aBOUT
Team Hendershot Haflingers:
Trainer Nicole Cable, Chuck Hendershot (son) and Bill Hendershot (Father) |
The header photo features William (“Bill”) Hendershot and Nicole Cable with a pair of 7-year-old Haflingers hooked to a Roof Seat Break in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, while competing in the 21st Orleton Farms Driving Show. At 84 years young, Bill is the patriarch of Hendershot Haflingers and a lifelong horseman. He grew up with horses in northern Pennsylvania, when the horse was still a major source of power for the local farmers, learning how to handle a team hooked to a hay wagon, rake or dragging logs from the woods. Bill developed his love for horses under the tutelage of his father, Charles and Grandfather, Milo Hendershot, both excellent teamsters themselves. Prior to owning Haflingers, Bill was involved with Appaloosas, Palominos, Quarter Horses and Paints. He bred, raised and trained numerous national championship caliber horses, including several National Champions. Bill’s dad never lost his love for the horses and was deeply involved with the farm, right up until he passed away in his 90s.
In the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, Bill was a fixture on several show circuits, and in addition to halter showing and pleasure riding, was an accomplished game horse rider. However, as years of hard work and hard riding began to take their toll, riding became more difficult. Although the body hurt, the competitive drive and love of horses still burned strongly, so Bill went looking for a new horse adventure—discovering the Haflinger. He purchased his first pair from a local breeder near his home in upstate New York. A pair of two-year-old fillies that were right out of the pasture never even broke to a halter. In fact, to load them in the trailer to take home, they backed the trailer to the pasture gate and chased the two on the trailer. So, when Bill tells you he has made every mistake you can make when buying a new horse, you may want to listen – because he may have. Anyway, the two new fillies come home and two weeks later, legend has it, the two were broke to the halter, standing still for a judge’s review and well on their way to line-driving. Bill said these were the two easiest horses he had ever worked with and a love affair with the Haflinger began. The next thing was to upgrade the quality of the Haflingers he had and to find a stallion. |
So, Bill and his wife, Deb Parker, began the worldwide search for Haflingers and the dispersal of the 20 quarter horses and paints in the barn. During their travels, they met and formed a lifelong friendship with Dirk and Karen Young of Twin Birch Farms that has included many trips to Austria and around the US in support of their beloved Haflingers. In 1999, Bill and Deb purchased Nando, their silver classified stallion, and started to focus on building the broodmare lines for Hendershot Haflingers. The Dams of the two Haflingers in the photos, were two of the foundation mares for Hendershot Haflingers selected and bred for the qualities that Bill wanted in a horse.
The pair of Haflingers, Nando’s North Star (“Buster”) and Millennium’s Easter Treasure (“Bunny”) featured in the photo are the result of this new beginning in Haflingers. Both were bred and raised on Hendershot Haflingers farm under Bill’s watchful eye. Sired by Nando out of mares raised by Hendershot Haflingers for the same qualities that Bill fell in love with in the two original fillies. Both Buster and Bunny are classified high silver with numerous individual honors to their credit. Buster was the National Champion Gelding in 2015 and 2016, standing as Reserve overall Halter Champion in 2017. Unfortunately, in driving competitions Buster faces the stiff competition of his sister on a regular basis; however, when he escapes her shadow, he is more often than not on the top of the podium. Bunny was the overall National Champion for AHR in 2019 adding two National Grand Champion Mare titles (2015 and 2018) along with a Reserve overall National Champion in 2015. She has many championships to her credit from numerous breed and open shows during her show career. In 2018, Bunny opened her career in driving competitions with a clean sweep of every show she entered that year, including the Morven Park Driving Competition in Virginia, the Lorenzo Driving Competition in New York and the AHR National Championships. In 2019, Buster and Bunny started the year as single horse competitors again with Bunny capturing the Reserve Champion Horse title at the Southern Pines Pleasure Driving Competition in North Carolina. It was at this show Bill and Nicole decided they needed a new adventure and Buster and Bunny became a pair. This was the middle of May 2019. With a new training harness, purchased at the North Carolina show the two siblings began a new journey. Thirty days later, the pair entered their first joint competition at the ADS sanctioned Morven Park Driving Competition in Leesburg, Virginia, with much success. Nicole Cable guided the pair through the obstacle driving classes to a clean sweep for the weekend, while Bill handled the Turnout, Working and Reinsmanship classes. The pair would have earned Reserve honors against a very competitive field, but because they had two whips were not eligible. The next big step was Orleton Farm Driving Competition in early August. The pair had now been together for less than 90 days, but again they showed themselves well with Nicole guiding the pair to blue ribbons in Combined Driving – Training Division, timed obstacle and fault & out obstacle and a second-place finish in Cross Country Obstacle. Bill recorded second place finishes in Turnout and Reinsmanship.
