The fantastic day I met the Queen
A day I will never forget
Sometimes something you did long ago, is a memory which doesn’t fade. In fact my memory is as if it happened yesterday.
As part of my journey of becoming a horse breeder, I used to work in my school holidays at the stud of Willomurra. This was the first stud to introduce Quarter Horses to South Australia. Unbeknown to me, the owner was living just a few streets from me in Adelaide with his family. Noel Fennell would travel every day to Kersbrook to set up the infrastructure for the stud. Eventually, it became one of the pre-eminent studs, outside of the racing fraternity.
By sheer coincidence, I was home one day studying for my exams, when an Avon Lady rang the doorbell. Somehow the conversation turned to horses. She mentioned she had just called in on someone ‘down the road’ who was setting up a Quarter Horse stud in the Adelaide Hills. Though I had formed the opinion that I didn’t like the Quarter Horse from advertisements which had begun appearing in the Hoofs and Horns, I eagerly I garnered information.
As soon as she left, I ran down the long steep hill to the house she had mentioned, and knocked on the door.
To my amazement, Mr Fennell answered the door and invited me in.
We talked about horses, Quarter Horses, and breeding horses, for about an hour, and I left with some pamphlets, a couple of US Quarter Horse Magazines, and an invitation to visit the horses the following Saturday. That was in 1967 and I was not yet 16. By the time Saturday had come around, I had read everything, and had a ton of questions.
I was introduced to the wonderful Merrie Elliott who was the Stud Master. She taught me everything I could absorb while I worked there in school holidays, and many weekends. We became lifelong friends.
Not only that, I saw my first Quarter Horse on that day, a young stallion called Quarter Master. I instantly fell in love with him. I had never seen anything like him. He had a huge dark glossy ‘oily’ eye, the kindest look, a dish face and the fat jowl of a stallion. He had HUGE muscles, and a hindquarter I had never seen on a horse. Not only that, I had never seen a horse of his colour - the darkest, deepest, ‘purple’ liver chestnut. I was instantly in love and hooked on Quarter Horses.
Quarter Master was only on loan, so I spent as much time as I could with him, always in admiration for his ‘kid’s horse temperament and unflappability. He would also snake at the Murray Grey cattle as they came down to drink at the trough outside his fence - there was no doubt he had natural cow-sense, and could ‘turn on a dime.’
I had many lovely rides on him. He was so quiet I was entrusted to ride out, either in a group or by myself. I remember one day, riding along the verge of the main road where I passed a row of dense bushes. I had no knowledge of what was behind them but QM did because the only warning I got was flick of an ear in that direction.
Suddenly, a mob of cattle trotted into open view. I was instantly whisked into a 180 degree turn as he began ‘cutting’ them against the fence. I admit that I very nearly came off, but fortunately I grabbed the horn of the saddle for dear life. I managed to stop after a few turns, bringing to me feelings of exhilaration and the sheer power of that horse.
This unforgettable horse left me with no doubt as to the direction I wanted to go. I borrowed money from my dad for the service fee, and borrowed a mare from a friend which I had seen competing at a high level in sporting events, called National Velvet.
Shortly after that, QM returned and Noel imported Jet Master AAA. As life moved on I graduated, married etc. Suddenly one day I received a letter, asking whether we’d like to buy shares in the next QH Noel was to import. This was Go Far Bar Bob AAAT. I immediately looked him up in my Complete Book of the Quarter Horse, liked the photo and said yes!
Later in 1974, Queen Elizabeth II was to visit Adelaide and by her request, a visit to Willomurra to see the Quarter Horses. A special day of racing and western demonstrations was scheduled, together with a display of the stallions. I was the lucky holder of Go Far Bar Bob.
The day was greeted with much excitement and as the time drew near, and the sprint racing started, the atmosphere was electric. There was a huge crowd and much talk in the media. Bob remembering his racing days, became increasingly unsettled, to the point where I wondered if I was going to be able to hold him. I rattled the chain in desperation as the moment arrived.
Her Majesty, escorted by Noel, walked by and stopped to chat with us. It was only a few words, but I will never forget how gracious and welcoming she made us feel. Thank goodness Bob stood still throughout. As soon as she passed, he took one enormous bounce and broke out into a sweat. I was glad to be able to put him back in his stable.
This is one of those memories which stays with one forever.
Do let’s know in the comments if you have any particular unique memories which you’d like to share.
As luck would have it, in 1971, National Velvet produced a lovely black filly, which I named Chalani Cat Ballou. ‘Kitty’ came with those soft QM eyes, dish face, big hindquarter and lots of DREAMS!
This was important, as in those days, such fillies were considered valuable first crosses in an upgrading programme to studbook status, much along the lines of cattle breeding. But just as importantly for me, this filly, only the second filly I had bred, became the most prolific foundation mare of my breeding programme.
From her we produced High Point horses at State QH shows, and even sprint horses, including Chalani Paper Tiger, second in the 1981 All Australian Futurity. When we purchased our ASH stallion Rannock, and decided it wasn’t possible to do justice to two breeds, we had her classified as an Australian Stock Horse. ‘Kitty’ and her descendants were the only ones with QH in them which we kept, as we couldn’t bear to part with them.
There is much more to this story which is documented it in my book The Rannock Legacy. You can buy the book here:
Always enjoy these stories. My brother had a Hired Hand bred gelding when he was a teen. Really looked a lot like that Quarter Master. Handy was a dark blood bay.