"Cattle kings ye call us, then we are kings in grass castles that maybe blown away upon a puff of wind...”
Patrick Durack 1878


Fossil Downs Performance horses is situated in the NT, we breed only a very small amount of foals per year working on the theory of quality rather than quantity. We believe that maternal lines are the cornerstone to any breeding operation and that great mares will produce great foals, on that note we only keep mares that show a lot of ability, have performed or have strong, proven, performance families. We have tried to breed these mares to the best ASH stallions we can find matching type, temperament and genetics to suit the individual mare.

We work horses and cattle for a living so first and foremost we look for horse that we enjoy riding to work, they must show natural cattle sense, have tractable temperaments and be good riding horses. Due to our work commitments we are unable to compete as much as we would like and really only get to at the most 10 campdrafts per year. However our horses have been taken on by friends to campaign, Wayne and Rachel Bean took Lilt through her challenge year and enjoyed success on her at Rocky Rush, Gary Faulks and Kate Townsend took Rhythm to Paradise Lagoons and Warwick where she made the finals of both the Acton Superbeef and Warwick Gold Cup.

I have grown up in the Kimberley in WA on Fossil Downs Station, hence the name. Fossil Downs was settled on the 3rd of June 1886 by William Neil MacDonald. This overlanding feat from Goulbourn NSW to the Kimberley WA is considered the longest droving trip in the world and took the the Macdonald brothers 4 yrs to track across the continent to finally arrive at their destination. Fossil Downs remains in the original family to this day. I have spent a lot of time with notable horse people such as Theo Hill, Wayne and Linda Hingst, and Wayne Robinson, also attending clinics with Ray Hunt, Ian Francis and Mark Buttsworth. My partner Stewart grew up in southern QLD and has spent the majority of his years on properties throughout the NT, as headstockman, manager and he has also run his own contract mustering business.

We welcome you to our site and feel free to contact us with enquiries on our horses.


Stewart Boyce & Amber Henwood

PMB 42
Katherine 0852 NT
08 8975 0758

amber@fossildownsperformancehorses.com

 


Visitors

Special thanks to professional photographers Narelle Wockner, Tricolby, Kenyon, Cassie Grover and Jess Doherty, whos photos feature throughout this website.

 

January 2012

Happy New Year from Snowie with a chestnut Conman filly on New Years day. Hopefully this a good omen for 2012. 2011 was a disastrous year for our horses so fingers crossed this year will be a lot better. We decided to send Cheetah to Seligman Spin and hopefully she will go in foal as she missed last year.

October 2011

There has been four colts sired by Lockyer this month, two to outside mares and two for us. All are good strong foals. Sadly we lost Fashion's filly last month in a unforeseen paddock accident which was a shame as she was a lovely filly and Candy Myst also lost her foal at nearly full term, so it has not been a great year for foals. Cheetah has been joined to Kirkby Stud Officer so hopefully she will preg test positive.

September 2011

Timber Creek campdraft was the first weekend of September and our last draft, it is starting to get pretty warm up here now so a good time to finish up! Flute ended up with a 5th in the Novice and Madeleine making the Maiden final. A couple of the horses have sustained minor injuries this year so hopefully 6 months off will recuperate them for next year.
Del Rio has been sold to a campdrafter in NSW, I hope Nick will be very happy with him and we will be sad to see him go, he is such a lovely, kind horse however I am sure he will enjoy the milder climate and good feed, he is nearly going back to his place of birth!


August 2011

Nixons X-Ing draft was the last weekend of August, what a terrific venue, extremely well organised with great prizemoney and trophies. Aria tied for first place in the second round of the twenty thousand dollar Maiden draft with a 90.

Fashion foaled a Lockyer filly on the 16th of August, she is two weeks early but seems strong and well.

Lilt and Rhythm both had fillies born on the 17th and 19th respectively. Call Girl also foaled a filly unfortunately she only survived 24 hrs and had to be put down. They can be viewed on the foals page and I will update photos as I can.

