REFLECTIONS IN A SILVER SPOON

SIYABONGA, BAKHITI

I’m sitting in what is about to become my wife’s new bedroom, in a new house. “Hers” it became when we passed the budget for the third time!

The fold-away doors, all 8 metres of them, have given way to a World Heritage site. To my left lies Ntaba Nquno, where General Botha took command of the Boer forces in November 1899. His predecessor, General Joubert, hero of the first Anglo Boer War, had been wounded the day before at the Battle of Willow Grange, hence the change in O.C.

In the foreground lies one of the planet’s most enchanting valleys, and right here beneath this great hillside, lies the nation’s Champion Racehorse stud. Now I know what the British, the Zulus and the Boers were fighting so furiously about. This is God’s own, and they fought more ferociously for this territory than they did for any other.

Think about that. The British at the time, held dominion over two thirds of the earth’s surface, yet here is where the Empire engaged itself so earnestly, for its greatest military moments, as well as its worst. Since starting this note, I’ve had to walk across the courtyard at the rear of this house, and besides realising my wife got carried away with the size (our plans are simply jotted on the back of exam pads in this part of Zululand, so it’s easy to miscalculate), I also know that, for once in my life, I got really lucky. I married a genius.

The lakeside suites at Hartford House have long borne testimony to her creative talents. The occupancies tell us that, and the admiration of both the architectural and the decorating world confirm it. But “her” house is surely her finest moment.

That said, it really is larger than it should be, and perched beautifully as it is, it’s also a bit on the conspicuous side for a Zulu farmer who still comes to work in a Corsa bakkie, clad in khakis and veldskoens. So I’ve spent the morning planting trees to “hide” it a little!. Equally, this was not the time to be building, though it’s been a 2.5 year project for all the interruptions my management have brought on my builders in the time. You never want to be “splashing out” on a personal indulgence when there are others in pain. The timing was not good, though it might’ve been, had we completed it in 2007 when we first started. My team keeps saying, “purge your conscience, you’ve slaved for it”. I’m consoled only slightly. But it’s to them that Cheryl and I turn with our thanks. In our time here, they’ve run the hard yards with us, they made the sacrifices and at last, they’ve too, reaped their rewards.

Siyabonga, Bakhiti

South African Breeders' Championship : THE BIG FIVE

A misty Summerhill morning
(Photo : Greig Muir)

“More Bulldust Part 3”
Extract from Summerhill Sires Brochure 2009-2010

Horses are a language we can all share.

Sometimes there are quiet asides, sometimes dramatic moments, but there’s always a story to tell. Look hard enough and you’ll find romance in the life of every great racehorse.

At Summerhill, we think we’re the luckiest people on the planet. We wake up on one of the great pieces of real estate on earth; we gaze out upon a World Heritage site, the Drakensberg; we go to work with some of mankind’s finest human beings; and we get to work with the noblest creature the good Lord ever created.

On the way, we’ve visited the mountain top, a place few people ever get to go. In the annals of recorded history, only six farms have ever aspired to the South African Breeders’ Championship, the tightest contest in all of racing. In what must surely be remembered as the “Summerhill decade”, we’ve known so many champagne moments, but they are mere footnotes in an extraordinary tour de force.

Understand, there was no big enterprise or family cash behind Summerhill. In a world as competitive as it’s ever been, and with massive fortunes pouring into the game, we’ve had to do things differently. A bit of inspiration, loads of perspiration, the occasional celebration.

The result is an animal that’s had to be different. A horse that runs like he knows what he owes.

The “Toyota” of South African racing: excellent quality, great dependability, and outstanding value. The virtues our nation has come to respect most. And they know too, this is the “Genuine Article”. Honest, authentic, the original.

Any number of records and five consecutive Breeders’ Championships later, besides God, we owe these victories to the racehorse. Our history was written on his back. We are his heirs, but he is his own heritage.

For close on a century now, our families have devoted themselves to this religion. We are unashamedly proud of our connectivity with our sport, and the fact that every day, there’s a new story to tell.

So mark this then. When you’re dealing with Summerhill, you’re not only buying a horse or a service. You’re buying a piece of history.

If you’re not on the mailing list, or if you’d like to check that you are,
please email Marlene at info@summerhill.co.za for your copy
of the world’s number one Sires brochure.

Click below to read “Bulldust” Part 1 and Part 2

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A CHAMPIONSHIP : Part 3

The Giant - Giant’s Castle
(Summerhill Stud)

BUILDING CAPACITY:
NOT WITHOUT THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT PLACE

So we came to the realization that we needed to flatten our management structure, and that experts in each division would be far more effective than subordinates answering to someone who himself was no expert beyond his own qualifications. Instead of bookkeepers, we put chartered accountants in charge of finance; instead of a part-timer we put a serious agriculturalist in charge of the farm; and the stallion manager was exactly that, a stallion man, dyed in the wool. The Broodmare Manager is a graduate of a veterinary school, the Building and Maintenance Manager was no longer a handyman; the trading store demanded a trader in the proper sense of the word. And so on.

The increments that flow from this approach are remarkable. Having an expert doing his job properly means others can concentrate on theirs: the need for duplication is cancelled and the added capacity is palpable. Not only does this mean the job gets done the way it’s intended, but it also means there is plenty of room for more horses, more stallions, for more feed, more foals, more customers, for more guests at Hartford, more insurance through that division, and so the wheel grinds on, and the team gets better by the day. We’ve been here thirty years now, but the real work started only fifteen ago. The word “only” is appropriate here, as fifteen years is a big chunk of any man’s working life, either way.

The other thing that flows from a job well done, is the satisfaction of having done it. I’ve always said I’m the luckiest man on earth, living where I live. I wake in the mornings and gaze out through double doors upon a world heritage site, at the centre of which is “The Giant”, the pivot around which our lives revolve. Like Gulliver after a well earned rest, he lies there prostrate across the length of the Drakensberg, the tip of his nose and the point of his chin signalling the apex of these great mountains.

I wake up next to one of the loveliest ladies in Mooi River, and I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years; I go to work with some of the finest people on this earth, and I get to work with the greatest creature the good Lord ever created. What a noble profession, made the nobler by the quality of those around us, and the excellence of what they deliver.

The next episode will follow next week.

Click here to read :
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A CHAMPIONSHIP : Part 1
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A CHAMPIONSHIP : Part 2