Article by Lindsay Ferguson
Foundation Mare
BARRIS - FM
ASH Reg: 1711
From all accounts, BARRIS - FM was a special horse.
Not only was this brown mare attractive and wellconformed but she also performed well, winning at
sporting events and campdrafts at the top level. But
there’s more - she produced progeny of such quality
that to single out any individual horse would be unfair.
T
his article concludes the current
history of the breed’s three foundation
mares from the Barona stud, (see
ASHS Journals, Jan/Feb 2011 and
Mar/Apr 2011). B.E. (Johnny) Coombes,
the Barona principal and studmaster, mated
these mares foal-for-foal with the stallions of
the Hill’s Comara stud. BARRIS - FM was
joined to ABBEY - FS for five of her seven
foals. In retrospect, no more needs to be
said as to the wisdom of such a cross.
The ASH Stud Book’s 2010 tally records
BARRIS - FM as having 1,125 descendants.
This family is still sought after today. A
grandson, GLEN LEE MOSSES MERCURY
(by BARONA HORNET), recently sold for
$45,000 at auction, being the top-priced
ASH at the 2011 Landmark Classic sale.
The Coombes family is a strong
advocate of the Thoroughbred, which they
used as the backbone of their breeding.
With the formation of the Australian Stock
Horse Society in 1971, they had their
horses classified and registered. In doing
so, an influential set of ASH bloodlines
became recognised. B.E ’s father, William
(Spider Bill) Coombes, bred and raced
Thoroughbreds, and bred and worked
stockhorses. He spent a lot of time dealing
and droving cattle, as well as working the
steep country of the upper Hastings River.
He instilled in B.E. strong opinions
about the virtues of the thoroughbred type.
With such confidence about his horses’
breeding, heritage and ability, B.E. was
known as something of a character amongst
horsemen of the region. He became a
top rough-rider and sporting horseman,
with sugar bags full of ribbons. Twice he
won the programme (i.e. every single
event) at local sporting days. B.E. also
10
bred and raced Thoroughbreds, as well
as continuing to breed the family line of
cattle-working mares. His three sons have
similarly bred and raced Thoroughbreds,
also keeping an interest in the line of
family stockhorses. As I write this article,
B.E.’s birthday rolls by and he would have
been 101 if he were still alive today.
Gertie Brook on BARRIS - FM (bar eye 03/society 02)
A U S T R A L IA N S TOCK HORS E J OURN AL
B.E. Coombes at a campdraft on Society (dam of BARRIS - FM), believed to be at Long Flat, New South Wales. (This image is a black and
white photo from the 1940s, which has been coloured by hand.)
One of his sons, Adrian Coombes
recalls: ‘Grandfather wouldn’t have any
other riding horse on the place – it was
Thoroughbreds for riding and Suffolk
Punches for draft horse work. He used to
breed for the remount trade in the early
part of the 20th century, producing the
typical Waler remount – a tough 15 to
15.2hh, thoroughbred type. Life on the
Hastings River changed a lot with the
advent of the car in the 1950s. Most good
station horse breeding stopped, and—
Thoroughbred racehorses aside—most
breeding was only for pony clubbers.
We found ourselves one of the few
Thoroughbred type breeders remaining.’
When questioned further, Adrian
continued, ‘I wanted to understand our
family preference for this type. When
I asked my father, his answer was that
if you had a Thoroughbred - you had a
horse. It might campdraft and it might be
a good sporting horse, or it might race, but
if nothing else - at least you had a good
riding horse. The Thoroughbred is more
intelligent and that intelligence can be
best utilised if you wait for them to mature
fully.’ Adrian also asked his dad what his
favourite horse colour was. He replied that
his least favourite colour was brown, but that
many of his best horses had been brown.
BARRIS - FM was born in 1959,
the same year as the series Bonanza
first premiered on US television – an
interesting parallel. She was bred by B.E.
Coombes from his mare Society, in a foal
share arrangement with the owner of her
sire. Unfortunately Society, who had two
previous foals and then BARRIS - FM at
the age of 22, produced no more foals.
