Frances has built her home (please wait for slide show to appear below) to be virtually self sufficient.

The property is set on the outskirts of the southern NSW town of Boorowa. Complete with wind power, solar power and even a composting toilet, the only bills she receives are from her internet service provider and buying the occasional gas bottle. Even her phone line is run through her internet. Impressive? Sure, but what really makes Frances’ house stand out is the fact that it is almost entirely built out of recycled material. The only new thing is the cat and even he looks a bit rustic.

From the outside, it looks just like an ordinary house, but as Frances gave me a detailed tour though her castle, it became apparent that everything in this house was far from ordinary. Every piece of furniture, every window, door handle and even tap has a story to it.

Frances started with just a shell of a house which was originally built in 1956. A few kilometres up the road, a property was being sold as part of a deceased estate. The new owner did not want the old house and was going to demolish it. Frances saw this as an opportunity and offered to remove it if she could have it for free. She decided to put the two halves of the house about 20 meters apart and build “new” rooms in the middle from recycled material. She drew up the plans herself, got an owner builders licence and found a very co-operative builder to help out.

“When the builder got to certain parts he would say now what are you going to use for doors here and I would find something,” she said.

Six years later and a after lot of elbow grease, the house is finally a home although Frances says there is quite a lot more she would like to do to it. She still has a few sheds full of collectables that she hopes to find a place for.

The house is not just full of interesting knick-knacks, though, much of the foundation of the house has been recycled. Frances, along with her children, insulated the walls with an old cool-room she pulled apart and even the carpet is “donated” — proving that you can get almost anything for low cost if you just ask.

“I got a carpet man from in town here and I said to him ‘do you ever get off cuts’ and he said ‘yeah I do’…it was cheap but it was good carpet,” she said.

Frances found doors, windows and steel from various parts of the country which were often free or at a very low price to finish the “new” part of the home. She found most of the windows in second hand stores but some other items she found by word-of-mouth.

“[People] would say to me we’ve got some old doors on the shearer’s quarters and if you want them you can have them,” she said.

The decision to build a recycled, self-sufficient home was not just some snap decision.. Frances has been collecting since the she can remember. The house itself was just an obvious conclusion. Recycling and collecting wasn’t so much a conscious activity but just a way of life for her.

“I’ve always saved with food, the same as my mum — she wouldn’t waste one thing, not even a slice of bread,” she said. “We always had chooks, There was nothing ever wasted.

“It’s been the way I’ve been brought up and now my kids are doing the same thing.”

I imagined that building a recycled house would be a bureaucratic nightmare but Frances’ says that complying with regulations was easier for her because of her location.

“I haven’t had it as bad as some people have in town but that’s because it’s classed as rural out here. . . . ,” she said. “I did have a few things that made me a bit angry.”

Though she barely leaves a carbon footprint living her modest life in the country, Frances admits she does not live self sufficiently for an environmental cause.

“It’s mainly for myself,” she said. “I’m on a pension now” she said.

Two of Frances’ closest friends, Ros and Rod Gibson, have done a very similar thing with their home. Ironically, Frances only met the couple a few years ago after they had both started their journeys separately — proving that this self-sufficient preserver isn’t just a one of a kind. (Wait for slide show to appear below.)

Ros and Rod Gibson are seasoned renovators, and their current home, which they hope to be their last, is also self sufficient and recycled. Their property is located on the outskirts of Boorowa but the house was originally built in Canberra.

“It’s one of the original cottages in the fifties which were built for workers,” Ros said.

The couple had the house moved on to their property in January 2001 and like Frances, are still completing their vision. For this reason the couple asked for an extension of time which, as Ros explained, is a requirement of the local council.

“The council puts requirements on it, she said. “They usually put a bond on it. It’s to stop people from bringing something across and then leaving it and not completing it.”

Ros and Rod only use a solar power system and admit that there are occasions where they have to use a generator due to a lack of power.

“In winter, particularly, if you’ve had say four consecutive cloudy days . . . . we just run the generator.” Ros said.

Ros says she also is careful with what power-consuming activities she does at particular times.

“Ironing is a fairly heavy consumer of power so I try to do that in the middle of the day,” she said.

Like Frances’, the couple were not motivated by environmental concern but rather reducing the cost of their lifestyle as they get older.

