PAUL and Julie Wardell’s Silverthorn Stud has long been renowned for breeding champion stock horses.
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Now the couple have secured the stud’s first Prince of Wales Trophy, with 11-year-old mare Silverthorn My Girl named the 2013 winner of the award.
The Prince of Wales Trophy is awarded each year by the Australian Stock Horse Society (ASHS) in recognition of a horse that has achieved well at national and Royal show level and is the best performed in three event categories in a calendar year.
Paul and Julie have been involved in stock horses for nearly 40 years and started their Silverthorn Stud on the Gloucester Tops Rd more than 20 years ago. Paul is a certified stock horse trainer and the couple breed and train horses at their farm.
Silverthorn My Girl was due to retire after a decade in the arena when Paul and Julie put on new trainee Ashley Whiting at the Silverthorn Stud in 2012.
“She seemed to be the obvious choice to bring back into work for Ashley,” Julie said.
“The pair of them just clicked and what a partnership it’s turned out to be.
“Silverthorn My Girl has been competing since she was a yearling and even with her wonderful consistent and reliable performances with other riders over the years, her combination with Ashley was beyond all our expectations.”
Together the pair enjoyed success at Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra Royal Shows as well as at State and regional level.
But the crowning glory was being named the champion mare and hack and Supreme Hack Horse of Show at the 2013 ASHS National Show in Tamworth.
Silverthorn My Girl is the second horse from the Gloucester district to win the Prince of Wales Trophy in as many years after Cee Dee Bracelette, owned by Karen Miles, won the award in 2012.
