Ulyssia

A SUPERSTAR IS BORN

Ulyssia’s story began thirty nine years ago with the purchase of Fenwick Ramona (Fabulous x Renura). It was in the autumn of 1982 that

I purchased her from Fenwick Stud, in partnership with my friend Greg Dallaway.

A few years later I married my husband,

Graeme, and we purchased twenty acres in Longwarry, the heart of dairy country in Gippsland, Victoria. We subsequently purchased Greg’s share of Ramona and there began some of the best years of my life.

Graeme’s idea of horsepower was rather different to mine, as he had owned, built and successfully raced drag cars for some years. At that stage, he was building and racing HQ Holdens at the Thunderdome in Calder, and I decided that I needed a little part time job to fund my Arabian passion. In August 2021 I will have been at Burra Foods in Korumburra for twenty three years…what started as a ‘little part time job’ finished up as a full-blown career in the dairy industry, and even created travel opportunities.

I was born in Scotland, and I think from the time I could walk and talk the only thing that mattered was horses. While we could never afford one, I made sure that my friends had one, and cultivated those friendships religiously so that I’d be able to ride and share in all things horsey! We emigrated to Australia when I was fourteen and, come hell or high water, I was going to have a horse. I sallied forth with my lifetime savings of eighty dollars (from birthday money and part time jobs) and purchased a chestnut gelding named Sheikh. Though unregistered, he had substantial Arabian blood, and that was enough for me, however I swore that one day I would have a Purebred.

Fenwick Ramona was my first Purebred and, while she wasn’t purchased as a future broodmare, her progeny were useful, smart and quite successful show horses who were much enjoyed and loved by their owners. She produced five colts (all gelded) and one filly, Romance ‘n’ Roses, sired by the imported Straight Egyptian sire Monteego Bay. I had much admired Monteego Bay, and had not been entirely happy with the results of my previous breeding choices for Ramona, so after delving into various crosses and bloodlines, I determined that perhaps the Egyptian/Crabbet cross was the way to go. While she let us know that the showring was not for her, she retired with a few wins and Supremes under her belt.

I have never been interested in breeding for the sake of breeding, so Rosie was bred to a Welsh Pony for her first foal in 2002, then produced a gelding by Malabu in 2007 and a filly by Malabu in 2009. In 2013, she produced her last foal Narcisse, a filly by BP Naajman (Ajman Moniscione x T Naazifah).

I am very lucky to have been friends with Denis and Dianne Hewat for over thirty years and have always enjoyed visiting and catching up with them as frequently as our busy lives allowed. When Naajman was born, he stole a piece of my heart, and when he was at a breeding centre only a few kilometres from home, I took a chance and bred Rosie to him.

Sixteen days later, Cameron Hinkley arrived to scan Rosie and advised that, while there was an embryo, he wasn’t sure that it was viable. After much discussion, we decided to do nothing, wait a week and rescan. A week later, lo and behold, we had a nice, healthy little twenty-three-day embryo and a very happy vet!

Narcisse arrived in January 2013, a little bit windswept, but otherwise in good health. She went to Jayne Bellchambers as a two-year-old for halter training and a few shows, winning her classes at the WDARAB Inc. Arabian Spectacular and the Victorian Arabian Classic. Despite these early successes, however, Narcisse obviously found the show environment stressful. She wasn’t happy, so we made the decision that

ULYSIUM

there’d be no more shows in her future, and brought her home to a life of leisure.

I hadn’t thought much about breeding Narcisse, but scrolling through Facebook one day I noticed that Jason Hodgins and Jess Wilson of JH Training were offering some breeding packages to Ulysium, their young colt who was, at that stage, still in the USA. After some investigation into Ulysium’s breeding, I managed to bully local friend Jason Lucas into joining me in the purchase of a breeding package.

