Episode 20: Solo Select Expands Global Reach with Sponsorship of the 2026 NCHA Australia Open Futurity

Hi, everyone. This is Melanie Smith at Solo Select. We've got a very cool podcast episode for you guys today. We've got some visitors from a long ways away. Tish Healy is here from Australia, and she's coming to visit us to talk a little bit about the stallions, talk about breeding season logistics for, I guess it would be y'all's 2026 breeding season that will be starting in what, August? September. Okay, August, September. So, Australia is opposite side of the world from us, of course. So, their breeding season is almost exactly opposite of ours, which works great for us as stallion owners. It allows us to export semen on these stallions and have a second market for them over in Australia. And so Tish came on and started promoting the Silla Select stallions in Australia two or three breeding seasons ago.

Yeah, I think two, about two. Two breeding seasons ago. And it's been a wonderful partnership. We've had customers from Australia that have reached out that have just been so happy with their experience from A to Z. And we really feel like this is a great, almost like another arm of Silla Select in Australia. And so the partnership has been wonderful. It's been great for our stallion owners to have, like I said, a secondary market for these horses during the off season. And I think it's cool for us because we get to see these horses excel in a totally different market over there. Some of them go on to be cutting horses, but you guys have camp drafting and all these other things. So we're going to get more into that in a little bit and talk a little bit about the Australian quarter horse market and.

Kind of how it's it's developed and it's really growing I think a lot over the last couple of years no different than ours is and so we'll get into that through here what I'm going to start off first is of course introducing Tish and Tish I'd love to hear from you on just kind of what. What happened in your career to make you somebody that ended up getting these stallions from the United States and representing them you know how did that come about it kind of just. It just sort of spiraled really I bought a stall we got into cutting about 2012 I ended up buying a stallion that was imported from America called tap dancing cat that was really popular in Australia and he came over and did really good he's actually a full brother to don't look twice okay so that's how it sort of started I was just had him and I was promoting him and I was like you know what I think I can do a pretty good job of this and I didn't know how to get into it and I I got introduced to John Kratzner over here who's the owner of MVP and we met him and had lunch and anyway he's really the start of it he gave me the he gave me my opportunity to show what I because I was like you know nobody in this field sure you know with the stallions and except for my own and yeah he took he took the gamble and it paid off we've sold him out for three years in a row and from that we got animal and then they moved here to solo and we met you and it just kept going from there kind of spiraled that happens that happens at solo sometimes yes we start into something and then it spirals so you get to be a part of that no i love it fortunately or unfortunately and so you you've seen we move fast around here and it was perfect timing for us when we were kind of building our stallion roster out that naturally mvp and animal were already over there with you and we were able to to move the studs that we had with you and like i said it's been a great experience so far so.

I guess let's talk a little bit about you and your husband. It's Rod, right? So you and your husband, Rod, kind of tell us a little bit about your story and how you guys got to the cutting horse industry. Well, I grew up in Tamworth, which is, you know, our Fort Worth, I guess you'd say, in that that's where we have our big futurity. And not once did I ever watch the futurity. The whole time I grew up there and we knew it was on and I had the celebrity cutting and that was about all we knew. And then we're always into horses. Rod grew up his mum's into dressage and his sister were into that sort of thing. So we're always into horses. And then we decided after I moved to Young, once I'd met Rod, that we would, you know, start just riding again.

And we met a friend who was doing cutting and he let us have a go on his horse. And as it all starts, we started in the snapple bit. The Snapplebit classes and then we're like I need a one-handed horse and it just went from there and we got a good mare that by fluke she ended up being a really good open horse and then we thought we'd breed her and then we went to a stallion and then here we are. And so since 2012 how has the cutting industry grown over there? Oh a lot like breeding wise it's just grown more and more like when I first got into it you know you know that's when tap dancing cake was over competing and I I'd known him then and he was sort of the best thing that had been brought out.

