FENELLA Quinn is emerging as one of Ireland’s newest dressage talents. Born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland to an Irish father Sean Ross, it was he, she says, who instilled in her a love of sport and a desire to represent Ireland internationally.

Fenella spoke this week about her horses, hopes for the future and her passion for dressage.

“My love of horses came initially from my Mum, Jacqui. She rode when she was younger up until she was pregnant with my brother Elliott; he was quite unwell when he was born so she took a break from riding to look after him,” she told The Irish Field.

“Then I came along, and as soon as I could talk I was horse-mad. I began riding in my local riding school when I was five and just before I turned nine I got my first pony, a lovely little Welshie.

“With her I did a bit of everything, pony club, jumping, etc. When I was 12 I got my next pony and it was with him that I first started to do dressage. It was just at riding club level and I continued to do everything else, working hunter, showing, jumping but he had really nice paces so I began to realise that it was dressage I liked the most.

“I got my first horse when I was 18 and began training with Karon Carson. She showed me the beauty of dressage and everything that comes with it.

“I also spent time training with German Markus Bauer for about six months or so. When I bought my first ‘proper’ dressage horse, I began training with Hannah Moody.

“At that time I went to Holland and bought this big, beautiful gelding named Dondersteen (Deedles), a 13-year-old by United who is very much the love of my life. We had gone to Holland to find a schoolmaster and came home with a green six-year-old, but once I saw Dondersteen I knew I couldn’t leave without him.”

Serious injury

However, just a few months later, life turned upside down for Fenella when she suffered a very unfortunate bad fall.

“Six months later I had a fall from a youngster and I broke my back so that meant seven months out of the saddle. It was a very scary time. I had to have a lot of rehab and I’m very grateful that I made it through.

“It was just one of those young horse moments; he just lost his balance and I ended up coming off and taking the brunt of it on my back.

“The time off just made me hungrier for it; I just missed it so much and I couldn’t wait to get back to it.

“When I did finally get back on board, I bought another Dutch-bred horse named Brad. It was after that that I met Abi (Lyle) and began working with her. She has trained me ever since and that was almost seven years ago now.

“Sadly, Brad died about five years ago from grass sickness, which was a really awful loss. He was only seven and was a lovely boy.

“After working with Abi for a while we decided that we should look for something a bit more advanced that could help me progress, I’d never ridden above elementary.

Fenella Quinn and Empire B at home \ Rachel Murray Photography

“So we bought Johnny (Creatzo) in 2016. He had competed in PSG with an owner in Holland so we took him home and I did my first PSG with him. I continued to train him up and he eventually became my first Grand Prix horse.

“He is my special boy. I learned more advanced movements on him. He was the first horse I won a regional title on. The first I took to the National championships. The first one I took to an international.

“We did our first Grand Prix last year and our first international Grand Prix this year. We did two international Grands Prix before, sadly he got injured in the field. He is just at the beginning of his rehab process now, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

“My other horse Empire B (Pie) I bought last year from Denmark and we competed in the small tour with lots of success, he’s lovely to work with and is really sweet to have around.

“We are now training towards Grand Prix, he’s done a few Inter 2s and they went well. I’m finished with shows for this year so we will spend the winter training and hopefully he will step up next year.”

Busy life

Life revolves around horses for Fenella who runs a busy yard.

“I have about eight in work at the moment. I have a German-bred eight-year-old mare, Barcelona, that I bought from France last year. She is really special and I’m really excited about her.

“We have an amazing five-year-old stallion we call Mambo (Mambo Chachacha), we bought him at six weeks old at a foal auction in Holland and he stayed in The Netherlands until he was three and was lightly backed there.

“He is just a joy to work with and placed in some British Dressage four-year-old classes. Unfortunately last year he got a bad uveitis and despite our best efforts, we ended up having to remove his eye last November.

“He has bounced back incredibly well. He had a lot of time off to allow him to adjust to life with one eye. Thankfully, he is doing great and in August he returned to competition and won both his novice classes at Tillyoch Equestrian.

“He impresses me every day. He doesn’t feel any different to ride than he did before. I have high, high hopes that he will go the distance.

“He is so easy as a stallion; he’s in the barn with the mares and is very chilled out. So for now we will leave him as he is.

“I recently bought a new horse, Hawtins Delicato, who was owned and ridden by Carl Hester. He has done an awful lot and is very experienced. (He was Hester’s Bronze medal-winning mount at the 2018 World Equestrian Games).

“The opportunity arose, and I have always liked and admired the horse, so I thought I should go and try him anyway and I fell in love right away and decided to add him to the family.

“The hope and the idea is that we can spend some time getting to know each other. Hopefully, I can get some Grand Prix experience on him and then, if all goes to plan, we will aim for some major championships and team selection.”

Working towards the dream

“It’s early days and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, but I would love to be considered for team selection in the future. But we will just have to see how we go.

“Abi comes here to Aberdeen for a couple of days each month to help me and then sometimes I go down to her for extra training as well.

“We sit down at the start of the year and look at our diaries so we can sync up and go to shows together.

“She is there to help and support me, and I’m there for her. It’s nice to have someone to do this all with.”

Great support

Fenella got married three years ago. The couple’s was one of the last weddings pre-Covid. “My husband Lewis is completely non-horsey. He is my biggest supporter and cheerleader. His first introduction to horses really was when I broke my back; so not ideal, we had only been together six weeks, he came to the hospital while I just lay there ....”

“My Mom is still my right hand woman. I couldn’t do it without her. She picks and chooses the shows she goes to now having spent years driving me all over the country. But she is my ‘eyes on the ground’ and a great supporter.

“My head girl Rachel Walbeoff is absolutely fantastic. She looks after the horses day-to-day but is also a superb young horse rider. I also have Lorna, Shannon and Sophie who are a great help.

“In an absolute dream world, I would love to aim for the European Championships next year; but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”