirus forcing the closure of Heartland, Heidi is one of a handful of staff maintained to look after the animal menagerie.

“Every day we need to feed, rug, groom and ride — as much as possible — 80 horses across two properties (each 16ha),” says Heidi, who only occasionally will perform in the Spectacular.

From her home on a 16ha property at Tamborine, Heidi lives with three of her own dogs and three horses, who are animal stars in their own right.

Her Thoroughbred, called Pretty Boy, has just appeared in a TV commercial for Ned’s online betting, running through a city.

Horse whisperer Heidi Mackay with Brigalow. Pic by Luke Marsden.

Pony Nigel appeared in a previous Australian Outback Spectacular, while her Boxer dog, Gracie, is a star of the Australian TV series Bureau of Magical Things.

The list of films and commercials Heidi and her furry companions have appeared in are so numerous she admits “I’m not very good at remembering them all”, from X-Files to Charlotte’s Web and Inspector Gadget.

It was a film starring Don Johnson (In Pursuit of Honour) in the mid-90s that gave Heidi her big break.

Heidi was born in New Zealand, given her first pony aged five, soon after moving to Australia to her aunty’s horse stud in Nerang, Queensland, and about the age of 10 becoming a competitive equestrian rider.

“I wasn’t into boys, it was always about horses,” she says, adding that after a 20-year break she’s just started competitive riding again.

“Even as a little girl I’d train my dog to go to the front fence and get the paper and it ended up picking up every paper in the neighbourhood, so I’d have to go and give the papers back.”

It was through a horse-loving friend she was invited to manage 300 horses for three months for the Don Johnson film, after that joining Village Roadshow, and ever since weaving in TV and commercial work.

Horses and dogs are her favourite animals to train.

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“I find training any animal the same. You’ve got to know your animal and they have to trust you. It’s about knowing when to put pressure on and off,” she says.

“Every trainer has their own methods, but I like to build trust first. It’s very individual, but never, ever with aggression.”

Heidi disagrees with animal activists who argue animals should not be used in entertainment.

“I have spent my life with animals and while some don’t enjoy it, and they don’t stay, our animals love working. If a dog misses out on a show, he’s not happy,” she says.

Heidi says an animal trainer needs patience to succeed.

“I’d say 98 per cent of the time if something goes wrong it’s me. The animals don’t speak English and they generally want to give you what you want, so if they don’t understand, it’s my fault,” she says.

“I don’t think I’m the world’s best trainer or anything and often doubt myself, so I’ll video myself training an animal and see where I go wrong.

“I’m so incredibly lucky, though, to do this work for free, to do a job I’m so passionate about.”