And, you know, there wasn't, it was, you was breeding more to what was there in Australia at the time. You know, there wasn't as much going on where you were breeding to America. You were a bit breeding to American studs, but it's not like it is now where pretty much that's the dominant market. You know, you would, everyone wants to breed to whatever the best thing going over here. And it's evolved from where, you know, embryo transfer, you know, came around and that sort of blew the market up. And now, just really in the last two years, you know, ICSI's really taken off, which has made it even easier because, you know, obviously some, the semen and things like that doesn't always travel that well or it mightn't be as great, but we still get the opportunity then to be able to breed to the stallions that are over here that everyone watches and a lot of the cutting, um.

Industry in Australia come here to watch you know the futurity here and compete in it like there's heaps of them that have competed here or trained over here and then gone back and started training in Australia yeah you know you've seen how many trainers are here that are from Australia some of your trainers yes yes yes you do but that's okay that's there's enough to go around and so what do you think now let's talk about the camp drafting actually I want to go into that so explain what camp drafting is for people that don't know. So they do a bit of like a cutout in a little pen first, which, but it's more, I always sort of explain it like football in a way. And so, you know, where cutting is more defensive to stop it getting back.

You're sort of going up at it. It's like almost like the sorting, like the team sorting kind of what we have over here. You've got to choose one out and then they sort of, and I'm not a big camp draft, you know, expert, but this is how I, and then they'll open the gate and you've got it, they've got to chase it around. Two or three, I think it's three pegs and like sort of through a gate at the end, you know, or a make-believe gate. So it's got a little bit of that cow horse part of it too, where they do, you know, cow horse really crosses over into the boat and raining, but the camp draft is our biggest market. And, you know, they started mainly Australian stock horses, but a lot of them now bring to American studs for that camp score, which is in that cutout section at the beginning, because they get a score for there and then a score for when they're out running around the trees or pegs.

So it's... going to hate how I've explained that to you because I'm not a camp drafter. You're getting judged by camp drafters right now. That is not how I want to talk. I can explain it. They can't get mad at me because I've never actually watched it. But the way, the best I can understand it, and one of my best friends, Samantha Hall, her and her husband have camp grafting horses over there. So she's also going to be unimpressed with what I tell you right now. But to me, it feels like we have a judged sorting. Yes. Basically, one person in there, and these horses are super cow-y when you watch them. Um it looks a little bit like the sorting it's a little more forward movement and in a snaffle bit almost always too isn't it no our snaffle bits you know our snaffle bit classes are more like just like your one-headed normal cutting classes just you can steer but you've got to sort of stay back off them whereas i find the the camp draft they're sort of more aggressively going at it to get closer but they're two-handed in there aren't yes yeah yeah and they're usually like a snaffle bit okay and they're in stock saddles yeah you know a fender saddles not a western saddle okay.

So they do that two-hand in, and then once they get their score in there, then they go out, and it's almost kind of like the cow horse part, what I call the cow work in the cow horse, except for you don't actually run and turn one down the fence. No. You're just kind of tracking them. Go turn it around the trees and then through a gate kind of thing. Yes. So I think this, to explain it to people that haven't seen that, and for them to kind of understand... How popular this is. I think this is similar in popularity to what the team roping is in the United States. Like, there's so many different people that do it at so many different levels, I'm assuming. That's how the team roping is here, where the cutting is kind of like y'all's, it's really, really growing, like, exponentially fast right now.

But there's still not as many people that do the cutting as what you see do the team roping. Oh, yeah. And that's definitely the same yeah and and so one thing i've seen with the camp drafting over there is a lot of that is what i call cross either straight thoroughbred horses which you guys call stock horses or cross the cow yeah they're strange stock horses okay yeah and is that a cow what what we call a cow run cross is that what you would call that i think that yeah i think it sort of started with like a thoroughbred cross and then now a lot of them though is like a quarter horse cross australian stock horse right yeah because they still want them a bit taller you know a bit leggier to be able to run um but they're crossing them with the australian quarter well with the american quarter horse cutting stallions for that camp school as well and because they can run too they right you know they're sort of starting to change that mentality where they need this tall leggy horse because they don't because they're fast little things even if they're short and stumpy they can run they have to be so fast now even in the cutting i think that's.

