• Led/Halter - Respect on the Ground
• Hack & Working Patterns - Techniques to have one horse do it all
• Trail obstacles - Confidence building exercises
• Cattle working - The 'make or break' section of a multi-facet event

• First ASH to compete in international cow horse competition
• First ASH to win individual and annual championship awards in cow horse events
• First ASH to be presented at major equine venues; the Calgary Stampede, Spruce Meadows and the Mane Event
• First ASH stallion in Canada

CADABRA and Maryanne are set to return home in 2011, and we hope that Australia is proud to welcome back such outstanding ambassadors for the Australian Stock Horse breed.

JULY 10, 2010 :: In July of 2010, Maryanne and Cadabra competed in the Calgary Stampede's first-ever 'Extreme Cowboy Race'! Created by renowned clinician Craig Cameron, entry into the event was strictly by approval only and required video footage along with the other entry conditions. The event was run over three rounds, and the course changed each time. Horse and rider were presented with completely unknown elements which they had one opportunity to 'walk' 10 minutes before the event began. The horses didn't see anything until they entered to compete. Bright moving stagelights on the ground, double level and moving bridges, strange jumps, mirrors, floating bridges (yes in water!), curtains, dragging calf sleds - plus some very unusual props! The pair had a great time and again, Cadabra was the first of his breed to ever present in an event like this!

JUNE 12, 2010 :: The lovely first cross CADABRA filly, Shazam, bred by Jacquie McArthur of Canada, has been sold to a new home in Texas, USA. The filly was purchased by a Polocrosse home and we are excited to see the first CADABRA foal exported to the United States and hope to hear about her in the years to come.

MAY 31, 2010 | SHOW RESULTS :: CADABRA wins the ARCHA $2000 Limit Working Cow Horse on Saturday, May 30 at Claresholm.

MAY 26, 2010 :: CADABRA is now the sire of five healthy foals at McArthur Farms. Four fillies stacked the odds against the only colt, and breeders from the past season are reporting their new arrivals all the time. We look forward to watching these babies grow into young horses and hope that whatever discipline they end up in, that they carry on promoting this great Australian breed.

APRIL 23-25, 2010 | EVENT :: Don't forget to come say g'day at the Mane Event in Red Deer this weekend! Our demo times are: Friday April 23 - 5pm UFA Arena, Saturday April 24 - 7pm UFA Arena (plus see us in the Saturday Night 'Equine Experience'), Sunday April 25 - 3pm Morand Arena. We also have a trade booth all weekend. See you there!

FEBRUARY 4, 2010 :: Whilst holidaying in Australia this year, Maryanne had the opportunity to ride in the 2010 Landmark Classic Priefert Open Campdraft. Aboard her father's Acres Destiny stallion, CAPTAIN BARBADOS, she accumulated a two-round total of 174 to secure her place in the Thursday night final, and some round money in the second round. The pair ended up just out of the places with a three-round aggregate of 260, and three full courses.

The Priefert Open had over 230 competitors and approximately 25 were taken back into the final. (Campdrafting is an Australian cattle working sport incorporating a cut out section, with the added excitement of guiding the cow around a cloverleaf patterned course. Scores are out of 100 and are made up of cut out score, horsework score and course score.)

NOVEMBER 03, 2009 :: Vic Gough is a well known name in the Australian horse industry, but even his biggest fans would be surprised to know that in December 2009, Vic will be 79 years old.

The 2009 Warwick Gold Cup had a record number of entries this year which seems to be a growing trend. Over 790 entries in one event is nearly unheard of in any sport - horse or otherwise - and with three harrowing rounds to be completed, only the best of the best end up 'in the money'.

Vic was very pleased with his well recognised mount, the dun mare Baymak Finesse (Glenmore Partnership Buster/Baymak Refine). Interesting trivia: she was passed in for $35,000 at the 2008 Dalby ASH Sale and like all things in life - everything happens for a reason.

