Swede success for former jockey in QOTT Program

By Andrew Smith

The bitter cold of Sweden doesn’t sound like the best place to prepare for the blistering heat of the Northern Territory and Queensland.

But for Felicia Bergstrand, it was the perfect training environment to hone her skills before becoming a Queensland Off-The-Track (QOTT) Acknowledged Retrainer.

The 36-year-old worked for Olympic gold-medal winning showjumper Malin Baryard-Johnsson in the city of Norrköping for a year in 2005.

“I didn’t do a lot of competing, I rode a lot of her young horses and then when I left there, I went to a horse dealer down south of Sweden and we did a lot of buying and selling horses overseas, from riding school to dressage,” Felicia said.

“I didn’t do much competing, I stopped when I was 17 - I was working too much and didn’t have time to compete.

“I do feel the showjumping and dressage is very big over in Sweden, mostly as a hobby, but a lot of people can earn an income on being a good rider over there too.

“Here in Australia, we’ve got racing which is really big, but over in Sweden if you’re got a good rider with sponsors supporting you, you can make it there as well.”

After embarking on a trip around Australia in 2010, what was meant to be a quick stop in Darwin turned into a 10-year stay in the Top End for Felicia.

She enjoyed plenty of success in NT, notching over 200 wins from more than 1500 starts as a jockey.

It’s where her dedication to rehoming horses strengthened.

“I’ve always had a passion for it - obviously being a jockey and being up in the NT, rehoming horses after their racing career is quite hard,” Felicia said.

“There are not many homes available up there especially not for ex-racehorses that require stables and fans in the 40-degree heat.

“That’s sort of where the passion started trying to locate good homes for these horses.”

Felicia retired from the jockey ranks in February 2020, making the move to Queensland, which proved to be a worthwhile one.

“Moving down here and retiring from race riding myself, I needed something to do and obviously always wanted to do something with horses,” she said.

“Then I saw that QOTT had put up an application form for becoming a QOTT Acknowledged Retrainer so I definitely jumped on board straight away.

“It’s finding good homes and hearing about how the horses are going - whether it’s competing, whether it’s the horse becoming a trail riding horse or a therapy horse, whatever their career path may be.

“It’s about achieving positive outcomes and the most rewarding thing for me is to find good homes for the horses.” 

Her biggest success as a Retrainer came with the rehoming of He’s Commanding, who posted seven wins from 30 career starts across Victoria and the Northern Territory.

The gelding was retired in November 2016 but these days calls the NT home.

“I rode him as a racehorse and won a couple of races on him - he wasn’t an easy horse,” Felicia said.

“He was really very naughty, they required a lot of people just to hose him down because he used to be quite full on.

“But he now has the most awesome home with a family who adore him and are giving him so much love - he’s just a part of the family, he comes up to the verandah and has dinner with them at nighttime.

“He trusts them 100 per cent and I couldn't be happier than when I receive updates on him.

“I feel I succeed when I can find that perfect home for any of the OTT horses but especially with the ones who don’t appear perfect at first sight.”

Felicia says she’s proud to be making a difference as part of the QOTT Program, becoming one of the first retrainers when the program started in January 2022.

“It gives the horses a chance to find a suitable home instead of just 'a home' and a chance to have professional education before starting their new career path,” she said.

“The Subsidised Lessons Program provides follow-up support and gives riders the opportunity to receive lessons they might not have thought they needed or could afford.

“The outcome is more likely that the OTT will stay in this new home and not get resold due to the support being provided by this program.”