CORONATION PARK STUDS DREAMS AND JOURNEY. 

Do you remember when you were a child, DREAMING ABOUT the things you want ACHEIVE OR DREAMPT OF BECOMING? Coronation Park was my dream. I will attempt to take you through the progress of the dream; it’s UNFOLDING TO THE “REALITY THAT IS this beautiful property – CORONATION PARK - . SPRINGDALE –
EACH year, hundreds of College students come to Coronation Park on visits with their AG (Agricultural colleges) teachers in an attempt to determine which direction they should take with REGARD TO their future within the equine industry. WE ARE PLEASED TO WELCOME THIS STUDENT THROUGH OUR DOORS AND HOPE TO GIVE THEM SOME DIRECTION TO HELP THEIR WON DREAMS TO TRANSPIRE. MY CONVERSATIONS USUALLY begins by EXPLAINING about HAVING A DREAM.THIS IS YOUR DREAM AND its YOU that have to MAKE it come true, you can, if you believe.
Belief in Yourself is one of LIFES most important virtues. 
IT makes me proud that Coronation Park has been a GREAT influence over the years to many of the students that pass through our gates, some have been fortunate to STAY on a while, in transit to their own dreams. So.... Id like to dedicate this page on our home on the Web to a few very special " passers through"  that "MADE" it in the horse industry because of US~ Lee Hudson and Petrina McDermott ~ and TWO GIRLS,  SO YOUNG, IMPRESSIONABLE AND TALLENTED ~ ASHLEY BARTON AND RHIANNON CATSICAS~ These pages are for you.

My DREAMS AND VISIONS as a child riding my ponies, with my daddy, as a rider and trainer of our own horses, have not changed much over the years.  As a child it was all about  ~ next weekend and the point score at pony club, training to "WIN"  that over all point score. I figure that’s why, till today, I love the versatility of the all round horse! Quarter horses were few and far between in Australia when I was a pup, only afforded by the rich and famous! We rode cross bred Thoroughbreds. Great all round horses, TODAY THEY ARE REFERRED TO as Stock horses. I loved Jumping (six bars WAS my favourite) the cross thoroughbreds were great mounts. My old pony that took me through these years was named "Sunset Joy". She was a good mare! safe and reliable and my best friend. She was ours till she was 30, when she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge, along her course in life she taught many LOCAL CHILDREN to ride upon her strong and willing back, RIGHT up till she was 28. She leaves an indelible mark upon my memory and a hoof print IN my heart. A joy, she certainly was!  I rode many top Galloways and hacks on the climb to and through teenage years. I was very fortunate to spend many weekends on the farm riding, and every afternoon after school on horseback often riding my pony home from school in full heavy uniform, much to mothers’ disgust and anguish. I’m sure that the NEW teachers believed the heavy dark hairs on my legs were my own! Most of my friends through pony club are still loyal friends, I especially remember Billy Atkins and Rebecca Francis (now both married and have different surnames) These were good girls that loved horses and to this day, like me, love riding and caring for the noble STEAD.

My dreams of owning my own stud FARM started with AG. I loved working the land, riding and mustering. I was fortunate to spend a great deal of time with, not only the best man in my life ~ my father ~ a wonderful true horseman but with Paul Goodwin too. Paul was a top show competitor, he won HUNDREDS OF camp drafts, HE COMPETED every weekend, played polocrosse at National level, represented Australia in South Africa, New Zealand and Nations cups with the winning Polocrosse teams, broke in and started many great horses, he was also a farrier and trained hundreds of champion show horses. Paul now trains race horses very successfully and we are firm friends to this day. I am fortunate that in those days I rode some rough horses that made me a rider; I’ve never been just a passenger! (At the time the bruises told the story!! we kids would just climb ON ANYTHING and go for it) TWAS always "MOI" that rode the tough ones and sorted them out for my friends. The poddy calves copped it too!  We'd ride anything/ EVERYTHING. I had great instructors along the way. Bev Button, Tom Carson, Old Mr Gollan. After AG, I spent time in Narre Warren Equestrian Centre, Victoria with the top dressage instructor Malcolm Barnes, I was a working Pupil there for a time. Dressage was the "NEW" thing the new way of riding and my daddy sent me to Malcolm to break me off horses. This was also tried at Lochinvar Girls Catholic College UNSUCCESSFULLY!  Malcolm had trained with the Spanish riding school in Vienna, an amazing horseman then, and still now. I had the fortune of working with CHRISTOPHER, Malcolm’s Anglo Arabian stallion that went on to be an outstanding dressage mount and one of the first ambassadors to the game, ALSO Maybe Hahal a Thoroughbred 17.2 hh another wonderful Dressage horse. Malcolm WAS THE FIRST TO import one of the first warmblood horses to Australia. He was HUGE and a pig and I hated having to work with THIS HORSE. I’ve never liked warmbloods just can't take to their dull and ignorant attitude. At Narre Warren Malcolm taught us to ride dressage (hundreds of hours on the lunge as well as lessons!!)  We then had to school horses and teach students, what an experience. I am extremely grateful for this attempt to break me from horses..... All it did was make me more HUNGRY created MORE DREAMS.
With each new dawn we would bring in the school horses, feed and groom, them before tacking them up for the day’s lessons. Monash University had horsemanship and riding incorporated in its curriculum. THERE WERE two days a week devoted to the UNI. Students, this allowed me to meet many great friends in this young impressionable time of my life, whilst teaching and traveling to shows and dressage events with CHRISTOPHER and Malcolm on weekends. The absolute love of my life was my daddy I returned home to be with him when he became ill. We spent a few more fantastic years riding, dreaming and talking of the stud I would own. His dying wish was I stay with horses, so here I am. I truly wish he could see what I have achieved FROM OUR DREAMS he would be SO PROUD.

