Luke Bennett had a very Australian childhood.
His dad was a bull rider and his mum was a goat tyer, so it was inevitable that he would end up at the local Pony Club in Casino, northern New South Wales. His grandfather was on the tick staff, which also meant Luke was around horses and cattle whenever there was spare time.
Therefore, when he finished school, it was no surprise as he headed straight to a ringers job at Chatsworth, a MDH property for 12 months. Rob Young was the overseer at Chatsworth and he encouraged him to be involved with horses and it was here he had his first exposure to young horses and he did his first breaker. He attended a Ray Hunt school and this got him interested in the finer points and tweaked his enthusiasm.
It was then onto Longreach Ag College, where Luke admits it was a mixture of really good and really bad. The bad being he drank too much and rode too many bulls, but the good has been life changing. He met his future wife, Sandi, and he did the John Arnold Horsemanship Course.
After Longreach he went and worked for Todd Graham for 3 months, learning the basics and finer points about timing. He also got to ride some really good horses and while there got to start both One Moore Daddy and One Stylish Pepto.
In 2004 and 2005 he worked for Huon Smith, breaking horses and learning the finer points of dry work, sale preparation and the business skills required to run a breeding centre.
An overseas holiday designed to have a break and experience new things was next on Luke and Sandi’s plan. They moved to Canada and were doing day work on ranches when they received a call from a fellow Aussie. Could they please come to Texas to help Gerald Alexander, a highly regarded 2 year old specialist in the Cutting industry.
This short job ended up being 3 ½ years in Texas working with 2 year olds preparing them to go to trainers and sale preparation. A highlight was presenting a One Time Pepto mare which made $70,000 at the NCHA Select 2 year old sale.
Luke & Sandi now call Dundee in the Northern Tablelands of NSW home. They have been operating Peak Performance Horses since Jan 2011. They have two daughters, Ella and Harper.
