History
The foundation sire of the stud was Wongalea High Design, a Holsteiner by Flaneur (Imp) from a New Zealand thoroughbred mare. Flaneur was the first Warmblood imported into Australia and could be considered one of the foundation stallions of the Holsteiner breed in Australia. High Design was bred to selected thoroughbred mares that had to meet criteria for temperament, type and stamina, the ability to gallop on hard or wet going, staying ability and jumping ability.
Then came the impressive & talented Grand Flaneur. He covered High Design mares to begin the line breeding and double crossing back to Flaneur, with the out crossing of thoroughbred lines. This consistently produced a refined up-hill type with a lovely sloping shoulder and freedom of the front legs that is so prevalent in our stock today
Grand Flaneur was a quality stallion with the temperament and trainability to match. His movement was excellent with incredible hock action coupled with the conformation and elastic suppleness that allowed him to really sit and collect. He had a fantastic jumping technique and was a great ride when eventing. A truly versatile stallion which is an attribute he has passed on to his progeny. He was a favourite with the legendary European Classical dressage Master, Nuno Olivera you said of him - "Your stallion has a world class piaffe and passage" - in fact Nuno adored Grand Flaneur.
Other stallions followed - Nahpro, an Arctic Explorer/Better Boy cross (another familiar Australian performance horse foundation stallion) was bred, trained and raced by David and his father Jack. He started out as a sprinter and could handle hard tracks, then developed into a middle distance horse who could most importantly jump!
The next stallion was Melody Contact II by the Holsteiner Contact (Imp) from a thoroughbred mare who was a full sister to the Australian show jumping champion Spring Melody. Put to a Flaneur mare later, he produced one of the most talented Grand Prix Dressage horses ever seen in Australia, Isle of Passage, later to compete as "H.R.H." with Claire Wickens then Tor Van den Berg who declared 'he is the best horse I have ever ridden!'. Unfortunately Melody Contact II was used only lightly as he died at only 8 years of age.
And that takes us to our current stallions the stunning Isle of Apsen, the grand gentleman Snowview Romboli and the beautiful Grande Isle and Magnetic Isle.