About Quentin Szery
Quentin bought his first horse at the age of 14 and since then he has formed a lifetime of valuable experiences from watching, learning and interacting with horses, as well as cattle and dogs.
He has some wonderful outback experiences as a stockman, horsebreaker, campdrafter, cattleman and working dog trainer, not to mention his success on the circuit.
He started riding through the rugged terrain of the Snowy Mountains, which helped him understand that working with a horse, not against one, was the right idea.
In 1972, with the support of his parents, 17-year-old Quentin departed home for the north Queensland gulf country.
'Romeo's Restraint'
His first job as a stockman on a 3000 square mile station called 'Vanrook' was a serious challenge for a young man, but Quentin enjoyed the work and loved the station life, which in a good season managed up to 36,000 cattle.
However, Quentin found time to break a few horses and build and repair saddles during the wet season.
Under the watchful eye of his masters he worked hard and took in everything he could. Quentin was encouraged to travel throughout the Northern Territory and west into the Kimberleys, breaking-in horses and working with cattle wherever possible. The work gave Quentin a real sense of pride and a true appreciation of Australian outback life.
But the time had come for Quentin to return back to his southern homeland. He began to compete in campdrafting in his hometown of Corryong and the success in drafts with his horses confirmed his skill as a cattleman, horse trainer and champion competitor.
It didn't take long for the travel bug to bite again and in 1984 Quentin again headed north, this time to the central Queensland coastal town of Mackay.
Although he was a regular competitor on the Central Queensland Campdrafting circuit, Quentin chose to devote much of his attention to the horse breeding side of his operation with the performance horse bloodlines of quarter horses Doc Bar, Freckles and King.
With a group of broodmares based on these quarter horse lines he decided to introduce the Australian Stock Horse bloodlines of Abbey, Romeo and Cadet.
This forward thinking has bred a number of champions and champion breeders.
|
|
About Quentin Szery
The desire to breed top quality horses for working horsemen confirmed to Quentin that this was what he wanted for the rest of his life.
One of the horses he bought was the splendid chestnut AQHA/ASH Stallion 'Smokin' Billy', a horse highly regarded on the Queensland Campdraft circuit, with superior ability which he passed onto his progeny.
'Smokin' Billy'
'Smokin' Billy', now deceased, and Quentin formed a strong bond at home and on the circuit and is spoken of with much affection by Quentin. Bred by Gordon McKinlay and foaled in 1992, 'Smokin' Billy' was out of a Clover Pinaroo mare, Mack's Rosemarie, by Smokin' Oak (by Doc's Freckles Oak).
The brilliant stallion, sometimes also ridden by Peter Comiskey, gave Quentin some of his greatest successes in campdrafting and produced some talented offspring.
Quentin has since bred, trained and retained other champions on the circuit such as Romeo's Restraint, Mystic Remedie and Widgee Creek Peregrine.
'Widgee Creek Peregrine'
Besides breeding champion stock, Quentin has also established two successful horse sales, one in Mackay, and one at Emerald in conjunction with AGRO Field Days, which has since developed into a Stockman's Challenge and Annual Sale.
In 1983 he spent some months in the USA working with a respected cutting horse trainer, which exposed Quentin to other aspects of horsemanship. His quest for knowledge enabled him to work on improving a saddle design using bullhide-covered trees, which later became popular in Australia.
In his own business Quentin has been successful with many aspects of horse and cattle breeding, marketing, planning and development of prime property to suit horse and cattle breeding, in addition to running his popular cattle and horsemanship schools.
About Lyn Caslick
Quentin's partner Lyn Caslick looks after many of the other business duties to allow Quentin more time with the breeding and training side of the operation.
Lyn is responsible for Marketing, Photography, Business Management and the Presentation of the horses.
She has her finger on the pulse and can be contacted for any information regarding the breeding, training, drafting, information seminars and the sale of horses under the Oakland's banner.
We Haved Moved!
In August 2008 Lyn and Quentin moved to the beautiful countryside of Maidenwell where they will continue to grow and expand their operation.
Address:
Kooloombah Grazing Co
Dugdell Road
Maidenwell
Qld 4615
To read more about Oakland's champion stock click here.
To read more about oakland's breeding program click here.
To view the horses Oakland's has bred for sale click here.
|