I know we're going to talk about I'll be overhang him today, but that's one thing Kenny always says about him. And I think that's where he will still excel over there in other disciplines because he's so fast. Like, he never gets, it's hard to say one never gets outrun across the cutting pin because it's such short spurts, but he's just so fast. He never gets outdone, you know, and puts himself in a bad position. And so I think those horses like that are really successful over there because obviously they're good in the cutting, but they can cross over to the camp drafting, which is arguably an even larger market than the cutting is right now. It is, definitely. And so Solo Select started sending stallions over there two years ago.

We had stallions over there, but didn't really push them very hard. And now you've got almost every stud we have there. Tell us about the kind of mares you're seeing booked to these studs. Like, are you getting a lot of camp drafting mares or cutting mares? Or is there a good mix of them? There's a good mix. still at the moment I think predominantly is cutting because they're the ones that know. Especially the new and up-and-coming ones you know but they then they start to break into the camp draft so you know if we you know like once in a blueburn for instance you know and he's ICSI only over there at the moment but the camp drafters love him but he started as because he's big and he can throw a bit of size and things like that and Woody's the same you know and he's an outcross for everything but those sort of more junior studs as you'd say like in the newer ones like MVP and Third Edge, they're still definitely the cutters, but there's still probably a quarter is camp drafters that are sort of in both, dabbling in both fields, but they definitely cross over into the camp drafting, all of them.

But I find it's still predominantly for those younger studs, the cutters that are going for them to start with. But a lot of cutting horse people in Australia are kind of doing a bit of both as well. Yeah, they're doing both. And so is it like what we see sometimes in the team roping here where we will see some of those horses that, for example, don't quite make it in the cutting because, let's say, they're just not cow enough, maybe, but they have the perfect amount of cow to be a heel horse, for example, and they're really successful in the heeling sometimes. Do you see that happen with the cutting over there? Do you see some of y'all's horses over there that maybe aren't the top 1% open horses?

They go into great, yeah, they can go camp drop. Yeah, that was the main industry where they went, if they didn't quite make it as a one-handed horse, because she could. You know, some of them were great two hands but once they just didn't make that next step and they would make great camp draft horses now our reigning cow horse in market is growing and it's been growing over the last few years and so now some of them are going that way too whereas before that wasn't as big a you know industry at all but it's definitely growing so they're going that way too but if they've got the size and probably the speed yeah so if they've got the size and the speed they definitely go drafting and we've got a big sale every year nutrient sale in February and a lot of them that maybe aren't quite there or they are good they'll put through their you know they have to be ridden so it's usually you know they're heading to that futurity year or or they can be older but a lot of them you know that's where they get really good money is at the camp draft sale more so than the cutting sale so we've only got one little yearling sale through the cutting at the moment that's where everyone focuses their horses if they want to sell them in a sale for and try and get good money yep and what about the you and i've talked a little bit about the team roping and i thought that that would be bigger over there but it's not as big as i thought it would be so but is it growing it's growing because they weren't you know i suppose this was like here i think a few years ago well probably five years ago they weren't the big breeders they you know they used to get your ex cutters and things and that's where i feel like we're always about that three years behind where it's funny because we've got now you know pride and joy and the dark side and time to go.

And we've only got the mix here at the moment while they're competing and I thought well you know. Team ropers aren't big breeders yet, you know, and that's kind of going to the end of the scale breed-wise. You know, that's the sort of, once you've been doing it, you go ICSI sort of thing. And they've booked in to do ICSI as some team ropers. And I was surprised because I thought this might be a hard push over there because they've only just sort of started their breeding sort of journey, really, a lot of them. So, yeah, they're going straight to the, you know, to get it done. Yeah, which is, and it's a big deal in Australia because there's only really a couple of labs that do it and a couple of clinics.

So it's not accessible for everyone so they're willing to you know send their horses you know from victoria to queensland you know to get to get it done you know so they they're keen to have them that's really cool we're seeing the same thing here of course like you said you and i always felt that way you guys are always several years behind the trend here i feel like but, really just in the last two to three breeding seasons we're seeing ropers come up same thing it was like a rover was never gonna ixia mare before like they're like absolutely not and now they're for it i mean today i had a guy call in and buy embryos out of eight select genes mares and he said i want two of each all by rope horse or running bred studs and that's you know i need 16 babies next year and all of them are going to be heading to the roping and that you that would have been unheard of three four years ago but now there's so much money to win and these yearlings and things are selling so well that if you have no different than over there if you have the quality You have the right mares, bred to the right studs, fashionably bred, big pretty horses.

