Rhondhu Black Duck

Black Duck is Liz's favourite young filly. She is placid, and super pretty. She has a strong & well developed body, and has that 'look at me' appeal. She is out of a mare who is working her way to being one of our best Broodmares. She  just keeps having awesome fillies. Truly Montana (5yo) and Truly Dusted (2yo) are two other Roc N Roll fillies we have kept for our own use. Black Duck is just 3yo, and due to the way life goes, was late getting started under saddle. She has an abolutely awesome bay filly at foot right now by Shining Sheriff*, proving that Roc N Roll really has the goods in the broodmare department.

Black Duck was started beautifully by Harvey Wakeford in March 2011. She is a kind and quiet minded filly, with a placid attitude to life. Harvey Wakeford starts all our breakers, and we are finding he does an excellent job on them; they are very well ridden, they travel straight and freely, they have been exposed to speed in their circles, flexion, leg aides, moving their shoulders and hips, crack a whip and have a lot of rate to get stopped naturally by just 15 rides. They have all been pretty much ridden outside the arena only. Harvey only uses a roundpen for the first couple of rides, and has no arena, just 1000's of acres of cattle property to utilise. So they all come back well ridden, and very ready to prepare for competition.

Black Duck has been ridden outside a lot, and in fact has not yet been ridden in an arena at all excpet for some photos and some cattle work. She travels well, and kindly, and in good straight lines. She has good even paces, and is happy to travel at the designated speed. She can shoulder in/out, side pass, reverse all without spurs or any pressure issues. She has been stretched out into a gallop, and responds well when asked to slow or stop. Naturally she has been just started, so has has a long way to go to be a fully educated horse, but she has awesome foundations and has had plenty of outside riding and exposure to things like running gullies, riding through timber, cracking whips, and seeing vehicles and dogs.

Thsi filly could go on in a versatility of fields to become an awesome competitor, and an even better broodmare in time to come. Her pedigree is pretty unique, not many Blue Duck Okies (imp) foals in Australia, probably about 25-30 total. We have retained a Blue Duck colt for a future sire, and are very impressed with him and this filly.

Black Ducks mum was ready to challenge as a 4yo, and got badly injured on a fence and was never shown. We have sold a couple of top colts (a palomino by Jessies Koolibah and a chestnut by Docs Spinifex*) out of her into the Campdraft and Cutting industries. We sold 2 top class fillies (bay by Docs Truman and a brown by Oaks Reality) to Campdarfters, as well as a very strong bay gelding (by Spotlight On Spin), all of which have performed well. This mare would be one of our best broodmares, she just keeps producing big, strong, pretty  foals, no matter who we breed her to. She throws a lot of fillies, and we couldn't wish for a better broodmare. Her dam is now an NCHA Hall of Fame mare for the progeny she has produced.

Black Duck is a top shelf filly, who will prove herself in competition, and as an embryo donor mare and as a broodmare for many years to come. We love to breed good horses, and over the last few years teh quality of our sale horses has risen to a point where we could really just keep them all! But we breed to sell, and we want to sell horses to people that will go on and perform for them, and make a future for us too. This was a tough decision to sell her, and for the benefit we hope that she will go to a competition home, where her exposure will promote Rhondhu Stud.

Black Duck is now very well started on cattle. She was ridden by a friend of ours, who worked a bunch of young horses and handle our weanlings for 2 months, and he did a great job. No pressure, just kind consistent work on cattle, and she certainly rose to the level quickly. She is not ready to compete, but she sure is going well. The photos were taken at the end of her riding time with our friend, just before Christmas. She has been spelled since, and is ready now to go back into intensive training, and will definately challenge and draft this year if the work is kept up to her.

We have re-priced her to cover the expenses involved in starting her on cattle, and also after seeing the prices with our own eyes at Landmark Classic Sale in Tamworth in February, we could keep this filly for another 12 mths and atke her back and double the price she is today. Sorry for the price change for those who have been watching her on our website, but I just seem to run out of hours to keep updtaing the website!