The History of Glennormiston

Glenormiston Annashee (now in Germany) & Mary

Glenormiston Ciaran

DC Praize- Oxenholm Tiffany

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Glenormiston Connemara Stud was founded in 1974 in the hills of Upper Brookfield on the outskirts of Brisbane, Queensland, with a small group of broodmares. In early 1976, the weanling colt Domo Cavallo Praize was purchased in NSW and became the stud's foundation sire as well as one of the foremost performance stallions of his time. Later that year, he was joined by imported English mares Macaroon of Calmore and Washland's Rebecca.

Over the next 5 years, seven more mares joined the stud - Fabian's Rebecca, Millfield Seaspray and Kirtling Haze who were all bred in the UK; Tulira Fuchsia and Four of Diamonds -bred in Ireland; Oxenholm Dulcinea and Oxenholm Tiffany - bred in Denmark. Only Tiffany, now aged 31 is still with us. Almost all the current broodmares at Glenormiston are descendents of these original imported mares.

Abbeyleix Finbar, bred by the late Viscountess de Vesci (Ireland), and purchased from Padraic Hynes in Connemara, was imported in 1979 as a yearling. His wonderful bloodlines ensured he would breed on and produce quality ponies.

Oxenholm Gideon, bred by Bent Nielsen in Denmark, arrived in 1982 having been purchased after winning Reserve Champion to Rory Ruadh at the Roskilde Connemara Festival in 1981. He was one of the most classical Connemaras we had seen.

In 1997,as development began to encroach on the Upper Brookfield stud farm, we moved to a very attractive 264 acre property on the banks of Lake Wivenhoe in the Brisbane Valley. The native wildlife abounds here near the lake and gives us and our visitors constant pleasure.

We began to need a new sire to use over the mares by our 3 original Glenormiston stallions so in 1999, Castle Baron, a dark bay 2 year old colt with a blue blooded red line pedigree, was imported from Henry O'Toole in Clifden, Ireland. Castle Baron (Henry) is from an illustrious family of ponies and brought new bloodlines to Glenormiston and to the whole of Australia.

Then in 2008 we were fortunate to be able to purchase a Danish bred colt foal, Frederiksminde Hazy Cavalier, from one of the most famous Connemara families in Europe today - the Hazy family . This colt will bring a new side of the green line to Australia and will be a huge asset to the Connemaras in this country. He joined our stud farm in February 2009. Later that year we purchased another colt Gneevebrack Storm from Ireland and he arrived in February 2010. These two young stallions have now been inspected and passed and are registered in class 1 of the CPBSA studbook. We are expecting their first foals in the 2011 foaling season.