Equestrian Legend - Pauline Stuart-Fox

This article is from the December 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

Article: Anna Sharpley

When Horse Deals first started covering Western Shows for The Gallery in the mid-1990s, Winderadeen horses were everywhere winning a great deal. And at the forefront of the Winderadeen push rode Pauline Stuart-Fox. The elegant woman certainly did her best to popularise the western look, undoubtedly one of the most recognisable styles in the world. But as we have discovered Pauline was much more than a clothes horse. As Horse Manager, she was effectively involved with the breeding programme at the Winderadeen Quarter Horse Stud, a stud that has contributed enormously and left an ongoing legacy to the Quarter Horse industry in Australia. Rider, breeder and administrator, Pauline has made a huge contribution to the Australian horse world and in semi-retirement on the South Coast of NSW, she still rides every day.

It sounds as if she was born in the saddle and a Western one at that, but it is not so. “I grew up in a home unit on the Lower North Shore of Sydney”, explains Pauline. “My parents were not remotely horsey and I drove my mother mad; I was horse crazy. When I was about eleven I went to Vanity Fair, an all-girls riding school at Glossodia (now Evans Park). I was taught by Ruth Emery and Norma Swadling and it was all English riding, because there was not a lot of Western riding about then. I ended up working there on weekends and in the school holidays and that’s where I learnt to ride. I left school and did a secretarial course and then went to Tibor Equestrian Centre where Karl de Jurenak and Carolyn (Law) Lieutenant were riding and training. I spent a couple of months there and then went down to Jindabyne to work at the riding school for a couple of summers. The rest of the year I worked at Burren Dah Arabian Stud at The Oaks. I did that for a few years and by this time, I knew horses were going to be my career.

“Then in the late 70s, I started dating a guy who was involved with Quarter Horses. I liked the horses and then not long after that, I bought my first Quarter Horse, Beggars General. He was by Beggar Bingo (imp) and bred at Winderadeen. He had won the Junior Pleasure at Q76 and I showed him and had lots of fun with him. I had him for quite a few years and won the Pleasure at Sydney Royal. At that time I had a job at Charlton’s Saddlery at St Leonards where I had worked on and off when I was going to school. They got into Western gear and I went over to the US buying for them and got involved even more in the Western world in that way. Then in January 1983, I got a job at Winderadeen.
“Mrs Anthony, an American lady bought the property Winderadeen at Collector in NSW in 1969 and the first stallion, Beggar Bingo came out in 1970. She invested quite a lot in importing horses and establishing the Winderadeen Quarter Horse Stud. Remember too that in those days the horses came out by boat. They had to go to the UK, spend six months there and then continue via the Panama Canal to Australia. So you are talking about quite an investment. Mrs Anthony had an advisor in the US, Art Shahan who ran the San Jose Cattle Co and Quarter Horse Stud, (San Jose Hickory is the dam of Acres Destiny). Mrs Anthony imported stallions and mares from Quarter Horse foundation lines that were really instrumental in the foundation of Quarter Horse breeding in Australia.

“At Winderadeen, we bred cutters, reiners and performance horses and we paid a lot of attention to breeding quality and we tried to produce the best product we possibly could. When I first arrived, the emphasis was on cutting bred horses. They also had sprint horses when that was big. Phil and Taureta Webb were there then and they really put Winderadeen on the map. Jet Boom (imp) was one of the major stallions he showed for them and he was shown in reining, bridle path hack, western pleasure and halter classes. That Jet Deck/Sugar Bars line is very versatile. They bred cutters with him as well as performance horses. We ended up with a line of mares that had an aptitude for a variety of competition. When I first went to Winderadeen, you would go to a show and do the cutting, reining and performance classes over three days and sometimes do the reining and performance with the one horse. Horses like Miss Holly Boom, she would do well in the pleasure and they would cut her as well. But that has changed. The western disciplines have now become very specialised, which has led to breeding of horses specifically for certain performance events from bloodlines selected on high standards of performance in those specific events.