Bill has overseen the continued development of Hendershot Haflingers over the last twenty years. The stable is comprised of mares from championship bloodlines, strong confirmation (all the mares are silver classified), athletic with show performance records, generally in multiple disciplines. Nando has aged gracefully and still rules his harem. Although he has made room for Stelaka, a three-time National Champion stallion classified High Silver, he still holds his place as the patriarch and a special place in Bill’s heart. If you are ever in the upstate New York area, please stop in, Bill loves to show off the farm and the stable of championship Haflingers that he has guided the creation of over the last quarter of a century.
The pair of Haflingers, Nando’s North Star (“Buster”) and Millennium’s Easter Treasure (“Bunny”) featured in the photo are the result of this new beginning in Haflingers. Both were bred and raised on Hendershot Haflingers farm under Bill’s watchful eye. Sired by Nando out of mares raised by Hendershot Haflingers for the same qualities that Bill fell in love with in the two original fillies. Both Buster and Bunny are classified high silver with numerous individual honors to their credit. Buster was the National Champion Gelding in 2015 and 2016, standing as Reserve overall Halter Champion in 2017. Unfortunately, in driving competitions Buster faces the stiff competition of his sister on a regular basis; however, when he escapes her shadow, he is more often than not on the top of the podium. Bunny was the overall National Champion for AHR in 2019 adding two National Grand Champion Mare titles (2015 and 2018) along with a Reserve overall National Champion in 2015. She has many championships to her credit from numerous breed and open shows during her show career. In 2018, Bunny opened her career in driving competitions with a clean sweep of every show she entered that year, including the Morven Park Driving Competition in Virginia, the Lorenzo Driving Competition in New York and the AHR National Championships. In 2019, Buster and Bunny started the year as single horse competitors again with Bunny capturing the Reserve Champion Horse title at the Southern Pines Pleasure Driving Competition in North Carolina. It was at this show Bill and Nicole decided they needed a new adventure and Buster and Bunny became a pair. This was the middle of May 2019. With a new training harness, purchased at the North Carolina show the two siblings began a new journey. Thirty days later, the pair entered their first joint competition at the ADS sanctioned Morven Park Driving Competition in Leesburg, Virginia, with much success. Nicole Cable guided the pair through the obstacle driving classes to a clean sweep for the weekend, while Bill handled the Turnout, Working and Reinsmanship classes. The pair would have earned Reserve honors against a very competitive field, but because they had two whips were not eligible. The next big step was Orleton Farm Driving Competition in early August. The pair had now been together for less than 90 days, but again they showed themselves well with Nicole guiding the pair to blue ribbons in Combined Driving – Training Division, timed obstacle and fault & out obstacle and a second-place finish in Cross Country Obstacle. Bill recorded second place finishes in Turnout and Reinsmanship.
Bill has overseen the continued development of Hendershot Haflingers over the last twenty years. The stable is comprised of mares from championship bloodlines, strong confirmation (all the mares are silver classified), athletic with show performance records, generally in multiple disciplines. Nando has aged gracefully and still rules his harem. Although he has made room for Stelaka, a three-time National Champion stallion classified High Silver, he still holds his place as the patriarch and a special place in Bill’s heart. If you are ever in the upstate New York area, please stop in, Bill loves to show off the farm and the stable of championship Haflingers that he has guided the creation of over the last quarter of a century.