Golden Retrievers and Crabbet Arabians,
bred for excellence.

Bonyl (meaning “Upper Nile”) was registered by Liane's late father, S van Wyk van der Hoven, as the name of his Arabian horse stud during the 1970s. Liane took the reins in 2003 and bred Golden Retrievers in addition to the Crabbet Arabians. She qualified as an international art and design teacher in the 1980s. Her childhood environment and studies honed and developed her powers of discernment for a good animal.

Arabian horses are the ultimate distance athletes. Her sports of ultra marathon running and endurance riding of Arabian horses, have given her a more than an intellectual appreciation of the sustained, peak functioning of the animal physique.

While Equus Arabicus (Arabian horse) is an ancient breed whose origins are lost in the mists of pre-history, the Golden Retriever breed is less than 200 years old. However, well-documented Arabian breeding practices over the centuries have revealed that breeders who aim for animals that tick all the boxes (including the desirable service temperament box) make the most enduring contribution to the breed.

Golden Retriever breeders would do well to learn from the ancient breeding book of the Arabian horse. Goldens and Arabians have much in common: good looks, service temperaments, courage and loyalty. The parallels exist even down to the split between the so-called working Retrievers (endurance Arabians), show Retrievers (in-hand show Arabians) and obedience Retrievers (show riding).

Breeding all-rounders has been Bonyl's unflinching, daunting and humbling breeding aim for years.