Kyabram equestrian Tori Glass and horse Bonnie Valley Hakuna Matata (Nala) finished fourth overall at the Victorian state titles last month. Photo: Mane Memories Photography.
Kyabram equestrian talent Tori Glass has continued to post impressive results at a range of recent events, most notably finishing fourth overall at the Victorian state titles held last month.
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Glass competed with Bonnie Valley Hakuna Matata — or Nala — in the Desert Sands Futurity Series, which includes only six-, seven- and eight-year-old horses.
Success in the series was measured slightly differently to most show jumping events, as riders were tasked with registering as few faults as possible while also striving for the fastest time.
Glass and Nala placed fifth in round one, recording the best time of all duos with four faults, with the four riders who finished in the top four all having zero.
Round two saw Glass place second, and as points from the first two rounds are totalled to seed riders for the round three draw, the Kyabram native was leading overall.
However, before round three the field becomes a clean slate, meaning where riders finish on the final day is where they place overall, with Glass and Nala ending up as fourth-best at the event in Werribee South.
Nala is Glass’ primary show-jumping horse, though she also currently rides JenJan Dukedom (Duke), Bonnie Valley Glenara Miracle (Comet) and Bonnie Valley JenJan Diva (Diva).
Glass riding four-year-old Bonnie Valley Glenara Miracle (Comet) at the Northern Victoria Show Jumping Club in February. Photo: Grain and Mane Photography.
Glass and Nala had a good run-in to the state titles, having come first in the 135 centimetre class and second in the 140 centimetre class at a lead-in event in Geelong, while they have also competed in Tamworth, Sydney, Willinga Park and Queensland over the past three years.
In 2024, Nala won the rising stars qualifier event for five-, six- and seven-year-old horses and placed second in the 115 centimetre class at the Sydney Summer Classic, and also finished second overall at the Queensland state titles.
Other notable developments that year included second place in the young horse event and fifth in the amateur event at Willinga Park, while in 2025 Nala had her first indoor show jumping experience at the Tamworth World Cup Show.
Though much of Glass’ recent success has come with Nala, one of her younger horses, Diva, had a major achievement last year by winning the style class for five-year-olds at Willinga Park.
Diva beat out 24 other competitors in the event, where the horse’s show jumping technique was weighted more heavily by the judges.
Glass riding Bonnie Valley JenJan Diva (Diva) at the Tamworth World Cup Show in 2025. Photo: Click Capture.
Between competitions, Glass works with mum Sharon at Bonnie Valley Stables in Kyabram, with Tori running much of the day-to-day, educating horses for clients in addition to training.
Though the Glass family have always been around horses — Tori’s dad Graham having been a jockey — the sport of equestrian is not necessarily one Kyabram is known for, putting Tori in a unique position when she participates in national or international evens.
“I've done a bit for Australia, I've represented Victoria a bit, but it's pretty cool when you get to a show, and you're like, ‘I'm from Kyabram’, and everyone's like, ‘Where's that little town?’ I’m telling people it’s between Shepparton and Echuca, and it's actually quite a big town,” Glass said.
The 23-year-old previously represented Victoria’s youth squad twice against New Zealand and also rode in the global amateur tour in Mexico in 2023, where she represented Australia.
While in Mexico, Glass made connections that led her on a trip to the United States in 2024, where she not only learned more about the global equestrian scene but also met Australian Olympian equestrian Katie Laurie.
Glass also briefly lived in Queensland, where she continued to add more to her equestrian repertoire by training with Billy Raymont of Raymont Equestrian.
“We think it’s hard and difficult in Australia for horse riding, but going over to America, it’s completely different,” Glass said.
“I’m learning like a different style of riding, whereas Billy (Raymont), who I worked for in Queensland, he’d been to Europe before so he learned the European way, he taught me how they do it over there and what to do with certain circumstances and going to all the World Cup shows and handling the best horses.”
Such is Raymont’s standing in the sport that he is currently in Europe attempting to qualify for the World Equestrian Games, which is a goal that Glass shares.
Though one day competing at the Olympics would be the pinnacle, she admitted such a feat would be difficult to achieve given the lack of turnover on Australia’s equestrian team.
For now, Glass plans to be able to ride a strong enough horse that can not only compete overseas, but at the World Cup level.
