Judy

Born in Benalla and raised in Yarrawonga I’ve been addicted to horses since sitting on my Grandfathers cart horse at age 3.

Over the years I’ve had an eclectic collection of horses and horse experiences which were as diverse as droving in out back N.S.W to attending every horse related clinic or class I could manage.

It was the clinics in U.S.A. and Australia with Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman and Lesley Desmond along with studying the methods of Sally Swift and Bill Dorrence that most influenced my horsemanship.

When my first marriage ended in 1986 I purchased a 20 acre hobby farm at Booroolite near Mansfield to give my sons the advantage of both country and city living.

I began to collect horses in earnest & ten years later established Unicorn Stables teaching facility.

Unicorn Stables provided students of all ages with a complete horse experience and an opportunity to understand horse behaviour in a safe environment.

Not long after I moved to Mansfield I met Jenny Bird and Bill Powell who were just establishing Mt Tawonga Morgan Stud. I admired the beauty and exceptional temperament of their newly acquired horses.

When a friend bought a Morgan yearling in 1997, agisted him at Unicorn Stables and employed me to train him my love for the Morgan breed grew as he did. His curiosity, willingness to please and humorous antics were a constant pleasure.

I was further impressed by Morgan horses when I strapped at the 1998 Tom Quilty Endurance Race for American friend Dr Chris Marks. Chris rode Mt. Tawonga Snowdout, a mare provided by Jenny Bird. Snowdout was courageous, intelligent and gentle; I loved how she looked forward to her massage at the breaks.

After my marriage to Miles in 2004 I sold the Booroolite property and relocated Unicorn Stables to Samaria.

Grand-motherhood, my fast approaching 59th birthday and the continuing drought cemented my desire to breed, low maintenance, people friendly, medium sized horses. The beauty and versatility of the Morgan horse made them my first choice.

I purchased two pure bred mares in October 2006, leased Tui’s Nimrod for the next two years and joined him to four of my school mares.After twelve months my parent's bought Nimrod for my birthday,jokingly saying they hadn't given me the horse they'd promised me at age thirteen.

Heading into spring 2011 the Morgan head count is never under thirty including our own horses, visiting mares, agisters and sold horses completing their two year care contract. I’ve made many new friends and I’m still learning new skills.

Eagerly awaiting the foals arriving soon, I’m living my dream and believe sometimes things can be better than you imagined.

Miles

After growing up in Ivanhoe I bought 500 acres adjoining Samaria State Park and headed bush in 1978 with my first wife to fulfill our dream to raise our children in the country.

We made many of the ‘city folks in the country’ mistakes, learned a lot and made some great friends who humored our efforts in the farming community.We planted walnuts (the cockatoos loved them) olives (the deer liked them) tried blue berries, daffodils, basil and zucchinis. We bred Highland and Black Baldy cattle with various levels of success. The Eucalypt and pine plantations have survived the drought and will mature in 2020.

When my marriage ended in 1989 I sold part of the farm, returned to Melbourne to work and came back to the farm on week ends. In 1993 I moved back to Mt Samaria full time and taking advantage of my Horticultural qualification set up a gardening service which I still run part time.

Our four sons thrived and are now pursuing successful careers in Melbourne.

My marriage to Judy in July 2004 sparked my interest in horses. Bush walking was my main recreation and my few contacts with horses convinced me that the horse was going where it wanted to go and I was just the passenger.

Since watching Judy teach and now becoming involved with the Morgan horses and their friendly temperament I feel there is definitely a place in my life for riding.

I’m looking forward to the ongoing success of Samaria Creek Morgans -a venture to which our farm is ideally suited.