“We were always looking for good stallions and we wanted a stallion specifically for performance horses. We ended up getting Smart Little Scotty for the cutting horses. He was actually bred at Mrs Anthony’s Nine Bar Ranch in Texas. In 1994 we got Cee A Barpasser to breed with all the mares that had been really good pleasure horses, like Bingo’s Melody that won the AQHA/Logan Insurances Triple Crown Western Pleasure Series in 1987. Cee A Barpasser was probably the most influential pleasure stallion to come to Australia in 1990’s. Winderadeen had a lot of success in the cutting pen as well. We had a number of cutting stallions over the years, because Mrs Anthony wanted to keep that up. Stallions like Beggar Bingo, Jet Boom, Smart Little Scotty and Little Peppy Doc, Intricatolena was the sire of the 2010 NCHA Futurity winner, Winderadeen Whiskey Cat that was ridden by Jason Letch.

“Our focus was on broodmares. If you have quality, well performed and well-conformed broodmares, then you can be adventurous on the top side. If you put an average stallion over a good mare then you have a greater chance of success than putting a good stallion over an average mare. At Winderadeen, we worked on having outstanding stallions and extremely well performed mares, and mares that we’re proven producers of exceptional offspring. We gelded most of the colts, because I think good colts make great geldings. We had some outstanding mares like, Bingo’s Melody, that was High Point Performance Horse at the Nationals and Grand Champion Halter Mare four years in a row and the cutting bred, Gay Bar Minnie, a superb western pleasure and performance mare, and her offspring by Cee a Barpasser, W Gay Cee Bars a superior a western pleasure horse, who was in turn the dam of the outstanding Winderadeen Somelikeithot and so many other fabulous performers. We paid great attention to horses that were adaptable and good for amateurs and youth to ride. I think Winderadeen laid the foundation for the quality of horse that we have here in Australia now. It was a fantastic opportunity for me and I had great fun and a lot of people have benefited from the breeding programme there. We used to breed about 34 horses a year ourselves, and with outside mares, we used to breed up to 100 horses a year. I don’t think anyone breeds those numbers today; we were the last of the big-time breeders. Mrs Anthony died in 2007 and the family did not have her interest in the horses and we had a dispersal sale in 2010. I was at Winderadeen for 28 years. I am proud of the breeding programme and I had a lot of input into it and I am really proud of the horses we produced, that have gone on to give so much pleasure.

“Nowadays the disciplines are very specialised and I think that is why the ranch horse classes are becoming so popular. It is a much more natural product and people have the option to ride in a number of classes on the one horse that they can train themselves. I used to go to America every year and I went to a big show in Texas. They were running a Quarter Horse Show and an Open Show for Appaloosas and Paints etc. Interestingly, there were more Quarter Horses in the Open Show than the Quarter Horse Show. I was on the board of the AQHA at the time, so I asked the Quarter Horse people why they were in the Open Show? We just can’t compete with the money. The money spent on outfits, saddles etc was prohibitive. That is why the American Quarter Horse Association and Australian AQHA have embraced the ranch horse classes, which have increasingly growing classes. The ranch has its own skill set and every horse and rider can shine if they put in the work.

“Through my involvement with the horses, I went on the AQHA Board and was President of the AQHA for two terms. I am also an AmQHA and Australian AQHA Professional Horseman. When I was on the AQHA Board, I was the International Director and would go to the American Quarter Horse Association Convention every year. In the position of Coach, I took four AQHA Youth World Cup teams representing Australia to International competition; 2012 to Germany; 2014 to USA (3rd placing); 2016 here in Australia (2nd); and 2018 back to USA (4th). Those were the most rewarding experiences and I enjoyed every minute of them.

“I live on the South Coast now and I don’t have any horses. However, I do some teaching around here; a lot of English teaching. I do some Western clinics and I have a few people in Sydney that I coach regularly in the Western disciplines. I like coaching, I like seeing people succeed. Every now and then, I think it would be nice to have a horse and go to a show. However, I ride every day and am doing a little dressage down here and schooling a few horses for friends. But what I have learnt over the years is that the only certainty is that everything changes.

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