Hunter Regional Show Horse Association 2012 Annual Hack Show
Morisset - 29th January, 2012

What a huge turnout of ponies and hacks! Our first show for the season but with an excellent Australian Stock Horse programme, saw us in very good competitive company.

An easy day for us we took only Julie's Australian Pony Stud Book yearliing filly and the black three-year-old colt, Silverthorn Easy Acres.

The highlight of our day was to see quite a few people here who had attended our Horsemanship Clinic only the previous week. Not only were their horses going round beautifully, but they were all in the winner's circle taking out firsts and high placings. Young Tia Andrews had a spectacular day winning both hack champions in both the ASH, and ANSA rings. Congratulations Tia.

Under judge Jenna Teeg, Easy Acres won led ASH colt under four years; ASH hack colt, filly or gelding under 4 years then Reserve Champion ASH Hack; 1st ASH colt, filly or Gelding - Working and then Reserve Champion Working ASH. An excellent day for this young colt who has had very limited outings previously.

Pictured are Paul on Easy in his hack class, and then later, reserve champion ASH hack to Tia Andrews' champion ASH hack.

Horsemanship Clinic at Silverthorn
21st and 22nd January, 2012

Our two-day January Horsemanship Clinic went really well and we feel sure that everyone went home with something to build on.

Saturday started with a demonstration of starting young horses. Our subject was yearling filly Silverthorn Sunsation who with her sweet and biddable nature proved to be a good choice. She went so well that Paul actually saddled her up, cracked the whip over her, and rode her around the yard. She impressed all with her wonderful quality and nature.

The rest of the day was used mainly to teach riders how to set up their horses for flying changes, turns, and stops. We weren't however, limited to just these moves, as many riders required assistance with issues they were having with their horses and these were easily overcome making everyone proud of their own personal achievements.

Paul on Silverthorn Sunsation

Sunday, our second day, revealed an enormous improvement in one and all, and it was this day where we really saw the difference in both riders and their horses. Plainly day one laid the foundations for such great improvement in everyone.

Elizabeth Northwood on her newly broken-in
two-year-old gelding Burrenview Doubleshot by Silverthorn Shotgun.

With everyone working so hard, morning tea breaks and lunchtime, were very welcome which allowed people to discuss their progress with Paul and to set up a plan for the next stage of their day. Saturday evening over dinner is always one of our highlights - we always enjoy these times - gives us a chance to get to know everyone and learn something from the exchange of information with interesting people who are travellers, businessmen, professionals and just ordinary people such as ourselves. Kath Massey, pictured in one of our pictures below, is very dedicated to the welfare of brumbies and it was very informative to hear her talk about the requirements of brumby registration, capture and other aspects about brumbies that we weren't aware of - another round-the-table discussion that came from left field.

A confidence building clinic is being planned for the Maitland area in the very near future. This time we will be working on riding and handling for those not at competition level but just wishing to enjoy their horse. A great opportunity for new-comers and nervous riders as well as those who just wish to get back to the basics of horsemanship. There will be a limited number of places, so if you wish to participate please let us know.

27th January, 2012

We recently had news of Silverthorn Sportsman from his young owner Jaymee Hyland of Dubbo, NSW. With Jaymee now 15 and Sport five, they are really hitting their straps with dressage, stock horse events, jumping and campdrafting. As you can see from the pictures here, a real partnership has developed between these two since the Hyland family purchased Sportsman for Jaymee three years ago. We are looking forward to watching their continuing progress with great interest this year.

The geldings Silverthorn Gideon, and Silverthorn News Flash, advertised on the sale page of our website were sold last weekend. They were used all weekend during our Horsemanship Clinic, and impressed all with their softness and trainability.

Silverthorn Gideon (St Ronan Abdul Smoke x Barsham Sunaround)
pictured here coming to a nice stop with his new owner Monique Hewett.

Not able to take the smile off her face is young Brooke Joyner,
new owner of Silverthorn News Flash (St Ronan Abdul Smoke x Riverway Marielle).

