Foundation Mare

LADY CHAN - FM HSHASH Reg: 5593

t is interesting to see that the same pattern continues; Yet another foal that grew into

Yet another beautiful-looking horse that developed into, Yet another good

stockhorse that matured into, Yet another prodigious Foundation Horse by Chan - WH.

With this family of horses, being another one of the same, is not a sign of being ordinary but, is well-deserved praise.

To avoid potential confusion, readers need to note that there are other Chan - WH mares with similar names. ROSEBROOK LADY CHAN - HSH was a 1969 foal out of the mare Samone. GLENORE LADY CHAN - HSH was a 1971 filly out of GLENORE BELL - HSH, a granddaughter of Radium - WH. SILVERWEIR LADY CHAN - HSH was a 1973 filly by CHANS SON - HSH, out

of BETTY BRUCE - HSH. However, there is only one that is a Foundation Mare.

LADY CHAN - FM HSH was bred and owned by Rafael (Rafey or Rafe) Howard of Willow Tree in the Upper Hunter district in New South Wales. Born in 1960 she was one of CHAN - WH’s sixth crop of registered foals. Her dam was the Meredith Mare. Little is known about this mare however it can be presumed that she was by, or closely related to, the thoroughbred stallion, Meredith, born in 1948. Meredith does not appear in the Australian Stud Book but was of quality stock being by Orthodox, a son of Hyperion and out of the mare Starry Light by Fairway.

While not in the records, Rafe had told people that the Meredith Mare was by the stallion Medlow. This breeding puts the

Meredith mare in good company as four of Radium - WH’s successful sire sons – Chan - WH, Rayon, Radiums Echo and Radiums Call - were out of Medlow mares.

It has been said that Rafe Howard was ‘besotted’ with the bloodlines of Radium - WH and Medlow, which is evident in the pedigree of his early horses. Rafe knew Leo Callinan of Glengarry well and was able to breed his Meredith Mare to Chan - WH, which allowed him to strengthen his favourite bloodlines. It was the Medlow-Chan-WH cross that he was chasing.

LADY CHAN - FM HSH spent most of her life as a broodmare residing at the Hill’s Comara stud at Quirindi. She is described by Julie Tonkin as ‘a nice red bay with a good front and a nice head, standing at about 15.1 to 15.2 hands high. She was like GLENGARRY ANN - FM HSH, but with more scope and more substance. She had a good temperament and was easy to get along with.’ So, in summary, this Foundation Mare had size, the Chan - WH look and produced many good progeny.

LADY CHAN - FM HSH’s story can be better understood with a little background on her breeder. Rafael Howard was born in

This article is the last in the series of Foundation Horses by the taproot heritage sire Chan - WH, having now profiled his two Foundation Sires and his seven Foundation Mares.

Article by Lindsay Ferguson

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1903 and grew up with horses at a property near Willow Tree in New South Wales. He started out with a mail run and a carrying business which over time, and with family input, has been built up into the successful business that it is today - Howards Bus and Coach Service at Murrurundi. He had a good eye for horses and bred some very nice types, but his work and family commitments left Rafe with little time to be directly involved with his horses. He kept many of his horses at his 100 acre ‘Boxhurst’ paddock, situated at the foot of the range at Willow Tree. This property gave his stud its prefix. However, his enthusiasm for breeding resulted in a large herd which exceeded the capacity of this property. Over the years he managed this by having numerous horses placed with other horsemen and horsewomen on leasing and breeding deals. He also had people like Fred Miles of Aberdeen and John Wright campdraft his horses for him.

In speaking with a few of Rafe’s nine children, their father’s serious interest in horses was a bit of a mystery to them. ‘Fonsey’ Howard had an interest in motor vehicles and was only involved with the buses. The eldest son, Bernie recalls that, earlier on, his dad had a hunter and some campdrafters. He drove some of Rafe’s horses to and fro about the countryside to where they resided. When Rafe died in 2000, many of his horses were with people all over the place. His daughter Claire recalls that, ‘He lived for his horses but he didn’t have time to care for them himself. He went to shows and campdrafts and his horses must have been successful as we made rugs from his sashes. It was not until my adult years that I realised that Dad had all these horses. I am still quite disappointed that he didn’t make riders out of any of us’. No doubt Rafe was a bit disappointed too that his family did not follow his passion for stock horses and carry on with the breeding enterprise.

