Amabelle - 15.3hh by Koenigsberg (Trak) x Belladios (TB)
Mabel jumping in Tennant Creek Julie Wilson photo		I have always wanted to breed horses.  With this in mind, I acquired a beautiful Thoroughbred mare, Belladios.  In 1988, after some years of competing successfully on her, I sent Belle to New South Wales and had her put in foal to the imported Trakehner Koenigsberg.  Mabel was born on 20th September 1989.  Originally I planned to sell the foal, and keep Belle's second foal.  I had plenty of horses to ride at the time and did not need another one quite yet.  But:  Mabel arrived with a blaze and four white stockings, something I absolutely love on a horse, and I could never bring myself to sell her.  She has chestnut spots in her blaze and stockings, which makes her even more appealing!
Mabel came to Alice Springs when she was four and we broke her in.  She has the sweetest nature and has always impressed me with her kindness.  Mabel and I competed in dressage, showjumping and hacking, and also a few small one day events held by our local Pony Club.  We travelled "up the track" to Tennant Creek, Katherine and Darwin Shows, and the highlights of my trip were when Mabel scored 57% in her Elementary dressage test in Katherine, and placed 2nd in her Preliminary test at Darwin Royal Show.  These may not seem like major achievements, but for me they were (are)!  Mabel also competed in hacking, led and western events, and all this with stitches in her leg from an accident at the start of the trip.  She was the easiest horse to travel with - her behaviour never changes, wherever she is. It is common for people to say that their horses could have gone much further with a better rider, and I suspect that we all take such statements "with a grain of salt"  However, in Mabel's case it is very true.  I have only ever competed up to elementary level in dressage, and I am a very nervous jumper.  Mabel did everything I asked of her with ease and really could have gone a lot further.  There was one instance when we competed in a showjumping event and Mabel jumped two clear rounds.  The final jump-off was over a course a mere 3'3" high, but I worked myself into such a state about those "high" jumps, that I could not muster the courage to tackle them!  The organising committee allowed me to put another rider on Mabel and let her continue "H/C".  She completed the jump-off course with ease, and would have won the event had I been brave enough to be on her back!  So, you see, Mabel really was held back by her rider!		Mabel places 2nd in a dressage test at Darwin Royal Show, 1997
Mabel ready for her led class in Katherine		I always have too many horses.  I had two of Mabel's sisters to ride in addition to her.  My husband's horses both had soundness problems, so I gave Mabel to him.  His main interest is in endurance riding, but there is no endurance club in Alice Springs.  A couple of years ago he and Mabel travelled to Adelaide to complete two 40km endurance rides.  Once again, Mabel travelled and behaved like a dream.  Their trip was very hard on Mabel as they only left the day before the first ride, and returned almost immediately the second ride was finished, but Mabel took it all in her stride.
Once again I found myself with too many horses.  Living in Alice Springs, I do not have a paddock in which to retire a horse, they have to be stabled 24 hours a day.  For the same reason, it is totally impractical to breed horses.  If this was a perfect world, I would have a lovely green paddock with knee-deep grass, and I would have Mabel live in it.  I would put her in foal and enjoy watching her happy in her lush green grass, and enjoying being a mum.  I would have wonderful foals to dote on.  But - I live here!  It is because of this that I have had to make the sad decision to offer Mabel to somebody else in a more appropriate part of Australia, preferably for breeding, although she was (and still is) perfectly sound and rideable. I placed an ad on Cyberhorse's Virtual Saleyard site.  This led to me meeting (via email!) Christine Green of Dulwich Stud who enquired after Mabel, and ended up taking Kassie.  As a breeder of quality Trakehners, she was after their bloodlines.  Later on Mabel joined Kassie at Dulwich Stud.  It was an honour to have two mares I bred continuing such a distinguished line of warmblood horses.  Check out Christine's beautiful new website to see Mabel on the broodmare page! Kassie only produced one foal (Dulwich Konnery, aka Sean), and she is now leased by a lady in South Australia.

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