Hi there, my name is Henrietta O’Hara and I live at Wattle Hill with my younger brother Theo and my mum who is called Hots by everyone including us kids. Wattle Hill is a large property of some 400 acres which Hots’ grandmother, my great grandmother, Jocelyn Brent originally purchased before my mum was even born. Jocelyn was a famous racehorse breeder and trainer back in the day when men mostly trained and her success with her horses meant she won lots of races and bred lots of good racehorses. The story is, my grandmother left home when she was fairly young and went to live in the US where she married, however she returned some time later with a small child who was Hots and then she became sick and died so Jocelyn brought up my mum. Which is why Hots was such a good rider when she was young and she still is.
Anyway the property was called Wattle Hill and when Hots was young, a local boy called Cam Marlborough came to work for Jocelyn with the intention of becoming a jockey. The fact that he became way too tall before he was 15 years old meant that he had to revise his plans! Instead, with Jocelyn’s help, Cam became her resident horse breaker, trainer and property manager and during those years Jocelyn became even more successful which she always said was because of Cam’s ability with the horses and his dedication to their well being.
Hots has lived at Wattle Hill all of her life except when she went to uni for a few years where she met my dad. However she returned when Jocelyn passed away and followed her grandmother’s request to continuing running the property and to sell half of the 800 acre farm to Cam for duties rendered – whatever that meant! – which she did.
So Cam, his father Jimmy and his two sons JJ and Hamish live next door on their own 400 acres and that property is called Wattle Farm. JJ is one year older than me but we are in the same year at Wattle Park College, he is also my best friend and we ride together daily. Hamish and Theo are good mates too despite Hamish being a couple of years younger they also ride together a lot.
Our lives are really centered around our farms, our horses and the work we do with them. We love our horses and attend the local Wattle Park Pony Club, competitively show jump and help Hots to run her Thoroughbred agistment business. JJ’s father Cam has a cattle trucking business while Jimmy runs the cattle on their property as well as the household stuff as JJ’s mum died a few years ago. They also have horses which they compete along with us as well as trail ride around the district.
Hope you enjoy our stories. It’s fun sharing them with you!
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