Hamish was born in Coonabarabran , NSW on the 27th of March , 1954 and raised on a working farm in the beautiful Warrumbungles , NSW . He left the farm after grade six to attend boarding school at Scots College in Sydney and returned home on holidays . ‘ At 16 years of age Hamish started to work for Robert Baldwin at Euroka Quarter Horse Stud and worked there for a couple of years . During this time he attended a cutting clinic conducted by Tom Lyons in Australia and was offered a job by Tom in the States - at the time he declined . Several months later he rang Tom Lyons and was on a plane for the States the following month at the age of twenty . He worked for Tom for seven years and then went to Santa Barbara to work for one year before returning home to Australia . During his time in the USA , Hamish showed in many cutting and working cowhorse events on horses that he trained .’

While in America Hamish met an Australian girl , Denise Cooper , in Fort Worth , Texas . ‘ I went to the NCHA Futurity with my parents Jack and Joan Cooper to watch a stallion they had bought compete in the 1979 Futurity named Peppy Palleo and while I was there my dad introduced me to Hamish . We talked and then met at the after party of the Futurity and danced . After the dance Hamish invited me to come back to America and visit him at Phoenix where he lived . I went home with my parents and for 12 months saved up . I was earning $ 67.00 a week as a secretary and paying $ 25.00 per week in board so I knew it would take a while . I set myself a goal to win the Alclibar Working Cowhorse Championship which paid $ 600.00 . I had a great working cowhorse named Wyera and I knew I could win it . I won the show . It was , even now , in the top two most exciting events I ever won . I went over to the

States and stayed with Hamish for two weeks and then came home . I started training horses at my parent ’ s place and did so for another year . I then went back to the States and started working for Tom Lyons , who Hamish worked for . Hamish picked me up at the airport and from that moment we were together . We became engaged 11 months later and married 11 months after that in Melbourne at St Johns Church in Toorak and had our honeymoon in Melbourne before returning back to Phoenix the following week .’

On his return to Australia with his wife Denise and their son Grady , Hamish started his own training operation , Hamish and Denise MacCallum Quarter Horses at Nar Nar Goon in Victoria . The following year Denise gave birth to their second child , a beautiful daughter named Jessica .

After two years in Gippsland , on the 27th of November 1995 Hamish and Denise both started working at Chance Lodge . Hamish was offered the position of Manager and Trainer by Jill and John Farnham who wanted to purchase the property but would only purchase it if Hamish would work for them , an offer Hamish proudly accepted .

Although Hamish only worked at Chance Lodge for 14 months before he sadly passed away , he loved working at Chance Lodge where he paved the way for the stud being as successful as it is today . ‘ Hamish had an enormous amount of influence on how we breed today because of two factors . Firstly he purchased great mares for me to breed with and secondly apart from being a great horseman Hamish was a great follower of bloodlines and he understood breeding . He loved breeding horses and knew exactly what worked and didn ’ t work with bloodlines . Luckily he passed on much of that knowledge to me although

AQHA JULY / AUGUST ISSUE 2023

AQHA Magazine AQHA July-Aug 2023 | Page 25