“We were working towards retirement and we wanted to reduce our ongoing bills,” Ros said.

The couple have also used recycled items to complete their home including their own timber, sheep wool for insulating under their floor and steel from various places.

“Those red posts that you can see on the gates, they were all recycled from the Ginninderra high school and all the sheep yards over there, that’s all the roof off the Ginninderra high school” Rod said.

Rod says it’s all about taking advantage of the opportunity.

“Most people have to get rid of it… and if you come and take it, it saves them the effort of taking it away,” he said.

As fantastic, original and self sufficient as both Frances’ and Ros and Rod’s homes are, the real question is it all worth it? Frances admits the journey has been a long one and at times tedious but she says she never grows old of it.

“Every day I wake up and think what can I do today,” she said

In terms of cost, the energy efficiency of the house certainly seems to have paid off for Frances. She paid nothing for the home and has spent a majority of her money on paying a builder and installing the power saving devices.

“Because I had everything, it was mainly labour,” she said.

However, Rod says that he doesn’t believe their home was cheaper than building a new house, but that there are advantages to doing it yourself.

“It’s on a par I’d say but it’s under your control rather than a builder just presenting bills all the time you can stop and start,” he said.

Whilst the houses are undoubtedly beautiful and incredibly original, to me building a home out of recycled material seems like an awful lot of work. I can see how it would be a stimulating project for someone in their retirement, but hardly a realistic challenge for someone in their 20s or 30s when career and family seem to consume any spare time.

The idea of receiving little or no bills though is very appealing. In a time when energy costs seem to be rising and we are all worried about how many lights we are leaving on, or wrapping up in a blanket rather than switching on the heater, having an energy efficient home seems to take all the worry and uncertainty out of the future.

Perhaps I wouldn’t rush into building my own home this way but Frances and Rod and Ros certainly left an impression. I couldn’t help but notice, as I was heading back to my home in the newer part of Canberra how boring my street is. Every house the same. Same brick, same design, same mailbox – it’s all very monotonous. For now I’ll stick with this dull rented town house but who knows? Maybe in 40 years when I’m at retirement age, I just might give environmentally friendly Frances, Rod and Ros a run for their money.
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CRAIG Hammond is a 27-year-old local cricketer who is deaf in both ears. I realised how much we take sport for granted as I watched him play for his Division Three Tuggeranong team last Saturday (5 November, 2011).

Craig’s team batted first on a sun-drenched morning at Chisholm Oval. With the shatter of wickets and the loud yells of ‘catch it’, you could guess things didn’t go too well. Each batsman trudged back to the dugout, the most frustrated ones did some reckless gardening on their way. They received a subdued applause and words of advice before Craig approached them. He gave every batsman a pat on the back, no matter how many runs they had scored.

Craig paced up and down practising his shots before coming in as the last batsman. He solely relied on hand signals and eye contact when running between the wickets. Craig sliced the ball for three runs but was then caught out.

“All good, I played the wrong shot”, he said to his teammates back at the dugout.

‘All good’ was a phrase he often used, reflecting his positive nature. His demeanour was like a nap after a hard day’s work. It was a welcomed release from the vice of competitive sport. Craig was just happy to be playing cricket.

The Queanbeyan batsmen dispatched the Tuggeranong bowling in the afternoon session. The small red ball skipped, hopped and floated over the boundary line.

One player stood out amongst a field of Tuggeranong players who were standing slumped with hands over heads. He stood out to the young teenagers kicking a soccer ball on the luscious green grass. He stood out to the people sitting on fold-up chairs in front of the carpark. Craig stood out like a beacon light in pitch black darkness. He chased the ball right down to the end of the field time after time, even if all hope of stopping a ‘4’was lost.

Craig was given a chance to bowl late in the day. His team was losing focus in the field having gone without a wicket for two hours. Craig mustered every last drop of energy he had to bowl six fast deliveries.

The final delivery broke the shackles. The batsman nicked the ball on to his stumps. The crowd erupted with cheers for the first time during the entire day. It was Craig’s first wicket of the season. His teammates were jubilant, high fiving and patting him on the head. The team took confidence out of this and was able to take another wicket before the end of play.

Queanbeyan still won by a massive 140 runs. However, Craig’s passion and enthusiasm sent an underlying message. Playing sport isn’t always about winning or losing, it’s about the fun and enjoyment.

