Teen’s act a display of patience, trust and the spirit of friendship

Brooke Wild feeds her brumby Finn. Also pictured are kelpie Poppy and Flood the steer who will all perform a series of tricks on Friday and Saturday evening at Maleny Show. 

Just a girl and her brumby, dog and steer …

by Tanya Outridge

Visitors to this year’s Maleny Show will witness a touching display of unity and trust as 17-year-old Maleny State High School student, Brooke Wild, takes center stage.

Brooke, alongside her 9-year-old brumby, Finn, her loyal 7-year-old kelpie, Poppy, and her gentle 2-year-old steer, Flood, will perform a series of awe-inspiring Liberty tricks on Friday and Saturday evenings. This unique performance is not just a demonstration of skill but a celebration of the deep bond and mutual respect Brooke shares with her animals.

“The way I go about liberty is to give the animals the freedom to open themselves up and express their natural behaviours while working along side them,” Brooke explained.

“It puts a real test to the strength of your connection and invites them into a space where no physical pressure is forced upon them.”

Brooke first became interested in this type of training about three years ago, when she started to experiment and learn with Finn. “Finn came to us from the Brumby Project in Amamoor, where he was broken in by one of their incredible trainers,” she said.

“It never really crossed my mind that I suddenly owned a ‘wild’ horse.”

As Brooke developed her experience in Liberty and training, she decided to challenge herself by extending the training with Flood.

“This proved to require a lot of patience, because cattle function quite differently to a horse. Instinctively, they look to flight from dogs and horses, so it was a bit like pushing opposite ends of magnets together,” she said.

“I soon incorporated the whip cracking into our training, so it took a lot of time and trust for Flood to understand that he was completely safe. There develops a mutual respect, drawn from both sides of the relationship. Working with all three animals has been incredibly rewarding.”

With a deep love of animals and obvious aptitude for Liberty Training, Brooke would like to pursue this as a career.

“Liberty is a softer approach to most training techniques and is all about establishing a relationship based on true trust,” Brooke said.

“It’s a passion that I’m so grateful for.”