Katherine ASH draft was on the 6-7th August and Aria came second in the Novice. Pussycat draft was on the 12th -14th of August. Goldfinger got 4th in the Restricted Open, Flute got equal 6th in the Maiden and second in the Novice, Aria got 5th in the Novice after going into the finals on an 89 unfortunateley her steer pulled up in the finals and trotted to the gate!! Aria also made the maiden final. Senator got a kick and was not able to compete and Goldfinger has also sustained an injury in his hind leg which means he will not be drafting anymore this year.


July 2011

Senator won the Open Draft and Goldfinger won the Restricted Open at Katherine Show, Flute made the Novice final and both Aria and Jazz ran really well.

May/June 2011

Senator ended up second in the NT/WA Zone Open Horse and third in the NT/WA Zone Novice Horse at the end of the ACA 2010/2011 season.

We started off our 2011 drafting season at Nixons X-ing Jackpot Campdraft at the end of May, Aria made both the Maiden and Novice finals. Daly Waters followed that with Aria making the Novice final and Senator and Goldfinger making the finals of the Open and Restricted Open, with Senator ending up 2nd in the Restricted Open. The next weekend was Adelaide River where Senator and Flute made the Ladies final, with Flute ending up 3rd and Senator 5th. Aria made both the Maiden and the Novice final with a 4th in the Novice. Senator and Goldfinger made it into the final of the Open and the Restricted Open finals.

Bonnie Anderson and Fossil Downs Regalo won the Maiden draft at Fitzroy Crossing, congratulations to Bonnie and Regalo, I hope there is much more success in store for them.

March 2011

Fossil Downs Fire n Ice owned by Jo Hector WA recently got 3rd in the Great Southern Branch Juvenile Horse Challenge, there was very few points between first and fourth place. Fire n Ice is a half brother to Senator.

January/Febuary 2011
Cheetah had a loveley colt foal to RS Chisum late in Jan which can be viewed on the progeny page, unfortunateley Snowie must have lost her foal between her 45 day test and foaling date so  she has been bred back to Conman. Cheetah has been bred to to Kirkby Stud Officer.

We took holidays and have been down at Goomeri Qld where we did much work after the huge rains that south east QLD had experienced late last year, Rythm and Lilt settled in well and where scanned  approximateley 120 dys in foal. I purchased a beautiful Adios Reflect mare from Phillip Kikby, she can be viewed on the comp horse page.


December 2010
We have purchased a Blue Moon Mystic mare, Expected Candy Myst that is a half sister to the extremeley well performed Expected Barrister, she is PTIF in foal to Holmrose Lawmaker. Her details are on the  broodmare page.

Perfection has been sold to Alison Haines and we wish her success with this mare in the years to come.

October/November 2010
Rhythm, Fashion and Callgirl are all in foal to Millungera's Lockyer, they will be due August 2011. These mares will foal down in South East Qld and their foals will be available for purchase upon weaning.

Lilt is also in foal to Millungera's Lockyer, this foal will be owned by Wayne and Racheal Bean.

I  received an email from Kay Ascoli, who with her husband Brenton purchased Fossil Downs Izzarra in 2004,

"She is performing very well in top level A grade polocrosse and is generally a lovely horse to own. She is very kind on the ground and willing to do anything. She’s around 15.2 hands and generally a lovely looking horse."    Kay Ascoli

Photo of Fossil Downs Izzarra and Brenton Ascoli

September 2010
Our last draft was Timber Creek on the first weekend of September. Senator got second in the Open and both Senator and  Madeleine made the finals of the Maiden Series.

Rhythm, Lilt & Fashion are to be joined to Millungera's Lockyer this month then they will go south to foal down.


August 2010
Our local Pussycat Bore campdraft was on the 13th to 15th of August and was a great weekend of challenges and drafting. Rockstar and Lonestar came second and fourth in the Colt Challenge respectively. Rythm got a second in the Restricted Open, Senator got equal second in the first round of the Open and Madeleine got fourth in the Maiden and equal sixth in the Novice. Lilt and Wayne teamed up again to come second in the Over 5 Challenge.