Nicknamed ‘Hammo’ by his teammates and friends, Craig has shown that disabled people can bring a fresh attitude into team sport. He began playing cricket at seven years old in the backyard with his two brothers. Grant and Steve now play for the First Grade Tuggeranong side. Craig insists that he wants to keep playing cricket well into the future in order to reach his goals.

“I have made a lot of friends at cricket and I always look forward to the games on the weekends,” he said. “I want to get a 50 (runs) and get some more wickets.”

Tuggeranong Team Manager Danni Robertson is happy with the integration of able-bodied disabled people like Craig into normal sports teams. She stated that Craig is obviously not a star player but he brings a certain spirit to the playing group.

“Hammo has always played cricket for his love of the game,” she said. “I suppose he really helps the others to sit back and enjoy themselves rather than concentrate on the scores.”

Dealing with his personal life and participating in sport has not always been easy for Craig. He lost his mentor when his dad passed away in August this year. Like many parents, his dad bought his cricket gear and drove him to games. He has had to handle higher responsibility for his own sporting commitments.

The ABS shows that participation in sport by people with a disability has steadied in the last decade. Hopefully disabled sportspeople continue to participate as they are giving us all a different perspective on sport.

THE sliding floor makes feet move lightly and seamlessly as if the couples are flying on the dance floor. Non-stop Latin beats sweep the bodies into a motion of smooth and lively steps flowing with the rhythm of the music. Salsa, Bachata, Zouk and Brazilian Samba are the styles that hit the floor that night with the participants wanting for more.
The flats or heels, beginners or professionals it did not matter. People were smiling, laughing at their mistakes or collisions with each other. There was a dance floor, music and passion, passion for dance.
One of the organizers of the event, freelance choreographer Ben D Benedictos, said the night was a success.
“It was better than I expected,” he said.
Mr Benedictos is the founder of the Latin Heat dance group which is known interstate, organizer of social dance events, and Latin dance competitions in Canberra.
He said there is always risk in organizing such events and it is not always profitable. But, he says, “It helps dance studios to grow and the dance community appreciates it.”
Latin dancing is a popular social dance in Canberra with the five schools offering Salsa, Bachata, Zouk and Meringue styles.
ACT Ausdance director Neil Roach says: “A lot of the social dance styles find it difficult to be taken more seriously in a funding climate than a commercial climate because of lack of curriculum and probably history as well”.
However, Mr Benedictos disagrees and adds Latin dance has been around for 15 years in Canberra. He said it is not always funding that could help but simply the Government logo can make a big difference.
ACT Arts Minister Joy Burch said that independent choreographers were part of our arts community and encouraged them to apply to the grants program.
“But also it is part of encouraging independent practice and recognizing and valuing the work that they do,” she said.
However, the competition for Government money is very high and applications for grants are accepted once a year.
Mr Benedictos said, “If you miss it, you have to wait for next year.”
The first in 20 years discussion paper on the National Cultural Policy was released this year. It outlined production, education and touring as the main priorities.
Mr Roach said that a fourth aspect that is relevant for Canberra is “to include how the communities actually can personally able to engage with making art”.
He said that Ausdance and ACT Government are engaged in a review of facilities and community usage: “Who’s dancing where”.
Mr Roach said that Canberra is well supplied with the facilities such as Belconnen Arts Centre, Tuggeranong Arts Centre and Gorman House Arts Centre.
However, he said, “We could do better.”
Mr Benedictos said that it is expensive and hard to access these facilities. He said that art centers prefer long term bookings as opposed to a one-off.
Belconnen Arts Centre for example, provides long term and one-off application forms on its website. However, the price goes up for casual booking from $ 36 per hour (regular) to $ 49.50 (ad hoc) per hour.
Mr Roach said “Over 5 to 10 years we would like to see more facilities available to create dance, we would like to see those facilities support independent dance artists more strongly.”
Further, Mr Roach points out that Canberra is missing out on a major arts festival.
“That would offer support for particularly independent artists who want to pursue risky ideas,” he said.
Mr Benedictos said that it is hard to attract interstate performers in Canberra. He said that people are often saying “there is nothing going on or nothing in Canberra”.
Ms Burch said, “There are comments from different elements of the arts sector around what Canberra is missing out on and there are … some full Sydney dance companies won’t perform in Canberra and that is disappointing.”
However, she said “Sydney dance companies may not bring their full troupe here, but they do come to perform here at different times.”
Mr Benedictos has big plans in organizing a major Latin Dance congress in Canberra in 2012 which might feature interstate and international performers.
He said that passion for dance and people’s appreciation are the reasons he does these events.

