27/08/2026
Against the Odds: Mac & Gayle — A Remarkable Life of Horses, Cattle and Courage
Mac & Gayle were both born and bred with horses and cattle in their blood. Mac grew up on a remote cattle property “Myall Springs” two hours west of Collinsville in Northern Queensland. The Burdekin Dam was constructed on their property, so despite losing some of their best cattle country, they now have the luxury of an abundance of water. Ironically, Gayle grew up on the headwaters of the Burdekin River, on a cattle property called “Valley of Lagoons” that looked as good as it sounded. It too is an isolated cattle station about two and a half hours west of Ingham. Though horses and cattle were a part of their lives from very early on, neither Mac nor Gayle actually got into the competitive side of the horse sporting arena till after they had each left school.
Mac competed in his first draft in his early teens and Gayle was 17. From then on they were hooked. Mac & Gayle were married in 1999 and moved to Cantaur Park on 6th September 2000. “Cantaur Park” their horse stud was formed soon after. They also took over management of the Lamont Stud Droughtmaster herd. Gayle’s grandfather, Monty Atkinson was the founder of the Droughtmaster breed and this stud was formed in his memory.
Mac competed in his first draft in his early teens and Gayle was 17. From then on they were hooked. Mac & Gayle were married in 1999 and moved to Cantaur Park on 6th September 2000. “Cantaur Park” their horse stud was formed soon after. They also took over management of the Lamont Stud Droughtmaster herd. Gayle’s grandfather, Monty Atkinson was the founder of the Droughtmaster breed and this stud was formed in his memory.
Gayle had a horrific accident on the property in August 2002, while renewing the fence around the house. Mac was operating the tractor and Gayle was shovelling the dirt away from the posthole digger. Somehow Gayle’s glove caught on a release pin and she became entangled in the PTO shaft. The auger was almost all the way in the hole, so there was a very small gap for her body to be thrown around in. Gayle revolved around the shaft numerous times and in doing so her right arm, shoulder socket and shoulder blade was twisted off immediately and on top of many other severe injuries, the nerves that controlled her left arm were all torn out of the spinal cord, rendering her left arm completely paralysed. Medical help took 2 hours to arrive, and after a long and painful recovery Gayle & Mac made the decision to remain at Cantaur Park despite it’s somewhat remoteness.
Gayle has learnt to do many things with her feet. Mac has welded handles low down on the slides in the cattle yard to enable Gayle to use them and she has also learnt to work the drafting gates with her feet. Gayle drives an unmodified buggy to participate in the mustering and the daily checking of horses, troughs etc. She has learnt to drive all of the work vehicles, truck, tractor etc, all of which are not modified in any way. Undoubtedly this has been a huge challenge for them, but they have overcome adversity in an attempt to get their lives back to doing what they love most – breeding horses and cattle.
Source: Cantaur Park