So throughout the period of this Foundation Mare’s life, over the decades 1960s through the 1980s, Rafe was keenly breeding to Radium - WH bloodlines and watching the progeny perform. Despite not knowing any details of his father’s horses, his son Bernie quickly recalled the names of horses he remembers his Dad talking about. It’s no surprise that those names were Radium - WH, Medlow and Chan - WH.

This mare’s influence on the breed, with 522 descendants to date, comes not only through her three sire sons but also through her seven fillies. All her progeny have produced and, like their dam, have done so in good numbers. She is grand-dam to 196 horses. Of these 180 are from her progeny by ABBEY - FS HSH. There are now five generations

1. BOXHURST ABBEYS MARK - HSH (ABBEY - FS HSH/LADY CHAN - FM HSH)2. THOMPSONS REMINISCE - HSH (BOXHURST ABBEYS ECHO - HSH/BOXHURST RADIUMS QUEST - HSH)3. YARRAWA ROWENA - HSH (WARRENBRI ROMEO - IS HSH/BOXHURST BARCELONA - HSH), Maiden Campdraft Series 13 20104. Bill Peadon on BIBBENLUKE DOCKER (BOXHURST ABBEYS MARK - HSH/BIBBENLUKE IVORY) 1st Working Gelding Royal Sydney

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descended from this Foundation Mare.Terry Blake, who had a Boxhurst

mare, confirmed that Rafe was particularly interested in the Radium - WH bloodline. Looking through the pedigrees of many of the Boxhurst horses, we see that Rafe took advantage of the number of families that he had by crossing to Radium - WH blood on both sides of the pedigree. One of his first stockhorse mares was BOXHURST FIREFLY - HSH. A grand-daughter of the thoroughbred Wilkes, she had Radium - WH and Medlow on her dam’s side. Some of her progeny were crossed with that of LADY CHAN - FM HSH.

The first two foals from this Foundation Mare were fillies and registered with Rafe’s Boxhurst prefix. BOXHURST ALL RADIUM - HSH, born in 1968 was by TIGER RAY - HSH a grandson of Radium - WH. This black mare produced four progeny. The filly BOXHURST RHAPSODY - HSH produced five Boxhurst progeny and one of those has had three Boxhurst foals. One of her colts has produced seven progeny. Her second filly, BOXHURST SAMANTHA has produced eight foals with two of those being stallions that have also reproduced.

Her second foal, BOXHURST CINDERS - HSH born in 1972, was another black mare, and was by a son of Radium - WH, Radiums Echo. This mare had eight progeny with five of them by the Kyabra stud’s COMARA ABBEYS CATTLE KING - IS HSH. Two of these were colts that are sires. The mare 1985 KYABRA FASCINATION - HSH produced a total of 12 foals, benefiting the Expected Stud and also Michael Gosper’s Legendary stud in Queensland.

When growing up, Julie Tonkin used to regularly see Rafe on the school bus run. “He was really keen on Australian Stock

Horses and he attended campdrafts to watch, but we never saw him ride his own horses’, said Julie. After the second foal, the Comara stud looked after this Foundation Mare and went foal for foal with Rafe. ‘She came to us and just stayed here in the paddock with all the broodmares’, said Julie. The most significant sire in the ASHS Stud Book - ABBEY - FS HSH was to be the sire of her next seven foals, providing yet another cross of Radium - WH.

