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Emerald truck driver back in the saddle to restart jockey career after golden staph infection

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As dawn breaks, Gemma Hogg is putting a horse through its paces on a racetrack in Central Queensland, riding like it’s her last chance to make a career from it.

That’s because it is.

The 31-year-old’s hope of becoming a jockey was nearly taken from her, but six years after disaster struck, Gemma is back in the saddle and going full tilt.

“I thought I’d lost my dream,” she said.

From a childhood spent in the saddle at a pony club, Gemma started her jockey apprenticeship in her 20s, riding under different trainers through regional Queensland.

It’s an intensive four-year program that even carries restrictions on the rider’s weight.

But Gemma never finished it.

“I got really sick. I had one trial left before I was able to race ride,” she said.

A golden staph infection had ended her run just a hair’s breadth from the finish line and, after years of work, in 2017 she walked away from the racetrack with no plans to return.

“It was a very emotional time of my life,” Gemma said.

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Finding her ‘mojo’   

Faced with finding a new career while recovering from illness, Gemma decided to put some of her other skills to use and pursued a truck-driving career at Emerald in Central Queensland.

A mate taught her how to drive in exchange for airbrushing his vehicle.

She drove school buses, coaches and mining buses before securing a driver position with a local company.

“Driving a truck is where I get my mojo from,” Gemma said.

“When I’m sitting behind the steering wheel of a truck, I feel like I’m in a position of power.”

Getting back in the saddle

With a population of 15,000 people, in a lot of ways Emerald is a small town for a rural centre in Queensland.

It therefore didn’t take long for the news that a former apprentice jockey had moved to town to reach local trainer Glenda Bell.

She would not take no for an answer and convinced Gemma to get back in the saddle and finish her qualification.

“I’m just happy now that I get to pursue that again,” Gemma said.

“I’m really proud of myself for doing what I do.”

Gemma Hogg competes at race meets around Queensland.(ABC Rural: Megan Hughes)

‘In a pretty good paddock’

Apprentice jockeys are taught a range of techniques, skills and technical details about the racing industry, and the physiology and health of horses, through a qualified training organisation.

At 31, Gemma is considered old for an apprentice jockey, and that has its own set of challenges.

“I’ve been in a pretty good paddock, which means I’m pretty heavy at the moment to be a jockey,” she said.

She’s had to follow a brutally restrictive diet to get to an ideal weight ahead of races.

There are also injuries to manage, including a few falls and some broken bones to recover from that have slowed her progress.

“I don’t think I bounce as well as what I used to,” Gemma said.

But when “nothing compares” to riding, she said it was worth it.

“You get to go really fast on really big animals. It’s such a thrill,” Gemma said.

With age comes maturity, and her trainer Glenda Bell sees the benefit of working with older jockeys.

“[Gemma] went to Barcaldine races and drove a semi-trailer out there with a load of tractors,” Glenda said.

“There wouldn’t be any other apprentices that would ever do that.”

Balancing two careers

Determined to balance her two demanding careers, Gemma said it had taken months of work as well good communication and planning between her two bosses to make it work.

One of the horses Gemma Hogg trains on.(ABC Rural: Megan Hughes)

“We have to be really wary of fatigue management,” she said.

She won’t be able to ride forever, and one day hopes to settle down and have children.

But having had her dream taken from her once, she knows all too well what it will feel like to wave goodbye to it again.

“I want to get this whole jockey thing a little bit out of my system before that happens,” she said.

Stories from farms and country towns across Australia, delivered each Friday.

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