I mean, the world is at your fingertips right now. And our roping's growing. Like, last year, I think they had, like, a gold buckle. And I don't know a lot about it. It was the first time they held it. And we talked to one of the girls involved in it and talked to her about, you know, next year being involved because it's only just got off the ground. And, you know, to see those industries starting to grow. Because before it was just, you know, little rodeos and things. And there was some team ropings, but it wasn't as big a market. But unless you were in it, you sort of didn't know about it. Whereas now I think it's starting to get a little bit more popular and getting out there. And I think, yeah, the breeding of them. And I can even see people asking me now for barrel studs, which was never a thing before either.

And every time I'm coming over, I get rainers and barrel racers, you know, talking to me going, can you see if you can get this one? Can you see if you can get that one? And so, yeah, where they weren't breeders much before either. So it's definitely, you know, growing. And I think it's got a lot to do with television. Yeah. And social media. Yes. All of that. Yes. So I think people kind of misunderstand a lot of times how big of a pain in the rear it is to get semen over to you guys. And so a lot of people call me and I want to send my stud to Australia. Can you freeze on him and send some? And I'm like, sure. I just want to break it down for you so that you understand what you're getting into. Like, it's very doable.

It just has its hurdles. Yes. And so I'm going to talk a little bit on my side about what that kind of looks like for stallion owners that potentially want to do that. And then I'll let you talk about kind of the logistics on your side. And so for us here at Solo, what we do is we will typically freeze on those stallions during the off season. We give them a little break after breeding season. They've got, we've got to start a quarantine here. So then our entire stallion barn is under quarantine. The rules are very strict whenever that happens to make sure we stay within the USDA regulations. We have to send blood off. There's, you know, a laundry list of things that USDA wants to make sure that everything we're sending over there isn't bringing in any outside diseases, of course.

And so we do all of that. We fill out the health certificate, which is a... I think you should go to vet school to learn to fill out a vet search for Australia and Europe and Brazil because, oh, my gosh, they are so complicated. And it depends on who you get at USDA and how much coffee they've had this morning. If you're going to get that through in three days or three weeks. Yes. It is a toss up. They're so strict. So the logistics of all of it is a lot more complicated than I ever thought. And it's really just learning to be ahead of all of that. Like we sent our semen to you guys in January for next year. So y'all have a lot of semen on the studs for next year. Which is awesome. Yes. I was like, I'm never doing this again. I'm never shipping semen in September again. Oh, my God. No.

Because it always gets held up no matter what you do. It does. No matter what we do, it's just something along the way, whether it's UPS or the airplane or whatever. Or your government shuts down. Or we have a government check down for three weeks. And so that was an experience. Yes. And we're like, we would love to get it sent to you. but the government is literally shut down and I there's nothing we can do so so yeah it's been it's been an adventure figuring all of those logistics out but I think the best thing we could do to figure it out was I told Matt I'm like we're sending our semen in January it's going out in January we're not going to worry about it all breeding season I don't care what it costs to store it over there 20 now and then that's what we're doing so so that's kind of how we tried to get ahead of it and you know but then we run into these studs like LBR hang-em right and he's showing and it's like, well, we need all the frozen season we can get for here, but we want to send some there.

So you're torn as a stallion owner of how much you can send off. And it's been great this year. We've sent you guys some Ixidosis. And it sounds like you've had some success over there with it. Yeah, there's some on the way already with, well, I know of two because I've got two. But there's, and there's people still doing it now and then freezing to put in in the breed season. So, and there's some booked in for this week. So there should be a few babies that'll may, you know, that'll probably get put in. For next year but there's definitely a couple that'll be late bloomers though but they'll be they'll be coming late for next season yeah that's exciting we could not wait so we put it we did some late and so so then whenever we get the semen to you it goes to we use gene movers over there goes gene movers get processed everything gets released and then what does that look like on your side for an australian breeder that wants to book to a stud that's let's say from solo select yeah so then they contact me either by you know email phone message on facebook and i send them the contract they fill it out send it back we work out all the payments to make sure they're paid up and then they're on their contract they'll state which vet we contact we then contact gene movers and we have to give authority for it to be released from there for them so that only paid up breeders can get them and it gets shipped direct to whichever vet and as australia is so spread out so they go from to western australia queensland everywhere south australia you know And so then it just gets sent to whichever vet they're using.

