Canadian Breeders—featuring Ken & Alma Shindler
HILLSIDE
Maine Coon
It all began in 1978 with the arrival in Canada of a solid blue longhaired kitten with an aristocratic bearing named Azure. He had been bred by one of the founding members of MCBFA, Betty Ljostad. His father was an Illya cat and his mother had been dropped off with Betty by «Connie» Condit on her return from her last German posting.
Azure had been sold to Alma and Ken Shindler to be shown as an alter and he was. He also held a unique if unenviable claim to being almost the only Maine Coon in eastern Canada (the other was owned by the US Ambassador to Canada, a Carter administration appointee and, appropriately, the former governor of Maine). Ljostad Azure of Hillside showed mainly in CCA against Persians and Himalayans and held his own.
After a few years of showing their alter, Alma and Ken decided to try their hand at breeding. A side trip to Philadelphia after a CFF show in New Jersey resulted in a blue female kitten named Mladia Amethyst of Hillside, and shortly after there arrived from Pittsburgh a blue male, Rokote Indigo of Hillside who was pure Whittemore Norwynde. Hillside Maine Coons was born.
The appeal of the blues waned after a while and the line was supplemented by a series of acquisitions from Charmalot, first a blue tabby female, then a brown tabby female, then a brown tabby male, all sired by Heidi Ho Richard III of Charmalot, of fond memory.
The next big break came when Alma and Ken went to a TICA show in Dallas in 1987 and met Vickie Fisher, then a new breeder who was showing Richard’s son, King Arthur Pendragon. The result next spring was the arrival in Canada of Pendragon’s son, Coonquest Beaujolais of Hillside, a beautiful brown classic tabby.
«Beau» was an immediate hit in CCA, becoming a Grand at 10 months and a Master Grand at 14 months (CCA scoring is much like CFA). At the end of the show year, Beau was CCA’s 3rd Best Cat. He could have been first, but Beau had decided that he did not want to show anymore and had been withdrawn from the last three rings of the show year. He then settled down to siring kittens.Earlier, while spectating at an ACFA show in Florida (their annual Spring «thaw-out» trip) Alma and Ken met Brooke and Herb Berger. The Bergers had a Heidi Ho female who was too feral for their taste and sold Danielle Coon to the Shindlers.
Dani» was (and still is) a magnificent cat. She was one of the last of the Heidi Ho «clones», feral, almost black in color, big-boned, long ,bodied, square-muzzled, tall ears and a look that could stop a barn rat’s heart at twenty paces. Mated to Beau, she reproduced herself for years.
But the Canadian Cat Association likes flash in its Maine Coons. It likes sweet-faced cats with warm tabby markings, hopefully with white, with moderate lines. The result was that most of Daniand Beau’s kittens were sold as pets.
Then, in 1989, Dani had what was to be her last kitten. He was an only kitten, a vigorous six ounces at birth, a reproduction of his mother with tall lynx-tipped ears. He had to be named «Mr. Spock».
Alma and Ken took him to the Boscats TICA show in Boston that year. The cat that had been dumped by the CCA judges granded immediately. They then entered him in the new TICA show near Montreal. Barbara Ray was a probationary judge and handled the growling Mr. Spock (no natural show cat he). A week later she phoned.
«I must have that cat» she said, «Can we work something out?» Alma and Ken knew and respected the results of the Willowplace breeding program. They also knew that Barbara Ray, living and showing
where type was more important than flash, could do more with Mr. Spock than they could in Canada. A trade was arranged. A Starbuck/Alexis female plus other considerations, went north to Canada and Mr. Spock went south. The rest, as they say, is history.
Before he left, Alma and Ken bred Mr. Spock to several females to retain the «look». In effect, the Shindlers now breed two lines of Maine Coons–the sweet-faced, moderate cats for their CCA/CFA customers and the more feral line for TICA-oriented breeders.
While not major players in the field (it is still an in-house hobby) the Hillside name is known and respected in Europe and North America. In addition to the U.S., there are Hillside Maine Coons in Germany, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and France. They breed only brown tabbies in both classic and mackerel patterns, with and without white. The occasional blue tabby is produced. There are eight breeding females and three males. Beaujolais is still active and is backed up by his grandson Mission Impossible (Mr. Spock’s son), and Islandcats Tarheels of Hillside who provides an outcross.
Ken retired from the Canadian federal government several years and now works on contract at home. Alma is employed with the Canadian Defence Department. Ken is a former director of the Canadian Cat Association and manages the occasional local cat show. They mostly show in Canada with an occasional foray to a TICA show on the eastern seaboard to stay current with what the mainstream of the breed is doing.
Scrath Sheet 1995-winter MCBFA
