Horse Breeders in the Hunter Valley since 1832.
When the original Peter Haydon arrived in the colony of New South Wales in 1830, he established the property of ‘Bloomfield’ as one of the first pioneers in the Upper Hunter Valley. His brother Thomas joined him in 1836 and the Haydon dynasty at Bloomfield began. The old sandstone Bloomfield homestead was also built at that time.
Six generations later and the Bloomfield horses are as well regarded today as they have been for the last 180 years. Peter Haydon and his wife Alison, the current custodians of the herd, exemplify the dedication and labour of love this stud has been to all the Haydons through so many years.
The horse books so meticulously kept in copperplate hand writing have now been updated to computer records, and Peter has worked on programs to more accurately track the success of sires introduced into the stud, a wonderful blend of the old complementing the new.
The Haydon horses have seen it all, from the pioneering days when they explored as far afield as the Northern Territory, to the First World War where they charged at Beersheba, the campdraft days, the introduction of cutting, the formation of the Australian Stock Horse Society, and more recently, the heady days of International Polo. Indeed there is not a discipline in which the Haydon horses have not succeeded.
There are probably not many families in Australia or indeed the world who have so carefully recorded their horses’ history over such a long period.
Article reproduced courtesy of the Australian Stock Horse Society