Born a Free State girl, Corlia Boshoff (neé van Rooyen) moved with her family to Pretoria at the age

of 5 and completed her secondary and tertiary education there. It was in her Matric year that her

heart flipped for the first time when she and a young man, home on navy pass, exchanged smiles in

church one Sunday. He didn’t forget the pretty girl he saw, and when Jandre met her at the end of

her first year University in Hermanus, the romance developed and blossomed, with Corlia and Jandre

tying the knot in 1996. Their son, Andre was born a year later and a daughter, Beate followed in

2001. Corlia and Jandre moved from Gauteng to Ladysmith, and eventually settled in the Bethlehem

area in 2003. Their farm is situated between Fouriesburg and Clarens, possibly one of the most

beautiful parts of South Africa.

Up till this time, neither Corlia, nor Jandre, had ever been involved with horses. The family’s interest

in horses began when the children started riding lessons, and Corlia found herself interacting with

horses more and more. With endurance riding being their choice of discipline, Corlia was forced to

become increasingly involved, and soon found she was loving every minute of being around these

gentle creatures.

With the move to Fouriesburg, their farming life began. Being cattle farmers, they needed working

horses to herd the livestock. Their first stock of horses was bought from a neighbour, a retired polo

player. His herd were made up of Arab/Nooitgedacht crosses, which he’d bred especially for his

grandchildren, to be totally bomb-proof. The Boshoffs took over their entire stock, and so Toska,

Cirrus Blue, Troy, Jack and Diesel became members of the family – these horses are still loved and

cared for on the farm, and are the backbone of their current endurance stock.

But something, says Corlia, was missing. She wanted a spotted horse. And so the search began.

Corlia tells the story of how the stud began. Her 40th

birthday was fast approaching, and Jandre was

informed that she wanted a light baby blue scooter (hubby was supplied with a sample picture,

pasted neatly into his diary, to ensure he understood clearly the required specifications). Every

month Corlia would give a gentle reminder of her approaching birthday, but Jandre seemed to have

other plans. One day he reminded Corlia of what she had once said to him – that the day she could

ride a horse, she’d like to own her own appaloosa. So happily the scooter idea was totally

abandoned in exchange for the search for an appaloosa. Seeing an advert of Kondos Appaloosa Stud

in a HQ magazine, and with the stud being the closest to their location, they arranged a visit with

George Contos, owner and breeder. They spent a long time looking at a large quantity of

prospective spotty possibles. A daunting task it seemed. And then they saw him. As he was led out

of his stable, Corlia knew she’d found the one she wanted – Kondos Foveros, and it was instant love

at first sight.

Initially Corlia thought she’d geld Foveros, as he was just supposed to be her riding horse. But the

vet, on seeing him two weeks later, told the couple they’d be crazy to geld such a magnificent

animal. So off they trotted back to Kondos Stud in search of a girlfriend for Foveros – and ended up

finding him three!! And so the fun began; on 24 September 2011, Corlia’s 40th

birthday, Kondos

Manchado Appaloosa Stud

Bethlehem/Fouriesburg, Free State

Patricia, Kondos Morning Glory and Kondos Mphatlalatsane – all broodmares, were added to the

herd of the new Manchado Appaloosa stud.

Selecting the name for the stud is derived from Spanish origins, pertaining to spots, and since Corlia

loves the Spanish language, the vocals, Argentina, even the little South American Alpaccas who run

on the farm – it seemed appropriate to find a Spanish name.

Corlia’s visions of the future will involve using the Appaloosas to

become cattle working horses as well. In the meantime, while their

herd slowly grows, they have not been idle! Within one year they

entered the Appaloosa Nationals in 2012, then Horse of the Year and

Nationals in 2013, followed by the recent Horse of the Year earlier this

year. Foveros was an instant success at his very first show, winning

his class at the Nationals in 2012.

Currently their herd consists of :

Stallion at stud : Kondos Foveros

Broodmares : Kondos Mphatlalatsane, Kondos Morning Glory & Kondos Patricia

Colts : Manchado Drops of Jupiter, Manchado Spartacus

Fillies : Manchado Chocolate Girl, Kondos Chi-Chi, Manchado Christina Corlita

Their list of achievements for such a young stud is remarkable sporting a basketful of winning

rosettes from various shows in the last two years.

KONDOS FOVEROS SA Nat Champion Res 3 Year

old Colts 2013

KONDOS MORNING GLORY with her foal

MANCHADO CHRISTINA

CORLITA

KONDOS PATRICIA Placed - SA Nat Championship Mares

over Six years 2013

with her foal

MANCHADO CHOCOLATE

GIRL

MANCHADO

CHOCOLATE GIRL SA Nat Champion Western Filly

Youngstock Res. 2013 SA Nat

Champion Appaloosa

Youngstock Filly Res. 2013

Youngstock Champion HOY

2014

KONDOS CHI CHI SA Nat Champion Yearling Filly

Res. 2013

KONDOS MPHATLALATSANE SA Nat Champion Res. Western Halter Mares 2013 SA Nat Champion Res.

Appaloosa Mares over 6 years2013 SA Nat Champion Appaloosa Most Colourful

2013 SA Champion of Champions Appaloosa Top 4 for 2013

Hoy 2014 Supreme Champion Mare and third in most colourful

MANCHADO DROPS

OF JUPITER

When asking Corlia about whether they have any animal quirkiness at Manchado Stud – she had

quite a few stories to tell. There is the border collie that constantly irritates all the horses – he is

continually trying to herd them, despite receiving a few warning kicks, he just persists in doing it.

But the bossy little guy, when faced with ominous weather, runs tail between the legs straight to the

Foveros stable – where is joined by the farm’s entire doggy community, to sleep with the stallion all

night long. Foveros seems to have accepted his fate, and lies down with all of them with no kicks

and nonsense – peace reigns. Quite hard to believe.

Foveros too, has some odd toileting habits. He has his own special toilet – and when the gardener

Jeremiah, thinks he should flatten his toilet once a week, this only serves to annoy Foveros

tremendously because he has to start building a new toilet all over again!

The farm boasts a one-eyed Alpacca with her little lamb – they walk quite confidently between the

horses because the spotted ones know – make a wrong move and this one will spitta-you-in-da-eye-

dem-alpacca-style-watch-out!

Hmmm, between the herding and the spitting what does an appaloosa do?

So what about the way forward for Manchado? Corlia and Jandre follow a programme with each of

their horses – halter training, lunging, long-reining and prep work for backing, as they feel there is a

better market for schooled horses. However, this does not mean they will churning out foals –

currently they choose to breed only 2 foals a year – slowly does it – they prefer to remain a small

stud, producing quality appaloosas from excellent blood lines. Having only two foals a year allows

them to give them personal attention; developing personality and happy minded horses is top of the

list. Selling will come in time. For now, they are a working farm and hope to replace all their

working horses with appaloosas over time. Nadja Steil, Manchado Stud Manager, has the daunting

task of taking care of all the cattle working horses, endurance horses resting after the season, and

the appaloosa’s – she is vet, groom and trainer, and the Boshoff’s don’t know what they’d do

without her.

Corlia says she loves the intimate relationship she has with all her horses – they are molly-coddled

and spoiled, and if they like to follow her around all day like puppies, that’s fine with her!