First seen as a foal on her dam in 2006 at the marbling Arabian Stud in western Australia, Marbling Novelle, aka Elle, straight away stole my heart through the camera lens and a few months on, was purchased as a weanling with a view to becoming a future riding horse for my daughter Chloe.

She was turned out in one of the bull paddocks close to the house on our then Angus cattle stud to grow, mature and just be a horse.  At two years of age, she started accompanying Chloes high performance purebred gelding, Wandu Hills Maestro, to a few shows to learn the ropes of what was to come in the future.  She was sent off to the breaker at four, rising five and on return, left for a few months to spell and then the saddle education and the partnership we see today began slowly.

Most of her day to day education was done on the farm amongst the cattle, working and building her mental and physical strength over the rolling hills of the property.  She accompanied Chloe to their local pony club, exposing her to working and being in the company of other horses and taking part in all that the pony club curriculum offers.

At her first outing at the A Class WAAHA All Arabian Show event in Perth, Elle stepped into a class of nine ridden Arabian mares, working quietly and showing the execution of paces to a very high standard for a green horse, coming away with 1^st place and went on to being awarded the Reserve Champion Ridden Arabian against all sexes.  We knew then that we had something very special in this mare and she took to the show scene like a duck to water giving her best at every outing.

Elle has also tried her hand at Endurance and successfully completed a 20km local ride in 2014.  Her first outing was a large Galloway hack in the unofficial ring was rewarded with a Reserve Champion sash.  We then registered her with Equestrian WA and she was thrown in the deep end with the official horses and certainly held her own, always giving her best and usually coming away with either the Champion or Reserve sash.

In 2013 she qualified at three shows unbeaten for the EWA Horse of the Year Large Galloway titles held at the State Equestrian Centre in Perth and was awarded a Top Ten sash.

She certainly made her mark at the WAAHA A Class Arabian Shows in Perth too over the years, and was held in high regard by both international and eastern states guest judges.  We have lost count the number of times she was awarded Champion Rider on Elle and also winning the prestigious Show Horse turnout event held at the WA State Championships.  Elle was awarded the WAAHA Inc. Ridden Mare of the Year title in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and had a short break thereafter.  Chloe stepped up her game and Elle was now a mature mare and she began showing the mare in Official Show Hunter classes and again Elle put her best foot forward and qualified for the 2016 Horse of the Year in the Large Galloway Show Hunter section and was awarded a Top Ten.

Elle has also carried a 14 year old rider, Chesney Dawson to “A” class championship wins in the Youth section in her rider and ridden hack classes in 2017.

Elle hasn’t competed much in Dressage, despite this however, in 2017 when Chloe was 6 months pregnant, she competed in two tests for Highest Score for the competition and best turned out horse and rider.  Most recently, Elle was awarded Runner-up Champion at the East Coast Championships 2020 in the Preliminary and Novice Tests and also Champions Preliminary Tour Horse at the Aussies.

Chloe continued to successfully show and educate Elle with a view to one day taking her over to the East Coast Championships and the Australian Arabian Championships.  With the birth of her first child in 2018 followed by appendicitis in January 2019 and then a knee reconstruction in July 2019, it looked as though this was not meant to be, however, with sheer determination and the support and assistance of husband Ryan, it became reality.  Elle of course had considerable on and off down time during this period, but the seasoned horse that she is, it did not take much to bring her back into full work, and preparations began in earnest to get her saddle and travel fit for what was ahead.

They set off from Wagin, Western Australia as soon as the clearance came through from main Roads that the Nullarbor Road was opened after fires two weeks before their first show, a trip of 4,014 kilometres.  Everything went very smoothly and Elle travelled well to start her 2020 eastern states campaign off with a bang being awarded numerous Championships and Runner-up in dressage, show hunter, bridle path, ridden mare and placing top three in the open classes.  The Australian Championships campaign was the icing on the cake and the ultimate goal and this amazing mare brought home three National Titles, the Purebred Versatility award of the show and numerous other Champion, Reserves and Placings.

Her willingness to work and get on with the job never ceases to amaze us and we have been truly blessed.  She has been an amazing ambassador for The Arabian Breed.

By Pam Smit