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FEATURE: 2025 HERITAGE HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
Hall of Fame
2025 HERITAGE HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
MERRIE ELLIOTT # 56144
Merrie Elliott( née Mattner) has dedicated more than 50 years to the Australian Quarter Horse industry, leaving an enduring legacy as a breeder, stud manager, mentor, and advocate for the breed. Her contribution spans education, racing, breeding, and promotion, influencing generations of horsemen and women across Australia and abroad.
Merrie Elliott remains genuinely humbled, expressing that it is a mystery to her why so many generous and esteemed individuals came together to bestow the honour she has just received, the 2025 Heritage Hall of Fame at the AQHA Awards night. Merrie feels very humbled to take her place in the AQHA Hall of Fame among so many true luminaries of the industry.
Merrie met her first Quarter Horse at the Myer Family ' s Elgee Park in 1965. From the minute she laid hands on the beautiful filly-with her incredible mossy coat that was such a feature of many horses of King Ranch breeding she was hooked. That addiction has never wavered.
Very early Merrie learned that speed was an important attribute to this newcomer to our shores and many, saying most of the early imports had plenty of old time speed, some of it pretty obscure but it was there. It might come as a surprise that Greg Laugher was the first person who spelled out the need for speed in the Quarter Horse. A close association with Betty Hobson who arrived in SA in 1970 with 30 horses almost all of running blood reinforced this importance. Betty was a dedicated student of pedigree and was a major influence on Merrie ' s interest in this field.
INFLUENCING GENERATIONS OF HORSEMEN AND WOMEN ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND ABROAD
Australian Quarter Horse Association- www. aqha. com. au