COMARA BLACK MAGIC - HSH, a 1973 black filly, was another good one and was kept by the Comara stud for breeding. ‘She was another beautiful mare and we drafted her a bit then bred with her. All her fillies had the same Chan - WH look about them. Out of her we bred some good horses’, said Julie. ‘We bred a few out of her by STARLIGHT STUD ANCHOR - HSH. COMARA WILLOW - HSH was a nice type of mare. She was owned by my sister and I got a couple of

foals out of her by COMARA ABLO - HSH,’ said Julie. COMARA BLACK MAGIC - HSH also had a colt, COMARA BULLETIN - HSH that was sold in 1989 to Lawton Geddes of Kunnanurra and has sired twelve foals. The filly, COMARA AMBITION - HSH, was sold to Owen Scott of Collinsville. COMARA MAGNET - HSH, another filly, was sold to the Queensland polocrosse player, Ross Shepherd. In the end, COMARA BLACK MAGIC - HSH was sold as an old mare to the Emerald Agricultural College in 1973, which bred another three foals from her.

The next foal in this breeding deal was the 1974 black colt, BOXHURST ABBEYS MARK - HSH. He has been the most prolific of her progeny, siring 87 foals. This stallion was leased out by Rafe to a number of people over his time. Tony Dixon of the Beechmont stud (16 foals), N&P Cockburn of the Dinki Di stud (16 foals) and Innes Williams of the Weowna stud (14 foals) at Jindabyne.

Bill and Julie Peadon also had an interest in the Chan - WH line having owned and stood the Chan - WH grandson ARCADIA DIVIDE. They came across BOXHURST ABBEYS MARK - HSH nearly 30 years ago and took a good grey mare to him. ‘We liked his size (16hh). He was jet black and all his stock were quiet and didn’t buck’, said Bill. He also appreciated the genetic potential of this mating as this mare, BIBBENLUKE IVORY; by ARCADIA DIVIDE was therefore a great granddaughter of Chan - WH. This joining produced the bay gelding BIBBENLUKE DOCKER, ‘a big, good, strong workhorse that would go all day’ and became one of Bill’s favourites. ‘Bill and he had an illustrious show and campdraft career together’, said Julie. ‘He won many open drafts and working classes including the Working Gelding at the Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra Royal shows; the Alistair Irving Champion Working

5. BIBBENLUKE ALFIE (ARCADIA DIVIDE/WEOWNA JEAN) Supreme Hack Delegate Show 6. BIBBENLUKE EMILY (GORUK POKER - HSH/WEOWNA ELLE) at the Sydney Royal Show ASHLA7. Annabel Brunton on BRAYLEE ZULU - HSH (COMARA CHANABY - HSH/MEADOW GREEN ALMIS - HSH)

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ASH at Melbourne in 1997; the Champion Working ASH at the 1998 Barastoc Show at Werribee and the Working Gelding at the ASH Nationals at Hawkesbury in 2000.’

‘We were so impressed by this gelding that we bought two mares from Innes Williams by BOXHURST ABBEYS MARK - HSH. Both were good brood mares that produced quiet stock’, said Julie. ‘WEOWNA ELLE won open and working classes and had eight foals. These were sold into a variety of disciplines including stock work, adult riding, mounted games and campdrafting. BIBBENLUKE EMILY, a grey filly by a YARRAMINE SWAGMAN - HSH colt, was a very versatile and good horse for us and our children. On her we won a lot of challenges, ASHLA, working classes at Royal and national shows, one day eventing, pony club and four novice drafts. She even won a time trial at Sydney Royal show – a handy all-rounder,’ said Julie. Another good one out of WEOWNA ELLE to make his mark is the bay gelding BIBBENLUKE FAGIN, by a grandson of WANSEY LEON - IS HSH, a Chan - WH grandson.

The other mare bought by the Peadons, WEOWNA JEAN, was not shown but produced five good progeny. All were sold except for BIBBENLUKE ALFIE. A big horse at 16.1hh, Bill and he won the National Champion ASH Hack Under 4 yrs at Scone in 2001. Not being a good campdraft prospect due to his size, Bill relinquished him to his daughter Amy who had considerable success with him in hacking and dressage at the Canberra Royal and on the local show circuit. He competed in eventing as well and also impressed the showjumping rider Deon Williams, who rode him in a couple of showjumping events.