IT started as a normal Friday night (14 October 2011) at Vikings Erindale. People were having fun, drinking and listening to music. However, in a few short moments a fight broke out and the fun night was over for almost everyone.

A man with tattoos up his arms and with hair in one of the longest rats-tails I have ever seen started to yell at and argue with another man, who was short with a shaved head. Their slurred argument made it clear that both had had a lot to drink.

As the argument got more heated, friends of the men left their seats and stood behind each man. If a fight broke out both men had five or more friends to support them.

Then two security guards walked over to calm the men down and encourage them to leave. It seemed like the problem had been solved.

But as Shaved Head turned to leave, Tattooed Arms stepped forward and punched him in the back of the head. Chaos erupted.

Within seconds the dance floor had been turned into the site of an all-in brawl. Punches were flying. The jukebox music was being drowned out by yelling. It was hard to see exactly what was happening, there were limbs all over the place.

All the security guards were there within seconds, but with only four guards their efforts were futile. The male bar staff jumped the bar and they too tried to stop the fight.

WIthin a few minutes the security and bar staff had broken up the fight and moved everyone outside. It was 2am and the Vp3 lounge was closed. The club was suddenly calm and almost empty.

Once everyone had moved away, I looked at the ground where the fight had been seconds earlier and saw a huge pool of blood and a smashed bottle.

Mervyn Williams, one of the security guards, said it was one of the biggest fights he had ever had to break up.

“There were guys everywhere and they didn’t care who they hit,” he said. “I think someone was glassed or just accidently cut with broken glass.”

New ACT liquor laws are aimed at minimizing the harm associated with alcohol. The Liquor Act 2010 has three main parts: supplying alcohol to someone who is drunk incurs a $110 fine; abusing staff, $220; and refusing to leave when asked, $440.

But alcohol-fuelled violence is not stopping. Senior Constable Tim Lockwood used to work in Macquarie Fields in Sydney and said that breaking up fights was a regular part of his job, especially if he was working at 4am.

“These new laws were needed and hopefully they will curb the violence and reduce fights,” he said.

“But it will be very hard to stop it completely. It is usually just a small group of people that antagonise others. The majority of people can get drunk and have fun and not fight. There are just some mongrels out there.”

Constable Lockwood said the ACT should look at Newcastle.

“They close clubs earlier there and I think there is a lockout at 2am,” he said. “I personally think that the worse time for fights is 4am and if clubs close earlier, there will be less people on the streets at this time and I think that will mean less fights. It is just my opinion but maybe Canberra could look at closing clubs earlier.”

A study published in the international scientific journal Addiction found that assaults in the central business district of Newcastle fell from 33 a month before the restrictions were put in place in March 2008, to 22 a month afterwards — a drop of around 37 per cent.

The ACT Liquor Act 2010 came into force on 1 December that year and so far there have been no studies. But if it is found to not be working then maybe ACT Policing should look at the Newcastle solution.

ANNABEL Duff, primary school student and daughter of a farmer, reaches her small arm out the window of her Dad’s twin-cab ute to pluck a head of grain from atop a swaying wheat stalk.

The grain, no bigger than an adult’s fingernail, is the product of seven long months of growth in a dry and dusty paddock 40 kilometres from the small town of Forbes, in the NSW Central West.

“Dad, is it the wheat that you chew on and it turns into chewing gum?” Annabel asks into the front seat, where I am sitting with Matthew Duff, who has a practised look of patience on his boyish face.

“Yeah, nah, it’s the wheat,” he says.

The forty-something cropping farmer is undertaking the daily routine of checking his canola and wheat crops for any sign that they are ready for harvesting.

Annabel tries to split the husk with her small teeth, but the grain is still green and will not budge.

Duff, pictured, watches his daughter in the rear-view mirror with a smile as he says, “Oh, I think you’ll have to do a fair bit of chewing there.”

