Oakbarn Mystory is one of the last living sons of Blue Moon Mystic. He is out of a Warrenbri Omega mare, and the legendary Abbey is his grand-sire. This makes Oakbarn Mystory very special.
While his name is pronounced ‘Mystery’, the spelling of his name comes from a combination of ‘Mys’ for his sire Blue Moon Mystic and ‘ory’ for his dam Kirkbys Stud Glory. It is no exaggeration to say that this special horse changed Darrell Jordison’s life, giving him purpose and something to look forward to after a battle with depression. His wife Kylie jokes that for Darrell – Mystory comes first. When Darrell starts talking about Mystory his excitement is palpable. When you get to know the horse, you understand why.
When Darrell committed to buy an unborn foal by Blue Moon Mystic from Kirkbys Stud Glory, he had been involved in the sport of campdrafting for a very short time. He was, in his own words, ‘very green’. He wasn’t planning to buy a colt and had no plans to breed horses or stand a stallion at stud.
It is hard to believe but Darrell first rode a horse in 2012, following a working-bee at his local showgrounds, to help prepare for the upcoming Gulargambone campdraft. Darrell then went along for a look at the event. “I thought it looked like fun, so I bought a horse”.
His first horse was a gelding called Big Henry. His first saddle was purchased off Ebay, 10 days before his first training day at Gular. It was Indian-made, had a horn and came with a bling bridle. Darrell doesn’t mind having a laugh about his unorthodox start. His very first run involved an out-of-control Big Henry; and Darrell hanging on for a wild, but fun, ride. While he can have a chuckle at his own expense now, just a few years on, you wouldn’t recognise Darrell the horseman as being the same man.
Not too long after his introduction to campdrafting, Darrell decided to buy an unborn foal from Tony Atkins. Tony’s mare Kirkbys Stud Glory (by Warrenbri Omega) was carrying the foal by Blue Moon Mystic. “I had no idea who Blue Moon Mystic or Omega were but I made a deal to buy the foal when it was born”. That foal was a colt and by the time he was ready to be picked up as a weanling, Darrell had made an offer to buy the mare as well.
“I found out later that having a Blue Moon Mystic out of an Omega mare, was about as good as you could get”.
At the time Darrell had no pre-conceived ideas about the horse or his future. “I just treated him like one of my 5 kids”. He halter broke him and could lay him down, finding the colt easy to do anything with. Kylie encouraged Darrell to break the horse in himself.
“I bought the DVD box-set of Clinton Andersons Colt Starting and set it up in the tractor. Every afternoon I would go and work on what I saw that day on the DVD’s. I quickly noticed that whatever I showed Mystory one day, he picked that straight back up the next day and I thought, ‘that’s cool, I taught him that’. He took everything in his stride”.
Darrell remembered advice that the former owner of Blue Moon Mystic, Laurie Stephensen, told him before he passed away. “He said, ‘never show a Mystic something you don’t want them to learn’ and I remembered that when I was training Mystory”.
Mystory went along to campdrafts even as a young colt. Darrell would ride him about and get him used to being there. It was at Geurie that Nigel and Carol Kable saw the Jordison boys, then 6 and 8 years old, playing with the young colt. “They were using him as an armchair and laying on him. They were under him and all over him. Nigel was really taken with what a great temperament Mystery had, but Darrell didn’t know any different and just thought all horses were like that”. Nigel and Carol decided to breed a couple of mares to Mystory, and now have a yearling colt.
Mystory’s excellent temperament is now well known. He is consistently calm and good-natured. Obviously he is a very intelligent horse, however nothing much phases him. Darrell leads mares off him and loads him next to mares on the truck.
Darrell says that more than anything he just rode Mystory a lot. “I would get the cattle in on him and just couldn’t stay off him. He was naturally interested in a cow, I just had to get out of his way. I tracked bison on him but really didn’t have to put a lot of training into him”.
Mystory’s first campdraft run was at Walcha when he was a 4-year-old. He came =7th in the Maiden. He was then turned out for a while, as he was still growing and developing.
Of his starts, one stands out to Darrell. “There was a 3-round feature open in 2018 at Corryong. There were 330 in that draft and Mystory scored 88, 86, 85 and came 5th”. Darrell was taken with how consistent Mystory was across the rounds.
Mystory is attracting attention as a sire. As of October 2020, not including this year’s foal crop, he has 14 progeny, ranging from yearlings to 5-year-old Oakbarn Thunderstruck – who had her first start at Warren in September. All his progeny are quiet, regardless of what mare they are out of.
Darrell recognises that a stallion with his breeding and ability deserves to leave a legacy, and because of this he and Kylie have decided to start promoting him. As with all they do, they are happy to see where this journey takes them.
Following equine reproduction training in the US, including freezing their own semen, Darrell and Kylie have set up a full breeding facility on farm. They have a dedicated breeding shed with indoor stables; mare yards under lights; and a dedicated stallion service area.
The Jordisons’ have built their equine infrastructure carefully, including a full size campdraft arena, round yards, and electric-fenced day yards.