In short, the Peadons declare that BOXHURST ABBEYS MARK - HSH made quite a profound impact and contribution to their family’s success in the show and campdraft arena, spanning a 27 year period and hopefully into the future.

Eve and Ross Thompson, formerly of Quirindi and now helping out at the Baramul thoroughbred stud in the Widden Valley near Denman in New South Wales, have been associated with the Boxhurst horses since the mid 1980s. ‘We had a long and good association with Rafey over the last 15 years of his life,’ said Eve. The Thompsons broke-in horses for Rafe and also sold others for him, for which they got some of the progeny in return. Although not related to this Foundation Mare, many members will have heard of the stallion that they successfully showed and stood at stud - BOXHURST TYSON - HSH, a grandson of BOXHURST FIREFLY - HSH.

The ninth foal out of this Foundation Mare was the colt BOXHURST ABBEYS ECHO - HSH, who sired 57 progeny. The Thompsons were asked to take this colt on when he was a very sick seven-year old. After much veterinary work, the illness turned out to be cirrhosis of the liver, which took good nursing to get over and from which he took about three years to recover. Eve said, ‘Eventually he was given to us and we kept him for 14 years. With him we won a lot of ribbons at shows around the Hunter district and the northern parts of New South Wales. He was also a novice campdrafter’. As a sire, he produced well with 26 having the Thompson’s prefix and 9 with the Boxhurst prefix amongst his progeny. One nice mare of his, out of a granddaughter of BOXHURST FIRELY-HSH,

was THOMPSONS REMINISCE - HSH. ‘She was a beautiful type of mare, a good show horse and has had two fillies,’ said Eve.

‘His foals were nice, refined types that were easy to have around. One of the things they were most noted for is that they were very good walkers and very comfortable to ride. This stallion was a very good type, standing at about 15.1hh. He was good natured, but like many of this family he was a “horseman’s horse”, no buck – no dirt but could get “hot” fairly easily. They were keen to work and needed it, but they could also travel a long way when it was asked of them. They were horses that suited their era’, said Eve. The Thompsons sold him in about 2001 to Nathan Hogan and he was later sold on to Miss Jenni Walsh.

Another well-known family to be involved with the Boxhurst horses was Barry and Annette Law of the Yarrawa stud. They visited Rafe Howard at the Boxhurst paddock in the 1980s. There they saw some 100 horses and were impressed with their quality. ‘They were good-looking horses’, said Annette. ‘We could see that they were particularly quiet as Rafe was able to walk amongst them even though we don’t believe that many of them had been handled much.’ Rafe discussed breeding his mares to the Law’s stallion NABINABAH COOL GUN - IS HSH. ‘Barry was a good judge of horses and he picked out seven mares that he thought would suit our stallion,’ said Annette. Rafe had them delivered and amongst that lot were the LADY CHAN - FM HSH progeny, BOXHURST ABBEYS GIFT - HSH, BOXHURST BLACK OPAL - HSH and BOXHURST CHANDELIER.

BOXHURST ABBEYS GIFT - HSH had four colts and two of them have sired 41 registered foals between them. The stallion TARWARRI MEDALLION - HSH has been used extensively by Tony Dixon for his Beechmont stud. BOXHURST ABBEYS GIFT - HSH only had one filly out of her five foals. This filly was by NABINABAH COOL GUN - IS HSH and registered as BOXHURST BARCELONA - HSH. She was bred to WARRENBRI ROMEO - IS HSH to produce YARRAWA ROWENA - HSH. Codie Law won quite a few open campdrafts on her including the ASHS Maiden Campdraft Series 13 in 2010 at Tamworth. ‘She has produced a number of fillies, not yet registered, and a lovely colt YARRAWA RONALDO - HSH. In 2009 he sired the filly YARRAWA NIGHTMARE, who was sold at the Landmark Classic sale in 2013 for $17,000. She recently came fourth at the National Maturity ridden by David Wilson’, said Codie. This filly’s generation now places LADY CHAN - FM HSH as a fifth generation ancestor.

