MEANDARRA campdrafters Bill and Sue Waldron have been selling horses through the Dalby Australian Stock Horse sale for the past four decades, and they have six on offer in this year’s catalogue.
Mr Waldron has been breeding and training for many years, and Mrs Waldron is well-known in the industry for her work as a photographer, and with the Australian Campdrafting Association.
“We didn’t sell horses at Dalby until 1977 but we were involved from the inception with the show classes, and now we’re recognised as regular vendors,” Mr Waldron said.
He’s had some good prices over the years, receiving $26,000 for a mare in 2016, $25,000 for a mare last year, and $18,000 for a gelding in 2004.
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“We also sold a stallion in 2004 for $10,000, and he went to a buyer from Texas in the US, to breed polocrosse horses,” Mr Waldron said.
“Most of the horses we’ve sold have gone into campdrafting, but some have gone to polo and polocrosse.
“Some have also gone into the challenge field, which is getting really popular, especially with the younger horses.”
The Waldrons run about 120 cows and 30 horses on a 1010-hectare block, and Mr Waldron competes in about 15 drafts a year.
Mr Waldron has been campdrafting for more than 45 years, and does all the training himself, breaking at two years of age and usually selling the geldings as three-year-olds and mares as four-year-olds.
He breeds five or six foals a year, with one stallion at stud, Silky Dynasty, by one of the industry’s leading sires, impact sire Acres Destiny, and from heritage mare Silky Sandy.
“He has a double cross of Warrenbri Romeo in the mare line,” Mr Waldron said.
At 61, he still rides three or four horses every day, and while the young sale horses don’t get much training on cattle, he does compete in stock horse futurities as a lead up to the sale.
Among his 2018 sale draft is Ervines Yetta, an open mare by impact sire and Abbey grandson Adios Reflect, from Ervines Chicketta, a daughter of Warrenbri Omega and granddaughter of heritage sire Warrenbri Romeo.
The 12-year-old bay mare placed third in the Landmark Classic as a five-year-old, and is a proven breeder, with two foals, as well as an embryo foal.
Mr Waldron said one of his other top horses was his six-year-old bay gelding Waldrons Eclipse, by his stallion Silky Dynasty and from Rivoli Ray granddaughter Fairstar Humbleen. He has been campdrafted lightly for the past 18 months.
“He could be a tremendous polocrosse horse, because he’s big (15.3 hands), clever and fast,” Mr Waldron said.
Also included in the Waldrons’ draft is Blue Moon Mystic daughter Yandaloo Serenade, who has Abbey and Romeo bloodlines; three-year-old black gelding Waldrons Dundee, by Silky Dynasty and from open mare Gatton UQ Destiny; 10-year-old performance mare Yarrawa Dreamer, a Hazelwood Conman granddaughter that has won futurities, show classes and campdrafts; and Waldrons Heartbreaker, a three-year-old chestnut gelding by Acres son Royalle Heartacre who is suited to showing or campdrafting.
“We’ve got some young horses and some older mares for sale, because we’ve got some new progeny coming along, and I’m working on the younger horses now,” Mr Waldron said.