Old Friends
Welcome To
On The Farm
After years of breeding Angus cattle on our beautiful properties west of Esperance, as a family we made the decision to breed horses suitable for use on the farm, working the cows, and away from home, as mounts for pony club, campdrafting, eventing---whatever equestrian pursuit they are needed for at any particular time!
We decided that the Australian Stock Horses was the breed for us; purpose bred to work stock, but versatile enough to allow our children to enjoy pony club, polocrosse and hacking at local shows.
We are not aiming to breed horses that will event at Olympic level, though Australian Stock Horses have shown they can do that, or to win gold cups in campdrafting, but we are aiming to breed horses that will work at home, quietly and calmly getting the job done and allowing our children to do the job safely, and then calmly and quietly get on the horse float, go to town, plaited and brushed, and allow them to enjoy a dressage test or showjumping round. Safely and happily!
Up until now, the horses we have already had have had to do exactly that; stock horse one day, eventer the next. Ranging in size from 11hh to 16.2hh, we have been blessed with a range of equine friends to suit our children, aged from five to 17, as they have grown up on the farm.
But as those horses have aged, we have seen a need for more horses like them, and so the breeding operation has started.
After a search for bloodlines that suited our needs, we purchased two fillies, Cunnamore Slingshot and Cunnamore Calibre from the Cunnamore Stud at Mount Barker. We also purchased Easterly from the same stud. She is a Brown Chans Way mare, and was in foal to Tinagroo Winchester when we bought her.
We also purchased a gelding, Cunnamore Huntsman, who at four years of age slotted in to the family like an old hand, going to pony club, hacking, doing a few dressage tests, attending the pony club riding camp, and chasing a few cows at the local campdraft.
To increase broodmare numbers, we purchased Escholar October from the Esperance Senior High School's horse stud.
Recently we purchased a yearling from Qualia Stud: Qualia Cufflink, by Binnia Impressive Destiny out of Haydon Brooch. He is a lovely little chap and we hope his bloodlines and temperament will work well with what we already have, and resulting foals will be just what we are after!
So that is that, the start of the stud! The first foal is on the ground and in the process of being weaned, and the horses that we already had continue to form the backbone of the team that carries out the stock work and off farm work on a regular basis, but we are confident that the animals we have purchased, and those that we are breeding, will ultimately take their place as all rounders doing whatever they are asked to do!
Just how old Scorcher is, none of us really know, but the sprightly youngster has been with us since Rosemary turned four years of age, and that was over fifteen years ago!
She is still sound of limb, alert and aging gracefully, and we enjoy her company immensely. Like Rosie’s other soulmate, Wally the Wonder Horse, Scorchy is enjoying the right to wander the shed paddock and surrounds, picking on the best kikuyu and forage available, turning up like clockwork for her evening feed.
We watch them both with a degree of sadness: not even the best things in life last forever! BUT while they are still with us, and happily enjoying their old age, we watch them with fondness, remembering the days when they were younger, faster, much fatter….and reflect on all of the fun memories they have given us all.