And pretty much all of the main vets are used to using frozen because that's all we breed with pretty much. And then they just let us know, the vets I talk with or the breeders about, you know, when they've got a positive pregnancy to do our breed return. Basically, once they get to 45 days and then we put the breed return in. But it's much easier because, you know, having, you know, myself over there with them in that... Everyone's unorganized as we all are and they'll be like we need a dose sent to this bit tomorrow yeah and it's hard if you're trying to deal with you know the time difference and things like that it would be terrible yes that's what I found is like everyone's always wanting it like yesterday and yeah you know so that part of it but they also ring and ask you know have I seen them sure what do I think would cross well like what's this one like what's that one personality you know are they this are they that so I think having someone and also someone that they know sometimes too helps you know they'll say well what would you agree to or what do you like and so I give a little bit of advice there where I think you know what I would if it was mine or I give them some options you know and they let them know you know what what price points and things we've got available and luckily like all of ours are pretty much got good semen yeah we've got some that are just easy only for for by the competing and things but everyone else has got great semen which makes my job so much easier so yeah because we do have a big problem with that in Australia with some coming over that you just are hard to breed to.

So, you know, which is good now there is ICSI available because prior to that, you know, people were just burning through money trying to get them bred and it just wasn't working. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think, like you said, just like over here, people will call me and say, hey, you know, here's a picture of my mare and here's how she's bred. Here's her papers. Here's what she's done. What do you think I should breed to? Well, they sent me that from a horse in Australia. Some of those are Australia bred, more or less. You know, they're by studs that were only in Australia, out of mares that are all straight that Australian breeding. And I'm like, well, I don't know. Yeah, I know you don't know this.

I have no idea what to tell you. I can tell you based off how she looks. And so I think that's where having a great agent is so important because you understand the trends over there. You know what the trainers want to ride. You understand what a lot of times those bloodlines are lacking in. You know, do they need a little more cow? Do we need a little more size? Are they good withered? Are they bad necked? You know, whatever that is that sometimes you can pull from just knowing how one's by a certain stud or out of a certain maternal line are. And that's how it works here. But, you know, we would be no help to somebody over there. So, yeah, it's it's super helpful to have that. Because there is a lot of Australian mares. There's a lot. Yeah.

When you send me papers on some of them, I'm like, I've heard of some of that, but I mean, I wouldn't know the first thing about how they are. Yeah, if they're sort of hot or, you know, need a bit of a cooler stuff. Yeah, exactly. So they do talk and it depends what they're wanting them for too, you know, what discipline, but also... What if their mare's got any characteristics that they don't want or they do. And so they ring up and have, you know, and everyone loves to talk about their horses. Oh, yeah, for sure. Absolutely. So, yeah, we have those conversations and sort of sort of nut out, you know, well, maybe not this one or, you know, this one probably a bit across. And sometimes we where we start is not where we end. Sure. Yeah.

So what talk to me a little bit about the trend in importing mostly mares over there and how much of that is really going on. When are they importing them? Are they doing it at the end of their career, early in their careers? There's not a lot. Like, people do, but it's not on a huge scale. Because what does it cost to get one? $50,000. Yeah, so you're going to have a lot of horses. And that's not even with, you've got to then pay GST on the value of the horse once it gets there and things like that. So, you know, and I only know this because I'm literally taking one over in June and I'm like, it keeps going up. And then they, so it's cheaper to come this way, like to bring one over, but it's because of our quarantine and things that cost more.

But so it's, you know, you're going to be looking at $50,000 just for the airfare and things, let alone the value of the horse. So it's got to be worth something bloodline-wise or they definitely don't tend to take them before they've competed. Or, you know, sometimes they'll come straight after their faturity. You know, they'll put them through the faturity here, then take them over to then compete in the aged events in Australia. So the derby, because our derby is sort of six months after your faturity. Or just later. I've seen some people just bring some over as brood mares and that's what I've kind of done too. So it just, it's not a lot. You know, there is definitely, it is happening, but it's not on a huge scale because of the cost.

