I began my equine career as a ‘died in the wool’ horse person and I have had horses for 50 years. I competed in Canterbury with a string of 6 horses that I showed, evented, hunted and show jumped. I also bred sport horses with the Pemberley prefix.

I guess Pemberton Donkey Stud was established 19 years ago in 1989 when I borrowed the neighbour's donkey (Hector) to keep my lonely horse company! We had just moved from Wellington and my Thoroughbred was all on his own. I love showing, so of course it was not long before I was taking Hector to shows and he did well, which made me think maybe I should breed..........! And it all took off from there really. I bought Holly as my first jenny, and then my neighbour called in soon after with the Ag Trader and showed us an advert for four jennies in Taumaranui. Right! We went off with the float to see them; me thinking we would buy one — David said we'll take the lot! They were very lovely donkeys so I agreed. So, we came home with all four! They were unnamed and were quickly given the opera names of Tosca, Musetta, Brunnhilde and Siegliend (since deceased). Hector and those jennies have done me proud and given me a tremendous amount of pleasure.

I now focus on breeding larger Australia Teamster type donkeys which are suitable for carriage driving, a sport new to me which I really enjoy. In 2004 I imported two pure Teamsters from the Blithe Moon Stud in South Australia and the jenny Southern was in foal. So, I have a nucleus of four pure Teamsters (including Hector).