Australian Nicole Brunker of Mackay, Queensland says that she may not live in “heart of the horse industry” but she plans to change that perspective. With the help of her trainer, Tim French, she located a gorgeous buckskin stallion, Potentially Lazy (Buck) in the United States that she eventually plans to bring to Australia and stand at her farm, Selah Park Pleasure Horses.
Potentially Lazy by Lazy Loper was the recent ABRA World Champion in the Two Year-Old Western Pleasure Class with Saul Sliss in the saddle.
“Buck has had something special about him since the first time we saw him,” Nicole fondly says about her gorgeous buckskin stallion. “Tim had some contacts in the states from when he lived there for a time and one of them was his good friend, Saul Sliss. Well things are meant to be because Saul came across Buck’s video as a yearling. He sent it to Tim, who passed it on to me and before long he was in a truck headed to Gainesville, Texas to take a look at him.”
Brunker has been impressed with how Saul has brought along Buck in a short time. “He has been able to take this talented yearling and train him up and win a World Championship at his second outing in a show pen,” says Nicole, who plans to stand Buck to the public at Gumz Farms in Morganfield, Kentucky in 2014. “It is important to have trust in someone to look after your interests in another country, and I think that is why it works so well–I trust Saul wholeheartedly.”
According to Sliss, Potentially Lazy has the look that makes you stop and say, “Wow! He is one of the most gorgeous buckskins ever and then when you see him move, you stop again, and say he is the whole package!” Saul told GoHorseShow. “We started this colt when Tim came over for a visit last fall, and he was a saint. He never bucked and hardly even broke a sweat….just talented and easy. He was so easy that when Nicole came over a few days later she was able to ride him–there aren’t many colts you can say that about.”
Even though Nicole wasn’t able to watch Buck show in person at the ABRA World Show, she was able to watch the team on the live feed. “I get so nervous when my horses show. It’s no different than when I watched my daughter at a gymnastics completion,” explains Nicole, who has five children, ages ranging from 18 to three years-old. “It was amazing to see Buck win the class. It’s hard to put in words the feelings you have when you actually experience your dreams becoming a reality in an instant, but my husband said you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.”
The future looks very bright for Selah Park Pleasure Horses with Potentially Lazy winning his ABRA World Championship, and Brunker hopes Buck continues his winning ways at the NSBA World and the rest of the major futurities this year.
Selah Park Pleasure Horses also recently purchased another young stallion prospect, In The Redzone, from Bret and Candy Parrish. He is by RL Best of Sudden out of Made Ina Zip. Nicole plans to have him as next year’s show horse following in Buck’s footsteps. The son of RL Best of Sudden will stay with Saul where he will prepare him for next year’s futurities.
“We both would like to say thank you to Tim, his fiancé, Terese Searle, and last but not least Nicole and her family,” Sliss says. “It was several divine interventions that has led to all of this and brought our wonderful team together!”
To find out more about breeding to Potentially Lazy in 2014, please contact Amy Gumz by clicking here. For individuals interested in frozen semen export to Australia, please email, Tim French by clicking here.
Make sure to check out his GoMag ad HERE
Photos © Shane Rux and Larry Williams