Standing at 15 hands, BARRIS - FM
was a classy horse and lived 32 years until
1991. Clem Barnett of Barnett Stock Horses
at Wallabadah, purchased one of her colts
from Theo Hill in 1977 and named him
BARNABBEY (pronounced Barnaby). In the
Vale article on the horse, Stephen Harris
recorded a large part of the history of the
family at that time (ASHS Journal Sept/
Oct 2004, pp.58-59). He quotes Clem as
saying, ‘She was one of the nicest mares
I’ve ever seen; one of those athletic but
calm all-rounders: at home, campdrafting
or at pony club.’ Seven years later, in the
interview for this article, Clem was pleased
to be able to extol her virtues again. He told
me, ‘I had seen BARRIS - FM win an open
draft at Taylor’s Arms in two foot of mud –
just before she went off to stud for the first
time – she was an unbelievable mare.’
Herbie Tout recalls her early years,
‘BARRIS - FM was broken-in as a two year
old and being a promising horse, they
pumped the work into her – to the point
where she started jibbing.’ Enter Gertie
Brook - a legend in her own time, as she
travelled widely and competed at rodeos and
campdrafts in the 1940s to 1970s. ‘Gertie
took her on and put a lot of hard work into
her to get her out of the habit’, said Herbie.
Harris writes, ‘Gertie told Adrian Coombes
that she won between 14-16 campdrafts
on BARRIS - FM over the period 196871. And she came second in the Warwick
Lady’s Campdraft on her in 1970. After that
BARRIS - FM was ridden by Theo Hill’s
young teenage daughter Julie (now Tonkin)
for a few years at pony club camps, and
was also an excellent hack and jumper
before becoming a brood mare at about
the age of 13’. Julie remembers her as, ‘a
MAY/ JUNE 2011
11
Above left: BARONA ABELL (ABBEY - FS/BARRIS - FM),
winner of 1989 Warwick Gold Cup. Pictured with B.E.
Coombes (kneeling with trophy saddle) and Bruce Hollis
(holding the horse and the Gold Cup trophy).
Above right: Mrs Connie Coombes on Society at Ellenborough,
circa 1956
If Warwick is the Melbourne Cup
carnival of campdrafting, then
surely BARRIS - FM was from the
Bart Cummings stable.
lovely horse that was a good all-rounder.’
The brown mare Society 02, born in
1937, was the dam of both BARRIS - FM
and COMARA AMARETTE - FM. Society’s
story is detailed in the Foundation Mare
article in a previous issue (ASHS Journal
Jan/Feb 2011). To briefly recap, Society
was 14.3 hands high, a top campdrafter
and sporting horse and to quote Adrian
Coombes, she was ‘quite a character’. Ian
Coombes remembers her fondly: ‘She would
whinny and come over to the fence to see
you, and was wonderfully quiet and kindly
with children. When ridden, if she thought
it necessary to go to the lead to hold a mob
of cattle, a woman or child could not stop
her until she had the situation in hand.
She lost her first flag race as a two year old
to an open horse, that was rung-in to the
maiden, but was first to finish in the next 14
races. She was widely regarded as the best
mare in the Hastings region in her day.’
BARRIS - FM’s sire was the black,
Bar Eye 03, by Bulls Eye 001 and out of
a Barrister mare. This foundation mare
is the only horse registered in the ASH
Stud Book by Bar Eye 03, but he did sire
other good campdrafters. The Barrister
mare, known as Brown Doll, was out of
a pony mare and by the Thoroughbred
12
stallion Barrister – so named as the
owner fought a court case over the horse
before he finally won legal title to it.
Frank Clancy from the Macleay River
was a friend of B.E.’s and describes
himself as ‘the last of the old-timers that
knows (about these horses)’. Appearing
in the ASH Stud Book as Bulls Eye, this
horse is also the registered thoroughbred
named The Bull’s Eye (AUS 1932). This
black stallion was bred near Bathurst by
Mr Hayley and never raced due to an
injured knee. He is by Bullhead (IRE 1926)
by Phalaris (GB 1913). Bullhead sired
four stakes winners for nine stakes wins
between 1935-47, with runners in Victoria,
New South Wales and Queensland. The
Bull’s Eye is out of the mare Redmyre
(AUS 1933) by Redfern (GB 1912) and
out of Etramalt (AUS 1918). Redmyre was
joined to Bullhead three times, with The
Bull’s Eye being the first of her progeny.