That's why we wish we could import eggs. I know. So yeah, importing embryos is not a thing over there yet. I think it will. I think there's people looking into it. Like, because when I thought it was happening, they said that there is definitely, they're looking into it because they bring in cattle eggs and things. So I don't know why. It'll happen. Yeah. Well, this year, Solo is going to be the title sponsor of the open faturity, the open cutting faturity over there, which we're very excited about. We feel like we have a set of stallions over here that, even in the United States, complement such a wide variety of mares from, you know, cutting horse mares to cow horse mares to rope horse mares to the run cow crosses.

And it's cool to walk through the stallion barn here, I think, because there's, they're like in all shapes and sizes and price ranges. And so it's perfect because you could come and see every single stallion that could be. Almost every type. It's like candy store, right? Yes. What do you want to improve on your mirror? Okay, this is the one, you know, do we need to be taller? Do we need to be more cowly? Do we need a better wither? Do we need a shorter neck, a longer neck, you know, whatever it is. So we have almost all these studs over there. And when you approached us about, do we want to be sponsors of the cutting maturity? I'm like, of course, like that fits perfect with what we're trying to do over there.

So tell us a little bit about your cutting maturity, when it happens, where it happens all of that so it's in temworth which is also our country music capital so like our nashville okay it's from the usually around the end of may so it's around that point i think this year it starts on the 26th of may until the june long weekend which ends on the 8th of june so it goes for two weeks and it's a it's like here it's in coming into our winter time like here you've got it in your sort of winter time and it's the biggest show of the year so everyone travels to it so we have other forturities you know in queensland victoria but not necessarily you know everyone doesn't necessarily go to all of those because they're so far out but everyone comes to tenworth so it's the biggest show for you know traders everything they have have a bit of a yearling sale there too but our fortuity isn't where you've got your just your fortuity so because we're not as big an industry we also have our derby okay and now we call it the open classic challenge which is our five six seven okay yeah we used to be only fives and um what am i saying six and seven-year-old sort of thing, but they extended that seventh year for five, six-year-olds.

Then they extended the seventh year when COVID happened. And so are they going to leave it like that? Yeah, which I think is good. That is great. So it just gives them that extra year because a lot of horses missed out. So they let them, yeah. And then they've just kept it, which is great. So, and we have, I just have to say a huge thank you as well for you coming on board because, you know, we all breed American stallions over there. You know, the worst thing you can do is nearly take a stallion to Australia because they want what's over here, you know. So, and although we're small, industry compared to Australia, you know, to America, we feel, you know. You don't often see people putting back into our industry because I get it. It's smaller and stuff.

So I think everyone has shown so much appreciation and wanting me to pass that on to you for getting behind our industry, which doesn't always happen. So they definitely are very grateful as I am. Well, when we sponsored the show, donating some readings for you guys to auction off over there for one of the other ones, that was really good. And so many nice people were like, thank you. People were just really nice about it, which is great. They appreciated it because that show wasn't going to get off the ground otherwise because they had to last minute change locations because there was renovations and they thought they'd be finished. And they're like, oh, you know, I don't think we're going to be able to do it.

And they said, do you think you could ask Mel? I was like, no worries. I'll ask her. Yeah. And it was perfect. It was straight. Yep. There was no, I'll think about it. Yeah. No, it was perfect. It worked really well. So this year at The Cutting, we're going to do a special on the studs. And it's similar to some specials that we run here that people absolutely love. And it's kind of our way of a kind of a thank you to our customers that book early, that, you know, engage in our stallions. But I'll let you kind of explain what it's going to be this year. Yeah. So it's similar to your Black Friday, which basically, and it runs right in the middle of our breed season. So that's why that doesn't work for us.

We don't do that anymore. We're doing Australia version of Black Friday. Yes, but it's our futurity special where if you book in and pay full fee to one of any of the stallions at the futurity or even the booking fee, put it at least deposit that, you can then have an option of booking in for half price to the animal. He's a dual bet and Tic Tac. Yeah, a Tic Tac. We call it Tic Tac. It's a metallic Tac. So, yeah, you can have one of those, any of those for half price if you book into any. Or you can book Tic Tac and get a half price Tic Tac. Yeah. Um so i think that's a really good and he's been popular because he's so pretty he's pretty yeah i think. Do you guys have any babies on the ground over there yet? No, he only came at the end of last year. This year, yeah. So, yeah.

