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Yulgilbar Quarter Horse Stud

The history of Yulgilbar Quarter Horse Stud dates back to 1840 over a century before the arrival of the first American Quarter Horse to Australia.

Edward Ogilvie, arrived from England with his family aboard the ship Granada in January, 1825. The family settled on 810 hectares in the Hunter Valley of NSW which Edward’s father, William Ogilvie, named Merton.

In 1840 Edward and his brother, Frederick, settled a new property near Grafton in Northern NSW. The property was at first named Swanlea and later changed to Yulgilbar, an Aboriginal word that some say means ‘place of little fishes’ and others say ‘place of the platypuses’, both of which occupied the area. Edward and Frederick returned home to Merton to gather all they needed to establish their new property. They returned to Yulgilbar with 12,000 sheep, shepherds and three bullock drays loaded with the supplies to set Yulgilbar up as a working station.

After the passing of his brother in 1846, Edward managed the holdings. After travelling Europe he returned to Yulgilbar to build a Moorish-inspired castle which was completed in 1866. Edward Ogilvie passed away in 1896 and was laid to rest next to his brother in the family vault overlooking Yulgilbar. Yulgilbar went to Edward’s daughter Mabel in 1896 and her daughter, Jessie Lillingston (later the renowned woman’s campaigner, Lady Jessie Street) who wrote freely of her beloved times spent at Yulgilbar.

After 1926 Mr Samuel Hordern Snr purchased all shares in Yulgilbar Pastoral Company. Together with Sir Rupert Clarke, Peter Baillieu and W.S. Robinson, Samuel Hordern Snr was the first to import Santa Gertrudis cattle into Australia. When Mr Hordern bought Yulgilbar he introduced not only his love of horses but also a new breed - the Quarter Horse.

Yulgilbar Quarter Horse Stud began in 1954 when Samuel Hordern Snr, together with King Ranch Australia, imported the first four registered Quarter Horse Stallions to Australia. The Horderns’ retained Mescal Q-35, a gift from King Ranch for their stud at Retford Park in Bowral NSW.

Mescal was a son of the great King Ranch stallion Wimpy P1. In 1955 Samuel’s daughter, Sarah, married Baillieu Myer who was to become a crucial part of Yulgilbar Stud.

On the advice of the American Quarter Horse Association, the Horderns’ purchased a line of registered thoroughbred mares selected on their breeding, conformation and temperament to breed to Mescal. Their progeny were an instant success. These first cross Quarter Horses went on to compete in all Equestrian and Western events with outstanding results where they underwrote the success of the breed from that time onwards.

The Hordern Quarter Horse Stud, after the sale of Retford Park, moved to Cinnabar Station adjoining Yulgilbar, then later down to Colony Stud at Scone in the NSW Hunter Valley. Samuel Hordern, with the help of Jack Reilly, a foundation AQHA Breed Classifier, continued to import some of the top American bloodlines to breed to these first cross Mescal mares. Such stallions as Alazan De Lela (imp) Q-36, another Wimpy P1-bred stallion, Bill’s Crocket (imp) Q-211, the first dual registered Quarter Horse and Australian Stock Horse in Australia, and Pars Music Bar (imp) Q-745, a grandson of Three Bars and a top performance horse in the US and Australia.

All these stallions have been a contributing factor as foundation lines for the outstanding success of the current Yulgilbar Stud progeny competing around Australia today. From this beginning they continued to breed from an elite selection of the best imported bloodlines such as Lee Bars Boy, Jackaroo K R, Mr. Leotoe (imp) Q-275 and Clover Drift Q-63. These horses were used over Yulgilbar’s carefully bred station mares, from top thoroughbred and stock horse lines. One of Mescal’s early progeny, the legendary Quarter Elgrando R1-164, who was bred, trained and shown by Max McTaggart, set the standard when cutting competition was in its infancy in Australia.

Both Samuel Hordern and Baillieu Myer were elected president of the Australian Quarter Horse Association and Sarah, Sam’s daughter, was a Director. In 1959 Baillieu Myer, Samuel Hordern (Deputy President) and Martin Lemann (Convenor of the AQHA Publicity Committee) visited the AmQHA to strengthen communication channels and review activities. At that time the AQHA was a young five years old with 264 members and just over 600 registered horses.
After the passing of Samuel Hordern Snr in 1960, Sarah and Baillieu Myer took over management and ownership of Yulgilbar Quarter Horse Stud. In 1976 they moved the Yulgilbar Stud  to Elgee Park, a magnificent estate overlooking Port Phillip Bay on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, with eight or ten mares and the imported sire, Chickeramic Q-337. This move was the turning point of the stud.

Yulgilbar’s influential stallion Chickeramic is the son of Triple Chick, a sire of nine AAAT, 50 AAA, and 20 AA race winners in the USA. He is from the champion mare Tabano Star.

Yulgilbar purchased Chickeramic in 1968; he was imported to Australia the following year where he was introduced to some of Yulgilbar’s best stud mares and King Ranch foundation mares which proved to be highly successful. His progeny have excelled at the highest level of all fields of competition and time and time again have proven to be very versatile horses.

Chickeramic sired 177 AQHA registered progeny and among those are horses who have not only made exceptional open competition horses, but also horses who with their versatility, ability and kind nature have taken many youth and amateur owner competitors to numerous titles. Chickeramic is the sire of many great performance horses bearing the Yulgilbar prefix who have all accumulated numerous AQHA points.