Redfern produced four stakes winners
for four stakes wins, with three in Sydney
and one in Canterbury, New Zealand.
Frank, who at one time owned a book
written about Bulls Eye, remembers him
arriving in the district in about 1934. He
said, ‘Kevin Lynch brought him first to ‘Tib’
Woods (Bruce’s father) at Austral Eden,
A U S T R A L IA N S TOCK HORS E J OURN AL
then he went to Ossie Connor’s stables at
Gladstone, New South Wales, then to George
Ramsay’s stables at Kempsey. George led
him to the Belmore River and other places
on the Macleay. Through his traveling about,
serving mares, Bulls Eye became wellknown as a station horse and campdraft
sire in the region. Percy Thurgood bred
four foals by him out of Brown Doll. In
1934 he sired Pardon; in 1936 he sired
Popeye; in 1937 he sired a bay mare that
died as a three year old and in 1939 he
sired Bar Eye 03. Percy Thurgood was
justifiably proud of this trio and followed
their careers with great interest.’
Pardon (not to be confused with
PARDON, ASH Reg: 215) was a great
campdrafter of his day. Frank explains, ‘He
raced as “Ally", in the all-heights category
on the racetrack before Merv Freeman
bought him for campdrafting. Merv won
many drafts with him and came second
in the Gold Cup at Warwick in 1946.’
The campdrafter Popeye, (not to be
confused with POP EYE, ASH Reg: 9174),
was an all-time great horse. Bought in 1944
by Clive Ballard and leased to his cousin
Len Ballard, he was mostly ridden by Gertie
Brook, who won many open campdrafts
and over 100 in total on him. In 1951, she
Clockwise from top right: BARONA ITEM (ABBEY - FS/BARRIS - FM), ridden by Michelle
Tout at Wauchope show; BARONA EVONNE (ABBEY - FS/BARRIS - FM) with Bruce Hollis;
Gertie Brook riding Bareye and leading Popeye, at 1950 Grafton Show, New South Wales.
rode him to win the Warwick Gold Cup campdraft and came second
in 1953. Ian Coombes recalls Gertie as saying that Popeye was fast
and always had his front feet in the right place at the right time. A
merry-go-round operator at the shows told Ian many years later, that
he always shut down to go to the ring and watch Popeye’s run.
Another of Bulls Eye’s good progeny was Dot, out of an Omaha
(1899 GB) mare, which Clive Ballard bought at the sale of the
Hilton Ball’s Estate in 1945. Bulls Eye also sired the stallion Eye
Look, the sire of Palis, BARONA AMY - FM’s dam. As a sire, one
could say that Bulls Eye was a bit ‘hit and miss’. Frank said, ‘He
threw some really good horses but he also threw some quite touchy
ones that were no good.’ Frank recalls that in 1940 he went to
Fred Ceaver at Tamworth for two years; then to Sandy Loweat at
Pokataroo; then Rex White’s nearby and later to Bruce Lowe, at
Byrock, near Bourke. This travelling stallion must have left his
mark almost to the same extent as a resident stallion of today.
In the early days of the ASH Stud Book, without good and
matching detail in horse pedigrees on a registration form, the
same animal would be recorded as a unique animal. Hence,
we have three Bar Eyes and a bagful of Bulls Eyes. With Frank’s
personal account of this family it is most likely the Bar Eyes are
one in the same. Not necessarily so for the Bulls Eyes. What
makes things a little confusing is that in 1932, Mr Hayley also
foaled down another (brown) thoroughbred colt by Bullhead
out of Lady Toi (1925 imp), which he named Bullseye. This
stallion stood at stud in the Hunter and around Tamworth, and
may well be one of the Bullseyes in the ASH Stud Book.
Frank tells me that as a six year old, around 1946, Bar Eye
started siring a lot of good horses on the Macleay, including Katy
Bar, Glen Bar and later on BARRIS - FM. The name BARRIS - FM
combines Bar Eye and 'S' for Society. Adrian regards her as the
most consistent breeder of Barona’s three Foundation Mares.
