Narrabri Showground has been selected to host a historical stockhorse carnival featuring descendents of the legendary stallion ‘Abbey’.
Anyone owning one of the 58,000 registered descendents of Abbey will be invited to attend the event which organisers hope to hold on July 24, 25 and 26.
Campdraft, sporting, led class and polocrosse competitions will be run over the three days to showcase the versatility of the historically significant line of stockhorses.
Abbey was bred by Harry Ball of Willawarrin in 1955, and had already established himself as one of the nation’s top horses at 20 months old, when his owner Harry died tragically in a car accident.
Harry’s wife Coral gave the horse to Theo Hill, who rode Abbey to further successes and facilitated his service of hundreds of mares.
This year holds special significance for stock horse enthusiasts as it marks the 60th anniversary of the birth of Abbey.
The stockhorse carnival will pay homage to Abbey’s breeder, Mr Ball, and second master, Mr Hill, who died recently of complications resulting from pancreatic cancer and dementia. The event will double as a fundraiser for those conditions, with pancreatic cancer researcher Dr. Minoti Apte already a patron of the event.
Narrabri Shire Mayor Conrad Bolton and Local Land Services General Manager Ken Flower have also thrown their support behind the event.
“We want to celebrate Abbey as one of the greatest sires of all time and promote his descendents,” Organiser Ross Clarke said.
“There’s a lot of interest and people willing to travel from all over Australia to attend.
“I’m a little bit nervous because I think it will be huge, the idea has just taken off.”
Both Mrs Hill and Mrs Ball will be invited as guests of honour to the carnival where a minute’s silence will be observed in memory of their late husbands who made extroadinary contributions to the stock horse breed through their involvement with Abbey.