When Chickeramic’s daughter Gold Chick R2-417 was bred to the imported Peppy Snake Q-1448, the resulting bay mare was Yugilbar’s 1984 NCHA Open Derby Champion Yulgilbar O’Peppychick Q-3848, who was shown by Robert Mackay.

Chickeramic ceased stud duties in the early 1990’s. He spent his days in retirement sharing his paddock with Dixie II (FM) the dam of one of Chick’s earlier foals, the great grey gelding Yulgilbar Jessie James. The grand old couple, Chick and Dixie spent their final years at Elgee Park. Sadly, Chickeramic outlived Dixie by a few years and passed away in December 2003 at the great age of 35. Chickeramic was inducted into the AQHA Hall Of Fame in 2003 and his legacy lives on in his outstanding descendants.

In 1989 Yulgilbar purchased the stallion Kings Phillip Q-14894 from D Bar Quarter Horse Stud. Kings Phillip is by Peppy San Badger (Mr San Peppy x Sugar Badger) and Miss Casbrook (Doc O’Lena x Casbrook) and is the sire of Sid Myer’s great red roan gelding Yulgilbar Easter Snap Q-24114. Kings Phillip was purchased by NJ & JE Hopper of Lismore in 1996.

The current senior sire at Yulgilbar is Playboy Roy (imp) Q-31044 who was foaled in April 1987. Playboy Roy was bred by cutter John Carter, he was trained by Punk Carter and shown to perfection by Roy Carter, who won the 1992 NCHA Five year old Classic Championship on him. In 1993 Playboy Roy was the champion of the Old Fort Days Classic and the reserve champion of the 1994 Chisholm Trail Legends.

Playboy Roy was imported from the USA by Yulgilbar in 1994 as a seven-year-old. In 1996 he was named as the NCHA High Point Stallion and in 1998 became the co-champion of the first Sydney Royal Open Cutting. Playboy Roy’s achievements include being awarded with AQHA Register of Merits in Cutting and Performance, an NCHA Certificate of Ability and NCHA Merit Award.

The 1999 NCHA Futurity would prove to be an explosive double for the progeny of Playboy Roy’s first foal crop with Diamonds N Pearls Q-36055 being named as the NCHA Non Pro Futurity Champion and the NCHA Open Futurity Championship going to Genuine Pep Q-34825. The 2000 NCHA Futurity saw the daughter of Playboy Roy, Yulgilbar Kings Playgirl Q-35366 named the Futurity Reserve Champion with Roger Wagner in the saddle, Wagner having won the Futurity aboard She’s A Dream Q-39740, while Yulgilbar Jesses Playboy Q-33795 won the 2000 NCHA Non Pro Derby.

The 2001 NCHA Futurity saw Yulgilbar claim victory for the first time in the Open Futurity with their home grown 1997 chestnut gelding Yulgilbar Lots Of Play Q-38173, who is now owned by Ian and Billie Buckeridge.

Playboy Roy sired Yulgilbar’s 2003 NCHA Limited Open Futurity Champion Yulgilbar Nic OLena Q-43530. The same NCHA Futurity saw One Moore Playboy Q-43422 be named as the Limited Non Pro Futurity Champion.

Renowned horseman, Mark Buttsworth, took out the 2004 NCHA Non Pro Futurity Champion title aboard the 2000 chestnut mare Yulgilbar O Peppy Roy Q-45769, who is from Winderadeen Pure Elegance Q-23057.

One Moore Playboy’s full brother One Moore Senor Q-50370 was named as both the 2006 NCHA High Point Stallion of the Year and the 2006 NCHA Open Horse of the Year.

Playboy Roy was ranked as the NCHA number one Leading Sire of Futurity winners in 2001 and the NCHA number one Leading Sire in Australia for 2006. He is currently placed third in the NCHA Lifetime Earnings Sires list with 107 progeny. Playboy Roy’s progeny reached the finals in all events at the 2007 NCHA Futurity Show.

At Yulgilbar, the emphasis is on performance in their broodmare band. Their policy is to use only performed mares. Careful consideration is given to bloodlines used within the breeding program and selection of type and conformation are all considerations before a mare gains entry into the elite band of mares at Yulgilbar.

The classic Quarter Horse bloodlines are still represented in the current broodmare band, together with outcrosses to later imported lines.

Yulgilbar Quarter Horse Stud has always supplied the Quarter Horse industry with winning show horses excelling in Cutting, Halter, Western Pleasure, Trail, Reining, Hacking, Dressage and Campdrafting.

With their proven formula in place Yulgilbar continues to lead the way, producing only horses of the highest quality for show, pleasure and work.

The facilities at Elgee Park are for raising horses and include a large stable complex with day yards, a 100 x 50 ft. indoor arena and two round yards, the largest of which is 140 ft across. Sarah and Baillieu have always believed in providing the best possible facilities and care for their horses. Yulgilbar continues to produce horses that cater for all diverse activities of Australian Quarter Horse enthusiasts across the country. As a new generation of the Myer family emerges at Elgee Park, their passion for the Quarter Horse breed continues ensuring that Yulgilbar horses will continue to lead the way in the future of the Quarter Horse in Australia, as they have done for the past forty-one years.

The Australian Quarter Horse Association takes great pleasure in honouring the Yulgilbar Quarter Horse Stud by welcoming it as a Hall of Fame Inductee for 2007.