Clairveaux Quarter Horses set to take centre stage at Equitana Melbourne

All eyes will be on Victorian stud Clairveaux Quarter Horses this week as its horses take to the main arena for Equitana Melbourne's renowned competition, The Way of The Horse.

The event will run from Thursday to Sunday at the Melbourne Showgrounds. There are three teams made of a master and a mentor, who have 75 minutes each day to work with an unstarted horse.

This year, the teams are Flinders Greentree and Priscilla Oberreiner, Matt Bleby and Ken Faulkner, and Amber Scriven and Adam Sutton.

They will go before a panel of judges in Will Rogers, now based in Germany, Tom Curtain, Katherine, NT, and the 2022 winner, Skye Liikanen, Biddaddaba, Qld.

Clairveaux Quarter Horse stud principal Pam Jones has never attended Equitana in person, and it was also the first time the stud had supplied horses to the event.

Ms Jones, and her husband Wayne, began breeding Quarter Horses in Tasmania before relocating to Victoria.

She said she aimed to breed versatile, quiet horses. Her clients participated in everything from campdrafting to Pony Club events.

The 2022 drops heading to the competition include two mares, Clairveaux Made Good, by the US import KJ American Made and out of Good N Lazy, and Clairveaux Made Hot, also by KJ American Made and from Winderadeen Sumhotpeppy.

The two geldings are You Bet I'm Reddy, by the Clairveaux's imported sire Better Be Reddy and out of RQH My Kinda Angel, and Potentially a Goodbar, by Potentially Lazy (IMP) from Good Bar Dolly (IMP).

She said Clairveaux Made Good would be retained by the stud, but the remaining three would be offered for sale after the competition.

"Most of our horses are sold word of mouth, they very rarely get advertised," she said.

"To do Equitana was a pretty big thing, because the four going could have been sold as weanlings or yearlings.

"They're impeccably bred.

"I think it's a great thing for our stud but also its been hard to hold onto these horses. Equitana's also very lucky to have this standard of horses coming through."

Each horse had different character traits and she was particularly interested to see each trainers' approach.

Ms Jones expected the geldings would be slightly easier to work with.

"They're bred out of stallions that have all produced great all-rounders, but all have been imported for a purpose," she said.

"Buddy [Potentially a Goodbar] he's very inquisitive and wants to be with you, so he's ready to really latch onto someone. I think he'll be by far the quickest one.

"Clairveaux Made Hot, she's very standoffish and very independent - a very strong-minded mare. Her dam has always been like that too.

"It will be interesting to watch someone with her, I really look forward to how they'll go about connecting with her."

Each horse had minimal handling and would be transported to the showgrounds via a specialised trailer that did not require them to be caught.

Ms Jones, who has years of experience in the showring, admitted it was hard to send horses away without any additional presentation.

"They've got knots in their manes and tails and they've been out in a big paddock where they haven't been touched," she said.

"I'm very proud of the horses we're sending and I'm excited to see their journey, but I'm a little bit, 'oh my God, I could have them looking so good!'"

Equitana's four day program includes 67 hours of competition taken up by 34 different events, 160 education sessions delivered by 80 different educators, and more than 300 brands on show.

• The Land will be reporting from Equitana each day