Ulyssia was born on a beautiful, sunny afternoon in September 2018. I thought she looked alright, and Narcisse certainly found that motherhood was far more to her liking than the showring had been. Jayne visited about a week later to take some photos, and it wasn’t until I’d received those photos and had a good look that I thought to myself ‘gee, you’re not too bad, are you’.

I didn’t really know Jason Hodgins particularly well before Ulyssia went to him for training and show preparation. I’d judged his horses at some shows and bought a few breedings from him but I wasn’t sure that I liked him all that much, and I don’t think he liked me that much either. However, he and Jess Wilson were professional to deal with, and that was fine by me.

Jason finally managed to meet Ulyssia between my work commitments and his at his new training location at Hideaway Farm in the north of Victoria. He arrived and we wandered up to the mares for an inspection. She was nearly ready to wean but when he looked at her he didn’t say much. I didn’t say much either. After a few prolonged silences, I asked if he had a yearling filly for the coming season, and he said he didn’t. I asked if he’d be interested in taking this one and he said he wouldn’t mind. I secretly thought that she might be special, although I hadn’t mentioned that to anyone, and Jason thought the same. I have to laugh to myself when I think back on that day – we were like a couple of very poor poker players!

I will be forever grateful to Jason for what he has done for Ulyssia and myself; he has gone above and beyond to enable her to fulfil her potential. Everything that he has done has been in her best interests, and you only have to look at them together to see how much she adores him – for Ulyssia, nobody else exists while Jason is around. I would also like to think that Jason and Jess now number among my dearest friends.

Ulyssia created quite the stir at her first few shows. She was High Point Horse at the 2019 Double Diamond, Supreme Female at the 2019 Victorian Classic and 2020 East Coast Champion Yearling Filly. Her final and greatest yearling triumph was Gold Champion Yearling Filly at the 2020 Australian Arabian National Championships and she repeated this remarkable feat when she was awarded Gold Champion Junior Filly at the 2021 Championships.

Today, Ulyssia still seems to be at JH Training avoiding the Gippsland winters! Meanwhile, we are expecting a full sibling to Ulyssia in November and can only hope that we might be so lucky as to blessed with another as special as she is.

I don’t breed many foals a year, and in fact think I’ve probably bred fewer than thirty foals in more than forty years of owning Purebred Arabians. I tend to not even use my prefix (Istashra) when registering my foals, mainly because I like short, catchy names. I always think that if people are interested in who bred the horse, they’ll look it up. I enjoy breeding but I try not to overbreed, partly because I worry that perhaps I’ll find some of my horses finishing in less than desirable homes. When I have time, I enjoy judging, sponsoring and helping at shows. I’ve assisted in the running of the AANC between 2015 and 2021 with the same team of dedicated people and receive a great feeling of satisfaction from being able to assist in any way that I can.

In the next couple of years I am hoping to reduce my numbers, although the senior ladies will remain with me to enjoy retirement. I have a couple of nice geldings and a lovely colt by Justin MI that need caring new homes, so perhaps four sounds like a good number for my ‘downsized’ years. There are, however, some exciting opportunities coming up in the next year or so, and I’m hoping those will come to fruition.

There are many people I admire in the Arabian horse world in Australia, including David Ross, Marion Richmond, Tanya Hawley, the Farrell family, Scott Benjamin, Allan Preston, Jason Hodgins and Jayne Bellchambers. Of particular note is one of my dearest friends, Katherine McMahon, who is an organiser extraordinaire, generous friend and tyrant. I have also drawn inspiration from overseas, especially from Lenita Perroy, Sheila Varian and Sigi Siller, who all followed their aspirations and gloried in the results.

My advice for breeding, for what it’s worth, is to choose your female carefully. Study bloodlines, choose your path, listen to established breeders that you respect, ask questions and follow your dreams. I hope that you may be as fortunate as I have been, and breed a Ulyssia of your very own.

PC NICOLE EMANUEL

Author Sheila Jones Images courtesy of Diane Hewat, Nicole Emanuel & Samantha Taylor

PC DIANE HEWAT

NARCISSE