PG . 30
AQHA FEATURE
2023 NUTRIEN SALE
2023 NUTRIEN CLASSIC CAMPDRAFT AQHA $ 2,500 OWNER INCENTIVE
ONE STYLISH JEWEL Q-97341 & DAVID THORN OWNER : OJ SYNDICATE - THORN , BELL AND PENNY
WORDS BY : LYN HOFFMANN © 2023 • PHOTOS BY : JO THIEME
David and Kandee Thorn knew what horse they wanted to buy going into the 2022 Nutrien Sale . They ’ d already put together the OJ Syndicate with their good friends - David Bell from Marree , SA and Jason and Aimee Penny from Gunnedah , NSW - and it was specifically to purchase the 2018 chestnut gelding , One Stylish Jewel Q-97341 .
Known as OJ , the horse was bought through that sale from Cameron Parker Performance Horses , Rockhampton , Qld , and the group were more than happy with the result .
‘ Cameron had bred , handled and broken OJ in ,’ Kandee Thorn begins . ‘ We ’ ve bought horses from Cameron before , and he breeds very good horses and starts them really well , so we knew what we were getting , right from the start . Another factor that we were very keen on was that One Stylish Jewel ’ s dam was the Acres Destiny mare , Destiny ’ s Fancy Jewel . She was a very well performed mare , and with OJ being by One Stylish Pepto , well , that ticked even more boxes ! My husband , David , has always gotten on well with the Pepto horses . After we ’ d bought OJ , we knew we may have gotten something good , but he ’ s still pretty young . Prior to the 2023 Nutrien Classic Campdraft we ’ d sent him back to Cameron for a couple of months of training . When we got him home in October 2022 , David then completed that final bit of his training up to the Nutrien event . Still , we weren ’ t that confident going into this year ’ s Classic , as it was OJ ’ s first start in a Campdraft .’
However , David rode him very well , and they went in to lead the event . Scoring an 89 and a 90 in the first two rounds , they made the Final . Drawing number 40 in the Final was a little challenging for David , but OJ came through , and he and David ended up 4th overall in the event , a very commendable result !
‘ We went home pretty happy with OJ ,’ Kandee says . ‘ He still has another year left in the Classic , and next year he ’ ll Challenge , as well as Draft . We ’ re at Wallendbeen , in southern NSW , and this year we have plans to take him to a few of the local Campdrafts , and already have a couple of those coming up . We ’ ll also start him on a few Challenge Patterns , just to start getting him prepared for the Challenge . But it ’ s been a great interest , with a good group of friends and we ’ re looking forward to heading back for the Classic Campdraft at Nutrien next year .’
AUSTRALIAN QUARTER HORSE ASSOCIATION - WWW . AQHA . COM . AU