Annabel continues her struggle with the grain as our conversation returns to the purpose of the interview: mallee trees.

Two rows of the hardy eucalypt are standing to attention along the fenceline of Duff’s 2000 hectare (nearly 5000 acre) farm, shiny blue leaves rustling on their thin grey-brown branches.

Spread over 23 hectares of cropping country, there are 23,000 mallee trees planted here, most not even two metres tall. They fringe the green paddocks in two straight lines like schoolchildren; whispering, wriggling, waiting.

But what are thousands of dainty natives doing in the heart of the state’s wheat belt, taking up valuable farming country at a time when struggling farmers need to utilise every inch of land they can get?

For science, of course. For science, technology, electricity, energy and, ultimately, the future.

These humble trees are part of a $1.3m trial to test their viability as an alternative energy source, funded by one of Australia’s largest electricity providers, Delta Electricity.

The trees grow for some five years before, at a height of about eight metres, they are lopped off near their base and mulched into pellets.

These will be taken to the Wallerawang Power Station, at the (western) foot of the Blue Mountains. Here the pellets will be ‘fired’ in specially modified coal-boilers to generate electricity.

Participating landowners are expected to be reimbursed the equivalent of what they would usually make from a cash crop over the same land area. This will be paid when the trees are harvested every three years.

Given that 2010 was the first drought-free year that NSW has had since 2001, the possibility of a risk-free investment is appealing.

“It’s a way of taking the risk out of cash cropping every year,” Duff says. “It’s potentially a passive income stream, like having dividends in a share.”

Whether this “share” turns out to be profitable is a minor concern for Duff, because his only outlay was providing the land.

”It hasn’t cost us a cent.”

The harvesting is to be done by a unique ‘mallee harvester’, which was developed by Western Australian farming technology company Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre Ltd with the help of a $1.5m Western Australian government grant.

Delta Electricity is wholly owned by the NSW Government, so the expenditure of state money on bringing in such specialised equipment is a sign of how much is at stake over the success of a few hundred thousand trees.

The catalyst for this reliance on eucalypts was the passing of the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme in August 2009.

It was the policy decision that sent power companies nationwide clambering for a quick alternative to coal.

With a deadline of 2020, by which time 20% of Australia’s energy had to come from renewable sources, a long-term yet cost-effective alternative was a necessary. But it’s not as if there will be results overnight.

The mallee trees are being used as ‘biomass’, which is a recently popularised term that incorporates any living, or recently living, substance that is being converted into energy.

A man with a love for discussing biomass is Brian Stanmore, Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Energy who after more than 30 years in the combustion industry is still publishing papers on the topic.

From his home in Bendigo, Victoria, the retired professor laments that politicians are expecting Australia to become coal-free too quickly. One minister in particular, he says, wants everything to be renewable in ten years, but doesn’t “read the literature” that proves this is impossible.

Professor Stanmore cites the recent hype with wind farms and solar power as an example.

“You have to keep fossil fuel stations hot and running, ready for when the wind drops,” he says. “So they’re running and consuming fossil fuels, but they’re not generating.

“They’re on standby mode… so the savings on greenhouse gas emissions get less and less and less.”

But biomass, too, has its downsides. Trees do not absorb and store as much solar power as man-made solar cells do, so very large quantities are required before they produce anything worth converting into electricity.

“I did the sums for supplying Melbourne with liquid fuel [from biomass] at current consumption rates and you need 60 000 square kilometres, which is a quarter of the area of Victoria!” Professor Stanmore laughs at the very idea.

The expense and complexity of renewable sources is what stopped companies from taking advanced action until they were forced to by the Gillard government’s Clean Energy laws.

One MegaWatt hour of electricity from biomass, such as from those humble mallee trees, costs up to double as much to produce as energy from black or brown coal does.

This figure was revealed by the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading in 2007, but is justified by the science that essentially says we have no choice. The atmosphere cannot sustain our current way of life.

And the resources that literally fuel this existence are depleting too. The World Coal Association estimates that, at current production levels, the world’s coal reserves will only last another 118 years.

This seems, and is, generations away. However, renowned environmentalist Professor Tim Flannery rebuked the argument that climate change is no immediate threat to us, in his 2008 bestseller The Weather Makers.