Through the many years of jumping club, hacking and pony club I reached time to move on to something else. I discovered Quarter horses! Paul Goodwin had a nice mare to sell, she was 15.1. too small for me as I was 5'10 but I loved the nature and  dreamed  of the day I would breed one of these great natured horses out of one of our T/B mares.  This is the beginning of the QH dream.

MOUSE OVER EACH IMAGE FOR A LARGER IMAGE

I was married by this time to a man not at all impressed by the horses in my life. He was not happy coming second to MY EQUINE LOVES. When I told him I wanted to move to the Segenhoe Valley to be close to the mentor, this infuriated him....We did look at a few properties up there but none were bought. Just as well then........ He suffered the horses and he had me breed, BREAK AND EDUCATE some racing thoroughbreds to keep him happy, he liked the racing game. Coronation Park evolved when WE PURCHASED A SMALL PARCEL OF land in Mulbring and turned it into a breeding establishment. We stood a great imported grey English thoroughbred stallion named Royal Rocket. He was 16.3 and all horse, BY Grey SOVEREIGN THIS horse that went onto produce many great race horses, Cup winners as well as speed machines. HIS beautiful oil painting adorns the wall and HAS pride of place in THE study. I was heavily involved in Hacking, dressage and judging at AG shows. I KEPT OUR RETIRED racehorses to show and sell. Coronation Park prefixes were at the top of the best lists of Horse of the Year and Royal Show champions in those days. I  PERSONALLY BROKE AND STARTED all our thoroughbreds and schooled them before they left for the trainers. One of my favourite horses was Captain Cadet. A home bred by our own stallion Coronation Cadet. (From where the name Coronation Park originated!)  CAPTAIN Cadet won a Sydney Cup, Wyong Cup Cameron Handicap and Newmarket handicap and 21 races. My very favourite race horse was Gay Planet. We won 7 races with him before I turned him into a show hack; he won at horse of the year as well as Sydney and Adelaide Royals taking his rider to champion lady rider at just about every outing. At this time I was also breeding the QH as an interest and side line. Many Royal show champions and national QH champions followed. Morn Mystique, a beautiful QH X Tb mare was one of my favourite QH's. I won open hack classes, western pleasure futurities and royal show champions at halter, western and English WITH THIS BEAUTIFUL MARE. She won the Robin Yates Sires Classic Futurity when I was in my infancy in the QH world. SHE MADE the leading trainers and riders stand up and take notice. Morns True Love, another great mare that knocked over the best of the western pleasure horses on my chase to do so on the QLD circuit. She was a hunter and Western pleasure freak. AT THIS TIMEI became known as Ms Morn Deck FOR I always had a good Morn Deck in the Barn. I was teaching riding, western and English at this point and doing lots of Judging.  Divorce saw me leave the industry for a time. Dreaming bought me back.

I attended the PHAA national show as a judge in about 1984. I had returned on the Tuesday from winning the grand champion QH at the Sydney Royal with a mare that was well before her time.............Grecian Goddess.
 
I was disappointed in the breed of paint horses in Australia at the national level and thought that paints as a whole had very little to offer. To me, they were heavy, clumpy and looked like they had some sort of heavy draft breeding in them somewhere!  I was not impressed. I figured they could do with some help improving the QUALITY of this breed. The worst thing that stood out to me was their lack of rein, their height, they showed little or no elegance and there was certainly no presence! I have always loved the quality that the T/B offers the breeds ~ all of them. Morn Deck has Star Kingdom back in his lineage and that’s from where his beauty and presence stems. I have always strived to breed that lovely front end into my riding horses and I love elegance, the QH has enough back end to him he just needs some prettying up front, we needed to refine the heavy bone in the paints. I had bred the great QH stallion Spectacular Morn who had beaten the butts off all Jack Reilly’s imported QH stallions at the Royal and Nationals. I thought that paints could do with some of this Vision.
The Dream........................ Continued.
Speaking with some paint people about the improvement on the bloodlines and quality of the paint horse saw me import the frozen semen from a very well bred USA paint stallion - enter - Special Affects, providing the first step of my dream to improve the paint horse industry, the first Special Affects progeny won the weanling futurities then continued on to win the pleasure futurities and dominate the fields all round. This was warming my dream and I was somewhat pleased. I still looked at the paints as backwards and imagined I had helped improve them 20%. Failure to supply semen from this stallion by that ranch was disappointing to say the least and the promises were not kept, though the money was!!! Lesson learnt.. you need an agent in the USA to handle funds! Disillusioned by this action and still not happy as this was not the horse to continue to improve the breed I set about finding a far better horse. Dreaming of the day that the paints could hold their own against the quality of the QH.
 I had bred, started, shown and ridden my own National QH champions.

