Our History

Toft Arabians came about in March 2020 with the purchase of the majority of Bremervale horses by David Toft.

 

David is the third child of six born to Gordon and Jill Toft. In his early years his father was a mushroom farmer in the Kellyville area of Sydney.  In 1963 his family moved to Amberley Qld to a 1000 acre property on the Bremer River called 'Bremervale', and with the purchase of their first arabian, Lord-Gold-N-Glo (Crystal Fire (GB) x Lady Blunt) in 1964 thus began 'Bremervale Arabian Stud'.

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This two year old Crystal Fire (Dargee x Rosinella) colt was first used as a sire to breed to the family's studbook pony mare.  Soon afterwards, Gordon and Jill purchased three purebred mares from Dr Youngman and two mares from Dr Leggett, of which Zena (Diomedes x Zateyma (GB) and Electric Ray (Electric Silver (GB) x Nasifa) made a huge impact on the Bremervale breeding program.  Both of these foundation mares feature in the pedigree of Bremervale's Australian Champion Desperado (WN Dasjmir (US) x Bremervale Aquarius).

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Growing up, all five brothers showed Bremervale horses in halter classes at local agricultural shows, Arabian Breed shows and the Brisbane Royal.  During the 1970's and 80's they attended up to 12 Ag shows a year plus breed shows.  All their time was spend with the horses.

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Sparkling Vanity (Fabulous x Silver Sparkle) was the first Bremervale horse to compete at an interstate show, taken by David at 19 years of age.  David was thrilled to place 4th in a large class.  David competed in saddle classes at shows and also in costume classes.  In his youth he spent many years in ponyclub and then became a pony club instructor and along with his brothers, were founding members of the Ipswich and District Trail Riders Assoc in the early 1970's. 

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A game changer for Bremervale was uncovered when Oxford Decimus (Risaldar x Oxford Sunset) was purchased as a six month old colt in 1970.  ‘As a two year old he smashed his jaw whilst playing and rearing up in his round yard. His teeth had to be wired shut and he was tube fed for two months. In the process he ended up foundering and so led a very restricted life. It was a huge family commitment to keep him alive of which each family member has their own special memories’.

 

Oxford Decimus went on to reward Bremervale with his progeny of outstanding broodmares. To this day his blood flows through the veins of every horse at Toft Arabians with the exception of two.

 

Bremervale purchased six horses from Spain in the mid 1970's, with the beautiful mare Polaca (Hacho x Batista) being the jewel of the group.  Polaca's half sister Piconera (Hacho x Veleta) also imported from Spain, left the farm with only one foal named Bremervale Conquita, by Oxford Decimus. The Bremervale Conquita daughter Bremervale Spellbound (by Rave VF) has produced outstanding broodmares including Bremervale Deserree, Bremervale Charmed, and the two beautiful mares retained by Toft Arabians Bremervale Bey Mississippi and Bremervale White Diamond. All of these mares are sired by Desperado.

The Rumbosa daughter Gual Boukra (Galeon x Rumbosa) makes up the trio of imported Spanish mares. “Gual Boukra went on to produce 20 foals with one of David and Leandra's favourites the beautiful Bremervale Spanish Princess.

 

Rave VF (Bey Shah x Raffoleta-Rose) was purchased from USA in 1991, then sold back to the USA in 1996 and again repurchased by Bremervale after winning US National Championship in performance in 2005. 'Rave VF went on to become one of the great brood mare sires of our time, and so our mother just had to have him back. He was a great horse, very easy to do anything with and a great horse to ride’.

 

WN Dasjmir (GG Samir x Arawiszja) was purchased from Aramus Arabians in the USA, owned by Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. 'Dasjmir was one of my all time favourite stallions, and had many admirers. He won Junior Champion Colt at Scottsdale before his importation to Australia, and here he won Australian Champion Stallion. I believe our family was privileged to own this horse. He possessed such beauty and athleticism and was a sire of many great champions including Desperado'. 

 

‘Desperado, bred by myself and my 4 brothers and sister was a beautiful baby.  My mum had a huge passion for this colt and we as a family decided to transfer him back into her name as he meant so much to her.  He has been a once in a lifetime stallion for Bremervale.  As a sire of show horses, he has left his mark in the Arabian industry, however his contribution may not as yet been fully realized with his progeny producing another generation of superstars.  Desperado may have the never ending story.'

 

'My mother always wanted Bremervale to continue if family members wanted it to. I have always had the passion for the horses and have continually been heavily involved, to the extent that I worked at Bremervale full time since the close of my stock feed business in 2011.  So when the opportunity came up to purchase the Bremervale horses, together with my wife, we were excited to take on the challenge. With large amounts of help from my brothers, we relocated the stud horses to our newly purchased Marburg property over a two and a half day period, without a scratch on any of them’.

 

Life has been very busy ever since. The intention is to get the horses back into the show ring, in the future when there is more time available. 

David and Leandra are full time with the horses, and are fortunate to have their children, their partners and even grandchildren help when they can. 'It is very rewarding to watch the children having fun and good for the horses also. There has been a back log of paperwork and farm improvements on our new property, but most importantly selling horses so we can move forward and start our own breeding program’.

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‘I have had a life time with these horses, seen most of them born, and I do have more than a few favourites.  A Toft Arabian will need to be good Arabian type, have good temperament with a kind eye, soundness with strong athletic ability’.

 

'Endurance will also be a major focus for the stud. The Arabian horse should be purpose built for this sport and for Toft Arabians it is one of the first criteria that all foals born in the future have the ability to compete in endurance sport. We are fortunate to have a head start with a number of the purchased horses presently getting broken in for this sport’.

'I enjoy handling and teaching the youngsters and breakers.  I find it rewarding and satisfying. The Arabian horse never ceases to amaze me, their beauty, their stamina, the pleasure of riding them and their intelligence’.

 

'Toft Arabians will be standing select Stallions at stud this year; some stallions have been sold, some out on lease and a few young colts we may geld and turn into endurance horses.  For the 2020-2021 breeding season we will be using WN Majestic Sumara (Imp USA, Monogramm x WN Samsara) before his lease agreement begins.   We will also be using frozen semen of Desperado and Bremervale Signature that we have in storage.'

 

Moving forwards, Toft Arabian bred horses will carry TA after their names. ‘Recently I found a rather ironic photo of myself with Sparkling Vanity taken in the late 70’s by Pat Slater who was renowned for her horse photography of course, and also her quirky photos. The photo has the sign “FLY TAA."  This made me wonder if it was a sign of the future for Toft Arabians’.