BUYERS at the Toowoomba Supreme Horse Sale will have access to quality cutting and campdrafting prospects with one of country’s top cutting trainers, Graham Amos, offering a large draft of young horses and broodmares.
Mr Amos, A1 Training Stables, Warwick, is retiring from the industry, and will have 14 ridden horses, 11 broodmares – seven with foals – and one yearling on offer.
Among the draft is his imported Quarter Horse stallion Catskills, by High Brow Cat from Smart Little Lena mare Smart Solution, who is also the sire of more than half his sale horses.
Mr Amos has been training for decades, competing in his first cutting futurity in 1972.
“I’ve made a living out of horses all my life,” he said.
“I’ve done a little bit of drafting, but cutting has been the focus for many years.”
He grew up on a dairy farm at The Channon, near Lismore, before leaving at 17 to go droving and to work on stations in North Queensland.
After working as a stock inspector and spending some time on the professional rodeo circuit, he started breaking horses, which helped him buy his first property at Dubbo, where he spent 32 years.
“The area around Dubbo was probably the biggest horse place then, and that was the largest cutting club in Australia at the time,” Mr Amos said.
He was the Australian National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) futurity champion in 1987 and 1990, before being inducted into the NCHA hall of fame in 1992.
His next big step was a stint in the US.
“The Crumpler family got me to go over to Wichita Falls in Texas,” Mr Amos said.
“They wanted help with their horses and by this time a young fella who had worked for me was doing very well over there.
“They asked me to go over and do a clinic, and it took me another two years to move over in 2000.”
While in the States he “lived and breathed” cutting, spending much of his time on the road.
Mr Amos scored the 2002 US NCHA futurity highest aggregate in the go-rounds and in 2005 placed fourth in the US NCHA open futurity.
“The first futurity you win here is a big deal, but running fourth in the US futurity was the highlight of my whole career – it’s just such a huge competition.”
Mr Amos returned to Australia that year, but brought a bit of the US industry with him.
He imported mare Wendys Weed, who ran fourth in the US limited non-pro futurity in 2004, as well as Catskills, who has sired many successful cutters and campdrafters.
“In America there’s more depth to breeding cow horses than what we’ve got here,” he said.
“Our main horses are thoroughbreds, and years ago, because the social activities all over Australia were the race meetings, they used those stallions to breed horses to win races, and for their working horses as well.
“But in America, they’ve focused on breeding working horses to working horses.”
Catskills was the 2010 national super cow horse champion and Mr Amos was the 2007 NCHA futurity champion on Giovannis Simpatico, the 2013 futurity reserve champion and the 2014 NCHA derby reserve champion on Satin Rey.
It’s his first time selling at Toowoomba, with his horses usually sold privately.
“This is the first and last time my horses are going through a public sale,” Mr Amos said.
“There’s good demand for Catskills’ progeny. A filly by him sold at the Landmark Classic at Tamworth this year for $53,000 as a three-year-old.
“I’m also selling one of my best mares, Meerkat Mozart, with a filly foal by Once In A Blue Boon.
“Those yearlings are selling extremely well – close to $100,000 – in America.”
Mr Amos will keep two horses and still ride, doing the odd bit of mustering, and plans to continue sharing his knowledge with others in the industry.
“I like helping people who want to be helped, and training cutters is full on,” he said.
“To get a horse to a show it takes two-and-a-half years of training, then constant work after that.”
He said he enjoyed the challenge of training and competing.
“I believe that cutting is the most challenging horse sport, because you’ve got to throw the reins down and let the horse do the work.
“You can help your horse a little bit with your legs, but they’ve got to be fully trained.
“There’s no better feeling than having a good horse working under you.”