"It's very different from the days when there were 60 entries in the Warwick Gold Cup," Vic says, "these days you are competing against absolutely huge numbers and a large portion of the riders today are professionals in the sport. I'm very pleased with the mare, she is really hitting her prime now - she was one of only two horses to make both the Canning Downs final and the Warwick Gold Cup final. The other was a mare ridden by Terry Hall."

Vic is one of the men who has won the Warwick Saddlebronc Ride and has placed second in the Warwick Gold Cup twice. He is a very consistent competitor however with many placings in the 'Melbourne Cup of Campdrafting', and he shows no sign of slowing down yet! Congratulations Dad!

SEPTEMBER 9-13, 2009 | EVENT :: The Australian Stock Horse was displayed for the first time at this years Breeds For The World expo at the Spruce Meadows 'Masters' Tournament. Cadabra and Maryanne showed in Australian stock style - stockwhip and all, YALLATUP REGINA was ridden by Sam Darmody to showcase Polocrosse, and CONDAMINE GLEN IDOL was presented in full Dressage regalia. The different disciplines shown was a concious effort to show the breeds' versatility and talent. The Australian Stock Horse booth did a brisk business with Australian Equine Exporting Services' Amanda Riordan at the helm and we enjoyed meeting the many admirers of the breed. Cadabra proved his gentle nature and amiable personality as he stood quietly in his display stall amidst the stress and chaos of the trade show atmosphere.

AUGUST 2, 2009 | SHOW RESULTS :: CADABRA, the first Australian Stock Horse stallion in Canada, is turning heads as a competitive Reined Cow Horse. At the ARCHA (Alberta Reined Cow Horse Association) Claresholm Stock Horse show on the 1st & 2nd August, 2009, Cadabra came 3rd and 1st respectively, scoring a consistent 73 in his reined work both days. Ridden by his owner, Maryanne Gough, Cadabra is competing in a Limited Open division and has won two shows this season, and is placing consistently.

This talented 7yo stallion is proving that Australia has its own talented and trainable cow horses, and with no Quarter Horse blood at all, Cadabra will provide an exciting outcross to the Quarter Horse lines already available in North America. We predict that the 2010 breeding season will be a big one for Cadabra at the McArthur-Icewood Stud Farm near Calgary, Alberta and those in Canada should keep an eye out at upcoming ARCHA shows (see www.albertareinedcowhorse.ca for this eye-catching black stallion.

Maryanne is very grateful to Alberta horse trainers, John & Clint Swales for their tuition and guidance as she and Cadabra continue to adapt to this new style of riding.

JULY 6-8, 2009 | EVENT :: CADABRA and CONDOMINE GLEN IDOL presented with great success in the Calgary Stampede's Breed Showcase. The pair made history performing in the first ever Australian Stock Horse demonstration at the famous Calgary Stampede.

MAY 31, 2009 | SHOW RESULTS :: CADABRA, our ASH stud, competed for the first time overseas this past weekend in Claresholm, Alberta -- making Australian Stock Horse history as it was the first time an ASH horse has ever competed in North America in a Cow Horse event.

The ASH team would like to offer a BIG thank you to John and Clint Swales who have been mentoring Maryanne and CADABRA in the weeks leading up to this inaugural event. See you again at the next ARCHA event.

MARCH 31, 2009 :: "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stayed could prevent our courageous couriers from the completion of their delivery" Perhaps Maryanne didn't recognize the oath of Herodotus or the postal service before but I think she can relate to it now after travelling from her home in Lowood, Australia to Calgary, Canada with the ASH stock. What began as a scheduled eight day trip turned into 14 days of airline flight and road condition delays. Most notable were the ongoing 'Road Condition Snow Fall Warnings' being issued while travelling on the I-15 through the Rocky Mountain passes in Montana and Idaho causing the volume of delays experienced during their roadtrip to their new home in Canada. Yes, Spring in the Rockies can be very unpreditable.