“I’m far from certain that this is true,” Professor Flannery wrote. “And I’m not even sure it is relevant. If serious change or the effects of serious change are decades away, that is just a long tomorrow.”

Yet tomorrow, for some, cannot come soon enough. Nearly eighteen months into the mallee trial, all that Delta Electricity can do until harvest time is monitor the trees’ growth and hope it is the solution they need it to be.

“[The trees] will reduce our coal consumption and CO2 emissions by one million tonnes a year,” the former chief executive of Delta Electricity, Jim Henness, told [10 March 2010] the ABC at the start of the trial (Henness retired in July 2010).

This optimistic goal would be a stark turn-around for a company that, in 2009-2010, used approximately 8600 giga-joules (GJ) of coal for every one GJ of biomass in supplying 12% of the electricity needs of Australians.

Considering how much is being pinned on the growth of these carefully-selected eucalypts, there is one wheat-chewing farmer who will be characteristically sunny no matter the outcome.

“One day we might get some money from them,” Duff says uncertainly. Then he adds with a smile, “If not, I’ve got 23,000 trees on my place.”

THEIR coats polished to a high gloss and their tails like woven silk the old cattle-working breed made a breathtaking display of elegance and prestige. Standing on the sidelines of an Australian Stock Horse (ASH) show it is clear to see the attraction of bearing witness to this incredible display of horsemanship and raw skill, it’s mesmerising.

In the dry, hot rural showgrounds of Gunning the number of people walking around with Akubra’s and moleskins makes me think of an old western. The air scented with the smell of freshly slashed grass, manure and hay is not unpleasant in the rural setting. All the people smile as and say G’day as they ride their horses into the show ring.

It’s not like watching horses on TV, these horses are much more lifelike, they are big and have presence. They are nimble; they turn on a dime and gallop after cows, and they don’t even flick an ear when their rider cracks a gunshot-sounding whip from their back!

Winner of the Working ASH Class, Lauren Vest, believes the shows are the best part about owning her ASH mare, Lucy. “It’s not necessarily the competition or the win; it’s the atmosphere, the great people and knowing my training has paid off enough to get me here.” Lauren has ridden ASH’s for years and says they are her favourite breed of horse.

The ASH evolved in response to a demand for horses to work cattle in the late 1800’s. The only pre-requisite was that the animal had the strength, intelligence and natural ability to work cattle. The Australian Stock Horse Society was established in 1971 which gave the breed recognition and registration services. There are now around 170,000 registered ASH’s in Australia.

The breed is most highly regarded for its ability to work stock, however the popularity for the breed as show horses has increased in recent years because of its success in the show ring among some of its more expensive and more highly regarded European counterparts such as the Warmblood. A notable achievement is that of Erica Taylor who competed successfully on her ASH Crown Law in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. The breed also receives international recognition, due to a tribute in the 2000 Olympic Games and also because of the success of international breeding programs. Other recognition can be attributed to an ASH named Cadabra. In 2009 and 2010 Cadabra was campaigned throughout America and Canada, enjoying success and endorsing the breed away from home.

But will the popularity of the breed continue to grow or will it wane? Chairman of the Australian Stock Horse Society, Joy Poole, believes that demand for the breed will continue to grow in response to an increasingly technologically bound society. Poole believes that horse riding offers the solution to modern day living claustrophobia. She says “The beauty of having a horse is that it is a seven day a week pleasure.”

Poole, who rides an ASH named Phoenix has been involved with the breed for many years and now owns her own ASH stud. She has successfully competed in the sport Polocrosse and says “the ASH has all the qualities you needed to be successful at the game; they are intelligent, very quick, very clever and have great temperaments.”

Despite all it’s success in the show ring the ASH faces an identity crisis. All the qualities representative of the ASH are evident in another breed, the Quarter Horse (QH). A small, sturdy and agile animal the QH is performing on par with the ASH at what they both do best- working cattle. Attempts to breed the perfect horse means the ASH is facing a dilution of the heritage bloodlines that the breed is based on. Considering the success of the QH, inter pedigree breeding could be an asset to the bloodlines or that the integrity of the ASH breed is lost.

Losing the identity of one of Australia’s icons would be a crisis but I believe the ASH will continue to shine. With the creak of leather and the crack of a whip it is clear the Australian Stock Horse performs well under pressure. I think this hearty breed will be around for a long time yet.