In 1995 Karen and Claus Thrun established Cleland Gully Quarter Horse Stud in the picturesque Tooperang Valley near Mt Compass, SA.
They stood an AQHA Champion stallion and produced foals for the local market from a small number of purebred mares. It was at Equitana in Melbourne where they first experienced a professional cutting competition, watching in awe as One Moore Spin, an all-time great, weaved her magic in the cutting arena. Something happened that night and in 2002 they arranged a holiday to Tamworth to check out the NCHA Futurity and Select Horse Sale. The Futurity was so addictive that they returned home with a 9 month old chestnut filly by Acres Destiny. She was called Chickasha Hope and she was their first-ever cutting prospect. In the cutting horse industry you’ll often hear people say they’ve been breeding and showing cutting horses for over 30 years hoping to have a Futurity finalist one day. Imagine then the excitement for Karen and Claus when Chickasha Hope finalled in all 4 of her Futurity events, placing equal fourth in the prestigious 2005 NCHA Futurity at Tamworth and equal third in Victoria with trainer, Aaron Wheatley. With such great results Chickasha Hope was entered up in her Derby events the following year. By this time Aaron had the mare working so beautifully with her own unique “fluid” style that she was a stand-out for both American judges at the NCHA Futurity in Tamworth. They marked her with a 150 and a 145.5 in her go-rounds. And in the final she scored a 151, the highest score for the whole show, to win the NCHA Derby. From there she went on to final for the next three Derbies and came away as the Derby Champion again in Toowoomba (DDCC) and Victoria. Winning 3 out of the 4 Derby events held in 2006. Chickasha Hope, described as “one of the sweetest moving cutting horses you will ever see,” holds in excess of $50,000 in lifetime earnings with the NCHA. But she is not just a proven performer - she is now a proven producer with her first foal, Smart Little Catolen, an NCHA Open Futurity Finalist in 2011, and her second foal, Lil Rey Of Hope, the 2012 NCHA Open Futurity Champion.
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