BOXHURST BLACK OPAL - HSH was her 1977 foal who produced eight progeny,

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Wingen NSW

Sire chan 02 - WH

radium 02 - WHcecil 02 - WH

black bess 03

witzy 02medlow 02 - WH

part arab mare 01

Dam meredith mare 01

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LADY CHAN - FM HSH Colour: Brown Height: 15.2hh Lifespan: 23 years approx. (1960 – 1983 approx.)

Breeder: Croaker Bros, Glengarry Stn, Wingen NSW Performance: Stock horse and broodmare

Progeny: 10 registered progeny, the most notable being the stallions BOXHURST ABBEYS ECHO - HSH and BOXHURST ABBEYS MARK - HSH

five with the Boxhurst prefix, but these were mostly geldings. ‘BOXHURST CHANDELIER was a nice mare,’ said Annette. One gelding she had was sold to Robert Newsome who won open campdrafts with him around the northern districts of New South Wales.

There are two remaining progeny out of this Foundation Mare. The 1978 brown colt COMARA CHANABY - HSH was sold to Robert Bradley in Victoria and produced 12 registered progeny, including a few with the Bullenbong prefix bred by Mike Donellan. One of COMARA CHANABY - HSH’s colts was BRAYLEE BOSS DROVER - HSH who has sired 12 foals. One of COMARA CHANABY - HSH’s fillies, BRAYLEE ZULU - HSH, changed hands a few times then was sold to the Bruntons. As the former studmasters of the Quidong stud, they too appreciated the line and liked the mare. Brian Brunton said, ‘she was a real good type - a big, strong mare that we used on the place for stock work and also did some campdrafting with her.’ Put to LINDSAY - IS HSH she produced CAMBALONG AFRICA - HSH who was a ‘top-notch campdrafter for Jenny Neave in Victoria. Another foal out of BRAYLEE ZULU - HSH was CAMBALONG MASSAI who became a good polocrosse horse, also in Victoria.

COMARA LADY LUCK - HSH was sold at the 1982 Comara sale to Bill Smith of Wongarbon. Bill Smith had four ABBEY - FS HSH mares and was keen on the bloodline. Mick Ward, from central New South Wales, knew Bill well and recalls that Bill paid a high price for the mare at the sale. ‘She was a big, strong plain-looking mare but one of the best walkers that I have seen’, said Mick. Bill bred her to WARRENBRI ROMEO - IS HSH to produce the filly OMEO TRUE LOVE - HSH. After Bill died the filly was sold to Brian Guest and then others who bred four foals from her. Bill could not get the mare in foal again so he gave her to Mick who then bred her twice to his stallion, QUIDONG JAP - HSH. By him she produced the colt OMEO

RAMBLER - HSH (17 foals) and OMEO CLASSIC - HSH, a good mare that Mick sold to Jack Harries at Daly Waters for breeding and has since won three or four open campdrafts on her. The mare died at Mick’s place and is buried with a couple of others by ABBEY - FS HSH and ABDUL - IS HSH.

The popularity of ABBEY - FS HSH and his ability to pass his traits on to his progeny has to be part of the reason for the success of this Foundation Mare’s progeny. All those involved with helping Rafe with his ‘outsourced’ style of stud operation, claim it was a sad day when he passed away. This was not only because of the loss of a keen breeder and horseman, but also because of the fact that his horses ended up leaving the hands of those that had cared for them so well, into hands that couldn’t manage what they were bequeathed. Despite this, many progeny and descendants of this Foundation Mare were well dispersed

by this time, into the hands of those that could take them forward. Many successful stock-horse people have been involved with this Foundation Mare. Like her Chan - WH siblings, her qualities were valued and replicated by breeders, often by crossing back to other Radium - WH descendants.

In conclusion to this series on the Foundation Horses by Chan - WH, it is fair to say that his progeny were prized by the Glengarry station stockmen and highly sought after by those outside of Glengarry. They could perform in the showring, on the campdraft arena or the sports-field – whatever the size of the ball they chased. It was their selection over generations, based on their performance in working stock in the hills of the Hunter Valley, which set up the Chan - WH family to be a bloodline of great influence in the development of the Australian Stock Horse breed.

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