We went to Nixon's X-ing campdraft on the 27th - 29th of August, the facilities were terrific and overall the cattle were good. Senator got equal third in the Restricted Open, Goldfinger made the Open final, equal third in the first round of the Open and 1st in the Juvenile Draft, Madeleine got equal sixth in the Novice and Rythm was equal first in the first round of the Open with a 91. Unfortunateley Rythm damaged her hock in the Ladies draft and was not able to run in the Open final, she is rising eleven so I will be joining her this year to hopefully compete on her again in 2012.

Our Lawmaker mare arrived on the 5th and is a loveley sensible mare, we are very happy with her.

July 2010
After not getting to Katherine Show we did the long track to Halls Creek. Not a terribly successfull weekend but we did manage some minor placings in the Restricted Open and the Ladies with Senator and Rythm however what a great draft and rodeo, so well run and organised with terrific stock.

Fashion had her first start at Halls Creek, she was purchased with the possibility of a damaged back an accident occurring while being broken, after consideration we feel she has got a problem and we are going to join her to the Millungera's Lockyer this year. She is very well bred having a dam with a good performance record that there is no doubt she will throw some really nice foals.

June 2010


Katherine ASH draft held on the 4-6th of June was our first draft for the year. Senator won the Open Draft with Stewart , running two 89's. He also made the Novice final on both Senator and Madeleine picking up a fourth in the Novice on Madeleine. Rythm gave me a fourth in the Ladies and a fourth in the Encouragement draft with one of the ringers from here who was having his second go at drafting.


Adelaide River draft  was on the 12th and 13th of June. Aria placed second in the Maiden draft on the Saturday morning with two nice runs however the weekend deteriorated for us after that. The cattle were just tricky enough however the horses went well.

 
April 2010
We have purchased a Holmrose Lawmaker mare out of Comara Pleasure. Pleasure's dam Comara Jessica won the Australian Stock Horse National Futurity in it first year held. Jessica's dam Comara Flic Flac is a full sister to the great L.T.A, L.A and Comara Spirit, all being campdraft horses of the highest calibre. This mare carries three crosses of the mighty Abbey, unarguably the greatest influencing sire on our campdraft horse industry.
 
March 2010
Cheetah has been PTIF to RS Chisum. This foal will be due early 2011.
 
Febuary 2010
Snowie was PTIF 22dys  on the 10/02/10 to Hazelwood Conman. Hopefully she will give us another filly.

January 2010
We are moving to the NT on the 23rd of Febuary and will be busy packing and getting organised in the next couple of weeks. Our new postal address and email address is all updated  in the Welcome and Contact section of this page.

Cheetah foaled a Hazelwood Conman colt on the 24th of January. He is a bay with star, snip and two hind white, she will now be joined to RS Chisum.

December 2009
Green Gully Snowie foaled a buckskin colt on the 6th of December. She will be joined to Hazelwood Conman later in the month.

October 2009
Rythm ran a 90 in the first round of the Canning Downs Draft at Warwick, coming equal 2nd. She then ran an 88 in the first round of the Warwick Gold Cup. She made both second rounds not getting into the Canning Downs final but making the final of the Warwick Gold Cup where she had  three scores and ended up twelfth.


Green Gully Chloe foaled a a filly foal by Jats Bar Radiums Coster on the 15th October. She is a palamino with a blaze and 4 white socks, so lots of chrome and colour! 

Tennant Creek was our last draft for the year,  run on the 2nd to the 4th of October.  Rythm won the ASH Open, it was one round and a final, at the completion of the final there were three tied for first so we had to run it off. Senator also came fourth in the ASH Open. Rythm won Top cut out in the Ladies with a 24 having to run it off as well. Overall Rythm had 5 runs with five 23s and then a 24 for the run off for the  Ladies TCO. Lilt ran third in the Open draft and third again in the Ladies after another three way run off!  The three maiden horses also ran really nicely so all in all it was a nice way to finish up. It was so great to catch up with friends we haven't seen for two years so there was much fun had all round.