But there's some coming. Okay, well, they're going to love them. Yeah. And I've heard his semen is dynamite. His semen's really good. Yes, he's been good. He's like the one that we can always count on. His semen is amazing, fresh or frozen. And everybody loves the babies. Back to my don't pet your horse TikTok that went so viral the other day. People either loved or hated it. if you have a tic-tac they're kind of a problem because they're just in your business like from the beginning they are they are already pets they pre-come as pets and so. I think he's another one too that's going to cross well into a lot of sports over there because he's got the size yes first camp drafting yes he's pretty i think he'll rain cows you know he's obviously doing the roping you know he's kind of that one if you don't really know what you want to do you just breed to him and you can probably choose what you want that's exactly right so here like that's exactly what people have done with them here is like well I want something that can do a little bit of everything but could still excel exceptionally well in one of the disciplines and so we've crossed him on such a wide variety of mares and probably just because they're so different from everything my favorite crosses have been on the racehorse mares yeah right we have one out of runaway heart that is just to die for and he was like she's a big first down dash daughter but he was 15-1 and weighed 1,050 pounds as a year length.

It was amazing, though. And he was that big. But, you know, when we breed to a racehorse, we're always like, well, you know, you hope that you get the stop and the wide back end stance and, you know, the strength that they have kind of in that back end to be able to stop and get around themselves. But the height and some of the things that, you know, the speed, of course, that we get out of racehorse mares, well, it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes we get, you know, short ones that can run, but they're too short to do anything, you know, and it doesn't always work. But that horse has very consistently worked really, really well on the racehorses. And we've seen those horses that do have.

Exceptional amount of height but then like you look them around the round pen and they lope like cow horses or rainers and then they can just it's really easy for them to get in the ground stop and get through themselves and that has been the beauty of him on those racehorse mares so i think. Just the way he's made he's complimented those mares really good for the camp drafters and then of course we see him on these cutting and cow horse mares and it's been exceptional and i think the rope horse deal is growing too where that's some you know he's a good stud for people to get off the ground with too because he's great value for money yes um for the you know because there's definitely you know that market in australia at the moment where you know the stud prices just jumped you know so we've got some great value um studs on them like to me personally metellus cat yes the best value start on the market in australia for what he's done and he's got some great progeny going in australia he's through even though he's not huge he throws size like he does and we've got i've seen some big ones that's the same thing yeah when we bought him And he got here, I was like, I'm really shocked he's not a really big horse, but his babies are huge. Yes. They are all big.

And there's some really good ones. And they're pretty, and they're pretty necked, and they got a big, pretty eye. And I just love that horse's baby. And I think, you know, for, you know, he's 2750, you know, in Australia. Like, you can't, you know, you can't go wrong with that, you know. So, I just feel that there's that, you know, I always put that out to people, too. I'm like, he is a, you know, if you have to, I always think, if you have to fire sale any, you know, where are you going to get your money back or make money? You know, some of those bigger studs, you know, if you haven't got that big time mare, you know, our market can be, you know, a bit fickle. So it's, he's definitely, I always say to people, God, I don't know, you can't go wrong with him. And the same thing with the animal.

He's had some really good ones over there, hasn't he? He had one that won the Open? No, he had a non-pro trainer, which is awesome. But he went in the Open and the non-pro and he was like, it was the horse of the show. You know, a bit like the Ali Good at the last, you know, she was like the rider. Everyone remembers that horse more, Nellie. Sorry. But it was a bit like that, Little Miss Animal. She was. The star of the show and she was sort of runner up in things but she definitely you know she was the most consistent over that whole show and she's been really good and then one just sold in that camp draft sale a different one for over a hundred thousand dollars you know who was the same age as Little Miss Animal yeah so he'd had a bit of a run there and but you know it's been a few years because you know they weren't old enough so they're only just starting to make their name now and and I don't feel like when he first came over he you know probably was given the best opportunities either with mares and things like that, because, you know, it's really hard, you know, when there's heaps coming, heaps of stallions on offer and, you know, those chestnut guys that are really good, but there's a lot of good chestnuts, that's why they're good, but I have all my best at chestnuts too, but.