Bruce Hollis was responsible for the breaking and starting of the
four progeny with the Barona prefix. He said, ‘They were all about
15 hands high and pretty good horses. The breaking-in went
smoothly as they had a good temperament, but you had to keep
your wits about you – it was pretty easy to upset them’. Ian tells
me, ‘This Coombes line of mares has been selected over at least
140 years for intelligence as a key part of their ability. Many of
them have little enthusiasm for exercises they see as pointless.’
Bruce’s idea of 'pretty good', in my opinion, is the classic
understatement, as we will see when examining the performance
of these horses. Their high level of success is attributable
not only to their own ability but to Bruce’s, who is widely
regarded as one of the better campdraft riders in the sport.
B.E. certainly knew what he was doing when he established
this successful working relationship with the Hollis family.
BARONA EVONNE, a 14.3 hand mare by ABBEY - FS, was the
first born in 1973. Named after the top athlete Evonne Goolagong,
she was originally campaigned for B.E. by Matt Hoffman, but she
was later put in the hands of Bruce. She proved to be an outstanding
horse, coming second in the World Championship campdraft at
Sydney and winning the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft and Rodeo
Association (ABCRA) Open campdraft horse of the year in 1986. She
also won the Bayer Championships and Champion of Champions
at Armidale. Adrian says, ‘She was ridden by everybody. On at least
two occasions she carried someone in every category at the ABCRA
national finals, i.e. six runs per day, and was still good enough to win
the Open horse. I recall Gertie Brook saying that it was one of the
greatest performances she had ever seen.’ In her career this brown
mare won at least 50 campdrafts and was placed 110 times. When
B.E. passed away in 1993 she was left to Bruce’s wife, Kerry Hollis.
We are fortunate that a mare with such prodigious talent
has produced nine foals and passed her ability on to many of
these, most of which were sold. The two that were kept, did
the family proud. The first BARONA BARRIS, by WARRENBRI
ROMEO - IS was ridden by Bruce, taking him to second place
in the Sydney Royal World Championship campdraft in 2002.
The second kept was the fifth foal, ADIOS FLO JO by ADIOS
REFLECT, who was another champion campdrafter. In 2001 she won
the ABCRA Novice campdraft horse. With Bruce’s son Tim on board,
she competed in that same Sydney campdraft in 2002, beating
her half-sister into first place. It is not surprising that they won the
Family campdraft on these horses at the same show. In 2004 she
MAY/ JUNE 2011
13
14
for some time only has 46 registered,
mostly bred by the Comara stud. His
current owner, Jason Regan of the far
north coast of New South Wales, was
thrilled to purchase this stallion saying, ‘he
is the best bred stallion you could get’.
BARONA ITEM was the 1975, black
colt foal. B.E.’s neighbour at Yarras,
Michelle Tout, had the use of this horse
from when he was about five years old.
She said, ‘We mainly campdrafted and
sported him, but we also used him for stock
horse classes, where he won a number
of champion and supreme ribbons. He
had a good, kind nature and his foals had
his personality. In 1981 we had him at
the National Championships at Capella,
PROFILE:
the jet-black yearling colt that he wanted.
He just needed a good stallion to breed
a few of his own, but look what he got.
BARNABBEY was a quality stallion in
wide demand, that produced 187 progeny.
In 1985 he placed in the Bayer 10,000
campdraft in Armidale, but his career was
limited due to injury. Clem recalls that,
‘BARNABBEY was very intelligent. I used
to teach him a few tricks. He was also a
great mate and his loss in 2004 was very
disheartening to me for a long while. His
progeny have been outstanding with the
filly BARNETTS MEMORY being one of
the best.’ Clem still has six broodmares
by him, with foals by his current stallion
KIRKBYS STUD THEO (AUS), giving
BARRIS - FM
Colour............... Brown
Height............... 15hh
Lifespan............ 32 years (1959-91)
Breeder............. B.E. (Johnny) Coombes
Performance...... All-round stockhorse, pony clubber and campdrafter
Progeny............. Seven (four colts, three fillies) - all outstanding
ASH Reg: 1711
bulls eye 001
BARRIS - FM
won the ABCRA All-round campdraft horse,
followed by winning the Open Campdraft
horse in both 2005 and 2006. Bruce
summarised it nicely by saying, ‘We won
nearly everything on her. I rode her to win
the Canning Downs campdraft in 2004 and
Tim came third on her in the Warwick Gold
Cup in 2005. The Hollis family is breeding
from her now and it is quite exciting to
think of how good her progeny might be.
