CONTENTS
PART 1
EARLY DAYS – THE PIONEERS
The way it was in my childhood days – pre Saddlebred era
CLAUDE ORPEN, the Saddlebred pioneer who introduced Saddlebreds to South Africa
PIETER VAN DER MEULEN, the greatest SADDLEBRED trainer and showman who ever lived.
”UNCLE MAC” MURDOCH, the most charismatic personality in the history of the South African SADDLEBRED.
UNCLE FANIE FOUCHÉ, the man who made SADDLEBREDS popular in South Africa in an era when the breed was unknown to the South Africans.
UNCLE GERRIT VAN SCHALKWYK, one of the first breeders who ran a stud and started importing SADDLEBREDS – a determined man with a vision.
UNCLE TAILLEFER RETIEF, a pioneer who realized “SADDLEBREDS are a sport with style”.
UNCLE BILL SIEBERHAGEN, a pioneer who put everything into helping beginners in an honest, sincere way.
CHARL HERTZOG, a pioneer who LIVED SADDLEBREDS.
UNCLE GERT AND AUNT FREDA LÖTTER, pioneers, EXAMPLES, INSPIRATION FOR GENERATIONS TO COME – UNIQUE PEOPLE WITH CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY, STYLE AND ….. A GIFT
SOME OF THE EARLIER TRAINERS
OLIVE BEDFORD, a lady who will be remembered
PART 2
SADDLEBREDS START BOOMING – the seventies and beyond
THE DU PLESSIS’S OF RUIGTEFONTEIN, a family who sticks together – and proves the strength of unity in a family.
THE CONSISTENT SCHOEMANS OF PHILIPPOLIS ……….AND KENTUCKY, a legacy hard to equal.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, a benchmark for professionalism.
TEARS AND ROSES, a breeder/trainer establishment with an enviable record.
JOHAN KOTZE, a man whose contribution to the SOUTH AFRICAN SADDLEBRED can never be calculated.
EMERALDA, a dream which refuses to give up.
DIRK CLAASSENS, the trainer who set the standard in the show ring.
ELRA TONKIN BIERING, a lady who leaves no stone unturned to promote the SADDLEBRED.
PART 3
SADDLEBREDS WHICH SOUTH AFRICA WILL REMEMBER
SIRES WHICH BUILT THE BREED
BROODMARES OF DISTINCTION
ROSS MILLIN AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN FUTURITY
HISTORY OF THE MONTY GADD, the most coveted prize at Cradock Show.
SANESA
COUNTRY PLEASURE
EQUITATION Courtesy Irene van der Westhuizen, Mountain View Stables
MEMOIRS, MEMORIES AND ANECDOTES OF SOME OLD TIMERS
THE “KENNEDY’S” OF LOERIESFONTEIN IN THE HANTAM – my childhood heroes who shaped my life forever