All arrived safely in the dark of night March 31 at 11PM amidst sub-zero temperatures, high winds, and falling'n blowing snow -- A very "Canadian" welcome. (It's spring you say? What spring?) The horses took all of the events of their trip in stride and remaining healthy and sensible during their long haul from Australia to thier new home in Canada. Special thanks to Kim Elliott of Elliott Equine Transport for her care, patience and attention over the long haul. No doubt the horses feel as though they've landed on an alien planet -- so vast the sea of white, this unfamiliar stuff called snow.

DECEMBER 25, 2008 | SHOW RESULTS :: South QLD Management Council Annual High Point Awards. Each year the South Queensland Management Council (SQMC) of the ASHS runs a series of Futurities & Challenges which culminates with the awarding of annual High Point awards. In 2008 the nominated Futurity/Challenges were; Eastern Downs ASHS (Warwick, QLD), Chinchilla ASHS (Chinchilla, QLD), Gympie ASHS (Kilkivan, QLD) and West Moreton ASHS (Toogoolawah, QLD).

Icewood was off to a cracking start in 2008, winning both the Open Challenge with TALAWAHL PLAYBACK (pictured top with stablemate CADABRA) and the 4yo Maturity with JAYTEE ETERNITY at Warwick in May. JAYTEE ROWDY wasn't to be overlooked and took home a second in the Yearling Futurity. At Chinchilla in June, TALAWAHL PLAYBACK won the Open Challenge (the third time Maryanne has won this Challenge) and JAYTEE ETERNITY (pictured middle) placed =2nd in the 4yo Maturity. JAYTEE ROWDY placed third in the Yearling Futurity. Kilkivan was next and TALAWAHL PLAYBACK struck a white Brahman that had a different idea of what Campdrafting consists of than he did! His stablemate CADABRA (who did not compete in the whole run of SQMC Challenges due to Maryanne being busy with a full team of clients horses), handled his beast extremely well and brought home a sash having placed in the top six of the Open Challenge. JAYTEE ROWDY won the Yearling Futurity at Kilkivan. Toogoolawah was the final event in the series and the pressure was on for Icewood's top three horses who were all very high up on the leaderboards. TALAWAHL PLAYBACK lived up to his title of 'Mr. Consistency' winning yet another Open Challenge and clinching the title of 2008 SQMC HIGH POINT OPEN CHALLENGE ASHM. JAYTEE ETERNITY placed second in the 4yo Maturity behind the consistent mare LAZY D SHEZA RIVOLI OAK and Kayleen Sutton, which was plenty to win her the embroidered rug for 2008 SQMC HIGH POINT 4yo MATURITY ASH. The lovely JAYTEE ROWDY had tongue's wagging when he won the Toogoolawah Yearling Futurity, clear winner of the 2008 SQMC HIGH POINT YEARLING ASH (pictured bottom).

NOVEMBER 29, 2008 :: 2008 ASHS National Championships. The ASHS National Championships are over for another year after being held at Scone in NSW. The star for the Icewood team ended up being BINNIA GUNSLINGER owned by Jaytee Stud of Tamworth, NSW. Maryanne rode Gunslinger consistently throughout the four sections of Hack, Working, Time Trial and Campdraft to place 3rd Overall in the National Open Challenge, only behind Michael Wilson from 59 entries. His Icewood stablemates, CADABRA, who placed =3rd with RIVER VIEW SNOWMAN and Paul Vary, and TALAWAHL PLAYBACK (pictured top), who placed =1st with WILLDRAFT IGNITE and Michael Wilson were also positioned very well overall until the predictably unpredictable Campdraft section. Interestingly, three out of the 6 top placed horses in the Working section of the National Open Challenge were trained by Maryanne Gough at Icewood.

Maryanne also rode JAYTEE ETERNITY (pictured bottom) in the National Maturity for a 4th placing in the Hack Section. A difficult cow in the Campdraft section meant that this talented mare (whose acheivements include Champion Leds, Open Challenges, ASH Cattle Working classes and the 2008 SQMC High Point 4yo Maturity ASH) was out of the running this time around.