Rob Palm and Cassie Lowe are two young eventers going places and now they’ll always be going places together, having just celebrated their engagement on Australia Day in January.
Despite being fairly young, both riders have had their fair share of success and have trained some lovely young horses over the years. 28 year old Rob, who rode in his first 4* competition at the age of 18, has had many horses that have gone through the grades including The Regulator, an off the track thoroughbred that he competed at Burghley in 2006 and he currently has Koko Black and Visual Laughter competing at 3* level.
25 year old Cassie is a regular winner on the Victorian circuit but she recently shot onto the Equestrian Australia Rio Squad with Koko Doro as the winner of the CCI2* at the Australian International 3 Day Event. Cassie had three horses in the 2* at Adelaide (find out more about that in our interview with Cassie here) but it was a schoolmaster called Bentleigh Gambler (Benty) that really started her top level career in eventing. Not only did Benty take her from Preliminary to 4 Star in three years but he was responsible for Rob and Cassie meeting. When we asked about it, Cassie said “Well, it’s a long story, but I’ll try to make it as short as possible” and here it is ………
“Rob and I met when I bought my first good horse off him (Bentleigh Gambler) in 2006. After speaking to Rob on the phone about Benty, I just assumed he was an old man. I flew up to NSW with a friend and my coach at the time, Yona Lloyd to try Bentleigh. Yona continually said to me “You know this Rob Palm guy, all the girls think he’s pretty good looking,” and I just laughed, thinking to myself, he’s OLD... what is Yona going on about. Once I finally met Rob I realised he clearly wasn’t an old man and was actually very cute.
Rob - certainly not old and certainly cute! And we're wondering if the Frank Sinatra style hat is a co-incidence (see video below)
We stayed at the local bed and breakfast for two nights and had dinner with Rob at his local pub in Galston. To this day, all the locals still remember me as the young girl Rob brought to the pub who had the tiny short shorts on.
A year or two went by and I hadn’t really spoken to Rob apart from the odd text to let him know how Benty was going. We then bumped into each other at Melbourne 3 Day Event. Rob needed a lift home from the welcome function so Yona told him he could jump in our car and made me sit on his lap because the car was too full. We had been texting each other over the duration of the event, but barely spoke- he was very shy. Sadly the event was over and Rob went home. We both sent safe travel texts on the way home and left it at that.
I then went to Europe for two weeks with my sisters and all I could think about was ROB…I know, cheesy! So whilst I was on my way home from Europe, I made a plan to go to NSW and work so I could bump into Rob. So in 2008 off I went to work for Shane Rose which is where Rob was working and living at the time. We got along really well. Most nights I would sneak into his little house and wake up early in the morning to sneak back into my room where the other girls lived. We thought no one knew what was going on…EVERYONE knew. Shane often saw me running across the back yard in my pjs at 10pm.
Long story short, Rob moved to Melbourne in 2010 and now we are happily engaged!”
As it was a horse that brought them together, Rob obviously decided to continue the theme for his marriage proposal and he surprised Cassie with a horse and carriage ride in Melbourne and dinner at their favourite restaurant. But things didn’t quite turn out as planned and the carriage ride turned out to be slightly hair-raising, even for two eventers
“We were both so excited we barely ate anything - not only because of the proposal, but the fact that our horse and carriage took off through peak hour traffic in the middle of Flinders Street Station” explained Cassie “The carriage driver’s dog fell out of the cart, she was screaming and we were locked in this little carriage helpless. Nevertheless, we lived to tell the tale and I don’t think we will ever go on another horse and carriage again”
The engagement party took place on Australia Day in January, right on the beach in St Kilda at the West Beach Bathers Pavilion where Cassie and Rob had a wonderful evening surrounded by family and friends, including lots of the eventing fraternity. With some help from Cassie’s sister Kelly, they are slowly starting to plan the wedding and will be getting married on New Year’s Eve in the Yarra Valley, the famous wine growing area about an hour from Melbourne. The venue for the wedding and reception, Stones Vineyard continues the horse theme featuring a historic chapel, barn, stables and dairy but we doubt that this bride will be arriving in a horse drawn carriage
Once married the couple plan to live at the 40 acre Blackwood Lodge in Bunyip, Victoria recently purchased by Rob as the base for his business, Regulator Thoroughbreds and Performance Horses. Like fellow eventers Shane Rose and Tim Boland, Rob is providing a high quality thoroughbred breaking-in, pre-training and education service and the 40 acre property offers 23 grassy paddocks, a 1200 meter sand track, stables, day yards, hot and cold wash bay, and a round yard
No doubt Cassie will be involved in the business too but there is one thing the couple have definitely decided on – Cassie will be changing her surname and not vice versa
“I will be changing my name to Cassie Palm. Something tells me Rob will definitely not be taking my last name…there’s only enough room for one Rob Lowe in the world!!”
Rob and Cassie at Adelaide with 2* winner and Rio Squad listed horse, Koko Doro