Finding the Perfect horse to IMPROVE the Aussie PHAA bloodlines was a difficult task. After much searching enter - JUST SHAMELESS - A DREAM COME TRUE.  As long as I live I don’t believe I shall see a horse imported to equal the quality that Just Shameless has bought to the Australian paint horse industry. This world champion, Multiple world title holder is a ONCE IN A LIFETIME horse. He has lifted the bar in the western horse world so high that people are forced to keep importing to try to get around them. Buddy over the Aussie QH mares has beaten the dust off the others as he passed them, with hundreds of NATIONAL STATE AND ROYAL SHOW CHAMPIONS taking the OPEN futurities over the QH .
DREAM ACCOMPLISHED!!!!! 
Amateurs have won their first buckles’ with Shameless progeny, and then gone on to declare themselves trainers because of their wins. National Western pleasure champions, Hunters, trail, Hacks, dressage, rodeo mounts, heading and heeling, barrels, You name IT……………SHAMELESS PROGENY  have done IT…… and done it with STYLE with tri colours and garlands adorning their beautiful slender necks. The dream of realising the front ends of the paints being balanced off a FABULOUS SHOULER and having the QUALITY to compete and win in open company has been realised.
The most amazing horse this country is likely to see in my life time has made this DREAM a reality. I am so proud of Buddy, our vision and achievements. The AUSTRALIAN PAINT HORSE INDUSTRY owes a VERY BIG DEBT to this wonderful horse. Not only is he a sire he is an outstanding broodmare sire. This is quality passed down know as prepotency. The ability to keep the line alive. Now he can offer his expertise to New Zealand.

The dream to give the Shameless daughters the sire they need to continue the Coronation Park Legacy to the PAINT HORSE WORLD was achieved with the most beautiful creature you would ever want to lay eyes upon - TRIBULATION- His import in 04 saw a yet another dimension added to the Cp legacy. His babies are all we could have hoped for and more. These are tall elegant horses with wonderful natures, THEY move like spun glass. Their national and state titles in their first year and the belief that our clients have instilled in the horse by allowing him to breed over 60 mares a year is proof alone that Tribulation will continue our DREAMS. Even better is the fact that Tribulation is a dual registered horse allowing the QH industry to benefit from his wonderful OUTCROSS bloodlines. I can’t wait for them GO VERSATILE AND RIDE in all the facets of equestrian. Already leading dressage exponents have realised Tribulations value!!!!

Selling our stallions has allowed other People to CONTINUE THE DREAMS ~ TURNING THEM INTO THEIR OWN DREAMS. 

Selling the stallions and limiting the number of mares we intend to keep does not, by any means render us or OUR DREAMS defunct. Time at the moment is precious, we are Dreaming of travel and long awaited holidays. Stallions and mares made life just far too busy for us AT THIS TIME. This new dream and Journey starts now and we cannot wait.

Some good advice.....  Keep Dreaming…………. Never give up … look forward to what life has to offer, work with what you have AND create more dreams.

 REMEMBER ~ THE DREAM CREATES THE JOURNEY! ~

I thank the good Lord for allowing my life to be so blessed. MY NEW man - (?) JOEY.... A life full of wonderful horses and MUCH pleasure. What a journey this has been.

AND IT AINT OVER YET!!!!!!.................................................................................... JUST A DIFFERENT COLOUR.

STAY TUNED FOR....

THE NEXT CHAPTER IN 'THE DREAM CREATES THE JOURNEY'

The Concert

When the house lights dimmed and the concert
Was about to begin, the mother returned to
Her seat and discovered that the child was missing
Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights
Focused on the impressive Steinway on stage.
In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out

"Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star."

At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance,
quickly moved to the piano, and Whispered in the boy's ear,
"Don't quit.""Keep playing."

Then, leaning over, Paderewski reached
Down with his left hand and began filling
In a bass part. Soon his right arm reached
Around to the other side of the child,
And he added a running obbligato.
Together, the old master and the young novice transformed what
could have been a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience.
The audience was so mesmerized that they couldn't recall what else the great master played.
Only the classic, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
Perhaps that's the way it is with God.

What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy.
We try our best, but the results aren't always graceful flowing music.
However, with the Hand of the Master, our life's work can truly be beautiful.
The next time you set out to accomplish great feats, Listen carefully.

You may hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear,
"Don't quit... Keep playing."

May you feel His arms around you and Know that His hands are there,
helping you Turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces.

Remember, God doesn't seem to Call the equipped, rather, He equips the 'called.'
Life is more accurately measured by the lives you touch than by the things you acquire.

And remember keep Dreaming and Believing,
"Don't quit... Keep playing."