August/September 2009
Richmond draft was on the first weekend of September, Senator made the Novice final, Rythm and Senator made the Second round of the Open and Lilt came third in the Ladies. two weeks later we travelled to Brunette Downs on the Barkly, NT. Senator picked up round money in the Open and also a minor placing in the Ladies, Rythm was the top cut out in the Open with a 23 and Madeleine came second in the Novice with an 87 and 84. That will be Madeleine's sixth start so we were happy with how she went.

July 2009
After having no drafts for the last four weeks due to work commitments we  went back to Camooweal for the Mt Isa Draft. Another good weekend Aria made the Maiden final and placed fourth in the district Maiden. Senator made both the Novice final, going in with second top score of 88,  and the Open final. Goldfinger got fourth in the Restricted Open. Madeleine had her first start and went at it like an old pro! Rythm had to stay home as she went lame a day before we left for Camooweal, she is slightly better but won't be going anywhere for a bit.


The weekend after Mt Isa we went to Cloncurry Challenge, again Senator made the finals of both the Novice and the Open. Madeleine at her second start made the Novice final. It was good to see Heath and Kellie Stewart who came over from WA to have a look.

June 2009
Camooweal draft was on the last weekend of May and what a great weekwnd it was, Gary Faulks won the Maiden on Rythm, Stewart won the Novice on Senator, Lilt got sixth in the Ladies and made the Novice final. Both the very "maiden' maidens went well Aria ran an 82 in the Novice missing out on the final by one point and Flute on her first start ran an 80 in the Maiden.

Unfortunateley the Monday after Camooweal Starmaker tragically killed herself in the yard, very upsetting for us as she was a terrific filly.
Normanton draft was on the 5th -6th of June, Senator got second in the Novice and Rythm second in the Ladies. Ballistic went to a new home in North QLD.

May 2009
After a long and "wet" wet season with many flies, bugs and insects we were finally able to get to Winton draft on Anzac weekend where Rythm yet again got second by one point, this time in the Maiden draft. Senator and Lilt made the second round of the Open and Aria had her first start in the Maiden on  a tough little steer.

Over the wet Fire n Ice found a new home in southern WA, where he now resides and Regalo a new home in northern WA. I hope that Jo and Bonnie have heaps of success and fun on them in years to come.

Julia Creek was on the 15-17th of May,  finalled  Rythm and Senator in the Maiden and Rythm in the Novice.

December 2008
Comara Goldfinger  is going great guns down south. Goldfinger was purchased by me from Julie Tonkin as a two year old. After Warwick Gold Cup Julie took Goldfinger back to NSW to campaign him over our “wet” season. He has had two outings so far, at Guyra he made both Open finals and the next weekend at Nundle he placed second in the restricted Open with 2 89’s and made the final of the Open. Needless to say everyone wants to know who the new kid on the block is!

October 2008
We decided to take some holidays and go down to Chinchilla and Warwick drafts. Rhythm ran and 89 in the first round of the Ladies draft and won the cut-out with a 24. Lilt made the novice final and Goldfinger missed the open final by a point.

We had our first venture to Warwick in 2008 and we were really happy with the results. Lilt missed out on the ladies final by 1 point but made it back into both second rounds of the Canning Downs and the Gold Cup. She ran an 87 in the first round of the Gold cup but unfortunately a bad bullock was on the agenda for the second round! However there were 700 plus horses in the 1st rounds and they only took 250 back into the second rounds. Both Cheetah and Goldfinger made the second round of the Canning Downs

While we were away Snowie produced a lovely Holmrose Lawmaker filly which you can see on the foal’s page.

September 2008
Sensation foaled a lovely bay filly to Holmrose Lawmaker she can be seen on the foals page

July 2008
Rhythm went with Gary Faulks and Kate Townsend down to Paradise Lagoons where Gary made the final of the Acton Superbeef on her, again huge numbers so we were really pleased to see her in the final

 

"There are three kinds of men: the ones that learn by reading; the few who learn by observation; the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence."

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