Julie Tonkin had some bad luck
as a teenager with her promising filly,
Moondust, dying suddenly during the East
Coast Futurity at Kempsey in 1974. With
corresponding good luck, COMARA MUSIC
(by ABBEY - FS) was the replacement horse
given to her by her father, Theo Hill. Julie
describes her as ‘a brilliant little mare, and
a nice type too - jet black. Unfortunately
her competition career was cut short
because of a chipped bone injury to her
hock. She had a beautiful nature and is
one of those horses you still miss years
later after they’re gone. But she produced
some nice offspring that were really versatile
- you could ask them to do anything and
anyone in the family would ride them, kids
included. This family was all the same - a
nice type of stockhorse with beautiful
natures, extremely versatile and athletic.’
Clem Barnett was good friends with
Vaughan Kyle, a manager at Comara.
Clem explains, ‘At first she was a slow
starter, being introduced gradually to
cattlework by Vaughan, but eventually
her cattle sense just clicked in’. Julie
won 15-20 campdrafts with her in an 18
month period before she was injured.
COMARA MUSIC has also produced
well with eight foals. ‘Of these’, Julie says,
‘the mare COMARA SONG was typical
of the family in that she was extremely
placid and a really nice type of mare.’
COMARA MIA played polo with Charles
Hill for four seasons before being sold.
The brown colt COMARA HARLEQUIN
(AUS) (by WARRENBRI ROMEO - IS),
was the last born. At 14.3 hands high this
colt showed promise equal to that of his
quality pedigree. Theo Hill held him in high
regard, considering him to be ‘the best yard
horse we have had since ABDUL - IS’.
Damien Curr of northern Queensland
took him on at the age of four for about
18 months, preparing him to compete
in the Cloncurry Challenge. ‘He won two
drafts and placed in a number of others
up here. He was a really “cowy” horse
with a good temperament,’ said Damien.
Unfortunately he damaged his flexor tendon
on some wire before the Challenge, which
stopped his performance career short.
As a stallion he has many progeny to his
credit, but due to lack of DNA registration
bar eye 03
barrister mare 01
bridgeburn 02
society 02
una 03
in Queensland for barrel racing and steer
undecorating.’ Bruce remembers him, ‘he
was very like ABBEY - FS and not very
pretty.’ Whatever his looks were, he seemed
to inherit and pass on the positive family
traits. Towards the end of his career, Bruce
rode him in three campdrafts for three
wins. He sired many more than the 49
progeny that were registered and amongst
them was the 1993 Canning Downs
winner, Memory, ridden by Craig Bates.
Clem Barnett, who was a shearer
for most of his life, did a lot of rodeo and
campdrafting, especially in his early years.
Clem said, ‘I liked the Bareye/Popeye
line having seen Gertie ride them – their
versatility was unreal’. In 1977, Theo
tried to sell him the colt that would be
registered as COMARA ABBEYS CATTLE
KING - IS, and Clem had to persist to buy
A U S T R A L IA N S TOCK HORS E J OURN AL
BullHead
Redmyre
Barrister
pony mare
bridge north 001
unknown dam
larrimore 001
molly 01
them a double cross of ABBEY - FS.
BARONA ABELL was a black filly born
in 1977, who lived up to her name in good
style. Her name is a cross between that
of her sire, ABBEY - FS and the upper
Hastings River village of Ellenborough,
where the Coombes family originated.
Broken in and started by Bruce Woods,
she was later sent to Bruce Hollis. Going
to campdrafts most weekends for a few
years developed her natural ability even
further. In total she won 37 campdrafts
and earned 140 placings, capping it off by
winning the Warwick Gold Cup in 1989.
Bruce estimates that she had to beat
about 300-400 horses over three rounds
to claim the honour. She also won the Cut
Out and put in the fastest run on the day.
After B.E.’s passing in 1993, she went
to his eldest son Ian, in Canberra, but