Shown here, a couple of days prior to our Horsemanship Clinic, are Paul on three year old colt Silverthorn Easy Acres and Mick Allen on his two-year-old colt Silverthorn Spiderwick. Both colts were used to demonstrate "how to" at our Horsemanship Clinic last weekend and were very impressive with their manners and paces.

During the school holidays we were lucky to have two great helpers, Georgia Snowdon and Tahnee Smyth, spend time with us. Both girls worked hard both in and out of the saddle - always lovely to have these eager to learn young people around us.

Pictured here is Tahnee on three-year-old filly Silverthorn Journey.

Brittany on Whiteash Tobin and Georgia on Silverthorn My Girl
returning home after a day of cattlework with Paul.

15th January, 2012

With acceptances received for Sydney Royal Show 2012 and the Australian Stock Horse Society National Championships taking place early this year (5th-10th of March) at the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre (AELEC) in Tamworth, NSW, we are all in for a very busy start to the year. As you can see, the ASH Nationals will take place before Sydney Royal this year.

Our show team have been brought in from their spell over the holidays and have commenced their preparation for the coming season. Horses in are Knights Jugaby, Silverthorn Easy Acres, Silverthorn My Girl, Silverthorn Journey, Whiteash Tobin, and our lovely yearling Shotgun filly Silverthorn Sunsation.

We have entered Sunsation in the 2012 Fountain of Youth National Yearling and Two Year Old Sale which will be held during the ASH National Championships at Tamworth. She is from Barsham Sunaround, an FSH (foundation stock horse) mare who always produces great temperament and type in her foals. Have you noticed that the ASHS have introduced tagging foundation stock horses with "FSH" on their online studbook?

Congratulations to Sophie Babic on the purchase of the stand-out black yearling gelding Silverthorn Smoke and Mirrors (St Ronan Abdul Smoke x Silverthorn Madalyn). A very attractive young horse who we feel will excell in any discipline.

Breaking-in and training outside horses has become a large part of our day-to-day activity increasing our routine stud, show preparation, and training workload to a high level of productivity. With the special young people around us to assist in our daily routine we are able to fulfill our expectations of turning out nice going horses to satisfied clients. Our trainees Joe Lawrence and Brittany Hetherington have taken on the Silverthorn values of hard work, fair play and good sportsmanship, representing us to the best of their abilities both in the show ring and at home making us very proud of their achievements.

With Joe having completed his training and apprenticeship in 2011, Brittany has started her employment with us for 2012 and will be studying the same course - Agriculture III Certificate with TAFE. TAFE are introducing a long-awaited module in performance horses this year - this is going to benefit a lot of young people in our industry.

Joe is seen here at home on his two-year-old filly Silverthorn Sugar Glider who, Joe tells us, is coming along really well and will be ready for competition this season.

We recently heard from Melissa Simpson who purchased the three-year-old brown filly Silverthorn Cattleya (from Barsham Sunrising - the same mare as Joe's filly Sugar Glider), with news that the filly has settled in well is taking everything in her stride - another quality young horse we are looking forward to seeing out this year.

Melissa is pictured here enjoying
the summer break with Cattleya.

We have some very good young horses for sale on our Sale Page who are definitely worth considering if you are looking for a well-broken in performance horse for the future. We also have some outstanding show quality two-year-olds ready for breaking-in - these will be appearing on our website soon.

We have had a wonderful crop of foals this year - our black Acres Destiny colt, Silverthorn Easy Acres has produced some beautiful stock as has the chestnut Docs Freckles Oak stallion Crillee Amarillo Oak. These two dual registered stallions are producing really lovely elegant types from our stock horse mares. "Freckles" is a horse that has been largly overlooked in the past, but looking at the stock he is producing for us we are certainly going to give him more opportunities in the broodmare paddock. Freckles is building up a good reputation with client mares with many returning for more foals by him. Silverthorn Shotgun foals are all saying "look at me" with their distinctive Shotgun markings - these youngsters are great types and it's hard to pick a favourite.

Our Horsemanship Clinic coming up on 21st and 22nd January is fully booked and we are looking forward to hosting yet another productive weekend.