You know, he had a lot to compete with, you know, so I think it took some to really take off for them to see now that, you know, yeah, he's a good horse and he bred like not last season, the season before, you know, he had a great season after Little Miss Animal, you know, So people were just running up saying, sure, we want to breed to him. Because, I mean, I think Brendan told me that he bred that mare out of his turnback horse. That's awesome. And I love that. And I think that's a really good example of that horse, his ability as a sire. Because, like you said, he has these ones coming up that are winning in the camp drafting and the cutting. And he wasn't bred. It's not like he was bred to the best top tier mares right off the bat.

Now we may see a little different trend in the next couple of years because they like him and they're seeing all that. No different than over here. But it's cool to see what he can produce out of some mares that maybe weren't supposed to be producers. Exactly. And here they are heading. And I think a lot of his batch would have been born through that COVID period, too, where a lot of horses missed out. Because we had, like, no shows going on for a while there. And then only Queensland. Like, we missed, I think, two forturities. So... You know that where they sort of got to make their name you know to get going i think what they sort of miss so now they're sort of starting to come around and he's such a nice stud too like he's really nice and and cindy's great too and she so loves that stallion is and she's like the, dream stallion owner for a mare owner because like there is no lack of support oh no she will do anything to make sure that your foals have every opportunity to win everything possible She's been a great supporter of them in Australia.

Same thing here. And so there's, she's an outstanding stallion owner. She's very, she's great. She's easy to deal with. She even makes me bring contraband over there. Yes, right. She's great. We love Sydney. And proud for that that horse is doing so good over there. I think he's had two really strong breeding seasons here too. And really been breeding some really good mares. So we're excited to see. And I see he's going in the rope horse still here too, which I think it's because he's built strong too. So, you know, I think that's an option for people in Australia, too. And he's part of that deal, which is great because he's $4,000 in Australia. So, you know, if you breed to third edge or MVP or you can get him half price, which is great value, too.

Great value. And that's kind of our thing is we want to provide, you know, we know that some of these studs are going to have limited semen over there. We've got to keep the price at a certain range to make sure that we cover the cost of sending everything. But then, you know, having these extra add-ons, I own two of those. And so, and Cindy's always a supporter of anything. I'm like, hey, let's get some more animal babies on the ground to provide that for customers. It's great. And we want them to utilize it. So... Thank you for coming on today. I think we really just wanted people to kind of understand what is Australia? How does it work? You know, it's kind of a foreign. Well, it is foreign. Yes. Right. But it's like we don't hear a lot of people talk about it. How does how does the Australian market work?

And how do you get semen over there? And why do you send semen over there? And when does breeding season go? We're just like the baby brother. Yeah. We're always like looking up and following in the footsteps. But it's been great. And I've been loving this partnership. It's been going good. And I love all the media and marketing. I'm not tech savvy, but I love that side of things and all their merch. And I think it's great. And I think it's only growing definitely. And I think solo getting behind our industries is going to definitely help too because they are just so appreciative because it doesn't happen that often. And, you know, we've got to really kind of fight for our stuff over there. So, you know, again, thank you and thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely.

Well, tell us if we have any Australian breeders listening to this. How do they get a hold of you? Oh, they can either contact me on our Facebook page, Healy Quarter Horses, and I'm always on that instant messenger. Email at tish at healyquarterhorses.com.au. And we've also got a website, www.healyquarterhorses.com.au. So, and my phone number is 0429-823-568 and I'm also a big texter, so feel free to text me. There you go. I don't know. I don't think there's any other, besides writing you a letter, I think that's all the different ways. Yeah, you can contact me however you like. Yeah. If you contact Solo, they'll, you know, that will send you that way. Yes. We'll send you that direction. So, well, thanks for getting on today.

I know now we have to go see the stallions. Yes. And you haven't been here since we've had all the remodel and. No, it was built, but only semi-built and they hadn't moved in yet. Yes, so you get to see all that. But thanks, everybody, for joining us today. And we'll see you on the next episode. Bye.