Our first Australian Nationals - A Success Story

Published in the American Miniature Horse World Magazine in September 2000

It all started in 1993 when my husband and I were driving to town and I spotted a tiny wee plush toy standing beside its mother in a house yard. I couldn’t believe my eyes and shouted for him to stop! We saw a baby foal which could have been no bigger than 16” high, a beautiful palomino boy.

We spoke to the lady about the baby and she gave us a brief description of the mother’s colour which turned out to be “cremello”. To cut a long story short …. we promptly bought the mare back in foal to a little Australian champion and have remained firm friends with the ‘lady’ to date.

Then came showing and breeding. We both set about learning what we could about these beautiful little horses. We were thoroughly delighted when our first ‘grandchild’ was born - a beautifully petite and fine cremello filly. The most exquisite blue eyes looking straight to our hearts.

We then bought our own little stallion to compliment our very small herd of handpicked mares. He was the most gentle and loving little person, he was like family. He gave us some beautiful babies that have grown to be lovely little examples of the miniature horse breed. He had a very successful show career locally and in Sydney and then went to live in the sunshine at the top end of Australia, ready to improve someone else’s herd.

In the meantime my husband Russell had suffered major injuries from head to foot in a motor vehicle accident, which saw him disabled and incapable of helping me with the horses. Not much of him was left intact. We battled on from operation to operation and finally after nearly 18 months and 34 operations, he was able to walk, slowly, but still he was upright again! He loves the horses and I think this went a long way to helping him back on his feet - you can’t get around the paddocks in a wheelchair!

Our precious little cremello filly became pregnant after a search for the right “hubby” (a 2 times National Grand Champion Senior Stallion) and at the age of 4 gave us the most exquisite filly. A colour we could not classify because the cross had not been done before. After consultation with a genetics laboratory at a university in California, we came to a conclusion, and registered her.

We knew we had finally bred something ‘special’ and that she was good enough to compete in the Australian National Championships. We groomed her and a friend’s husband trained her and we knew she was ready. But were we?

The days got closer, the entries were in and only a few weeks before the show, my husband had to have yet another operation - a reconstruction of his jaw had failed and alternate surgery was needed. It threatened that he would not be able to attend the show. He called the surgeon and delayed the operation - nothing was going to stop him from seeing his girl at the Nationals!

12 days before the show - and nerves were getting frayed. We decided to do a full body clip with new blades - advice we had received from a very special friend Joanne Ross from Scott Creek Farms in the USA - guiding us through the procedures of presentation for our first ‘big’ show - the Nationals no less! Well, chaos reined when the clippers blew up! 12 days to go! We live in a large town, but supplies of clippers are not in abundance. The postman was relied on to get our clippers to the repairman - just happens to be 4 hours away! No guarantee they would be back in time. We tried to borrow another pair but their blades were too coarse and our fine ones did not fit.

We waited.

The postman arrived with 5 days to spare - thank heavens. We were off again - ready to go. We did a full body clip and completed the preparations that had been so painstakingly written to us over the email by Joanne. She looked beautiful. Okay - now she was ready. She was then rugged and stabled to wait the days out.

2 days before we left we packed the car following a list we had written so we wouldn’t forget anything, only leaving perishables until last thing.

The day before leaving, we put the horse float on to take it into to town for the tyres to be checked. Leave nothing to chance my husband says.

Arrived in town but couldn’t fit into the garage where the air outlet was - into reverse gear to come in from the other side - NO REVERSE GEAR! I sat bewildered. What on earth could happen next! I drove the car and float to the mechanics with tears in my eyes. Only one day to go and our dreams had been shattered. We reflected - my husband had been through so much and fought so hard to be able to see our little girl at the Nationals. We had prepared everything so carefully, we had planned everything so carefully, now this.

I think because I was crying that our mechanic took pity on us and promised to have our car (or his own car for us to use) ready for us that afternoon.
We went home and still continued with the organising just in case we would make it, but our hearts were so deflated we couldn’t help but think that we would not get to the Nationals after all - maybe next year.

Our mechanic phoned at 4pm and said our car was ready! We flew into town, drove home and packed everything, had an early dinner, checked on Misty, and dropped exhausted into bed. The horse was ready and now we were ready. We slept.

Bright and early we rose to a beautiful day, loaded our dear little Misty and bid all farewell and started off for our 5 hour drive, making a quick detour into a nursing home where I work and had promised to call in to and show off our baby all dressed and ready for the big show. All the residents were delighted to see her, couldn’t believe how small she was - 27”. Her gentle nature didn’t let her down while about 30 older people petted and cuddled her and then we finally set off for our much-awaited event. Later that afternoon we arrived, put Misty into her stall, made our preparations, looked up friends and met new ones, had an early dinner and retired to the motel for some well earned rest.

Our Nationals are held over the Easter long weekend and encompasses 4 complete shows over 3 days. Our Golden West Championships and Futurities are held on the Good Friday, our Silver Trophy Show is on the Saturday, the ‘Run for the Roses’ for Yearling and 2 Year Old Futurities are held on the Saturday night and then our National Championships are on the Easter Sunday.

The National Championships are judged by 3 independent judges, so it is quite competitive. The next morning we arrived at the showground and started our early preparation of Misty. She had her breakfast, we had coffee and then it was time to make her beautiful. Again with the words of our USA mentor rolling around in my head, I prepared her to the best of my ability. My friend’s husband, Denis was taking her into the ring for me because I just did not feel confident enough for the ‘Nationals’. He had spent so much time in training her that he deserved all the accolades if a ribbon was forthcoming. Judging had commenced.

I was videoing all the action - but later it could be seen that my mind was not on the video when she was called for Champion Weanling Filly under 28”!!! by a visiting American judge. I think I videoed sky, fences, feet and railings but not much of the horse as I squealed and threw my hands in the air. Running to find my husband for a big cuddle and kiss I left the video to dangle - still recording - from my neckstrap!!!

Okay - we had won our ribbon! Now, could she do it again under another judge the next day? Pressure was building. The Silver Trophy Show was upon us and again we arrived early and prepared our baby for yet another rigorous day.

Again she was awarded 1st in a class of 10. We were so proud of her. We couldn’t stop cuddling her and ourselves. Denis was bursting with pride that his little charge had beaten some beautiful horses. The test was to come the next day with the 3 judge Nationals. We bathed Misty that afternoon and settled her down for a quiet night and we did the same for us. We tried to relax but our nerves were to the point of extinction and we didn’t dare hope that she would bring up a ribbon from this show.

Early Easter Sunday morning and up we were again, preparations done we sat and waited for judging to start. Denis was dressed to compliment Misty’s platinum silver coat and beautiful blonde mane and tail. In they went.

The video hit the ground as she was unanimously called for National Champion Weanling Filly. We cried. Not too proud to be seen either - we had been through a lot over the past 18 months since Russell’s car accident and this made up for everything.

Then….the final line up for the Junior classes.
Crystal Park Blu Moonlite Mist (our beloved Misty) was called for
National Reserve Grand Champion Junior Filly!!
Our dream had come true - forget the video!

This article is the opinion of the writer and is not intended to mislead.