Quinella, known as Ella around the barn, is a 12 year old Oldenburg mare that lives at Pine Hollow Farm just outside of Houston,TX. Ella is truly a mare, she has a huge heart and a ton of personality. Ella and her owner Tara compete in the Adult Jumpers and train with Will Roberts.
Tara shares that Ella has a huge heart and even more try. She can be suspicious, as are most mares, and even a little spooky at times, but she makes up for it with her heart. Each and every day is a new day with her, but that is where most of the excitement comes from with special horses like her.
She was truly one of those horses that leaves an impact on you when you meet her with her larger than life personality. She was quite the super star for her portraits, and was so much fun to photograph.
Tara got back into jumpers after losing her hunter a few years ago, she decided she needed a change, and hadn’t been in the jumper ring for almost 9 years. Although her trainer Will looked at hundreds of horses, Ella was the first horse that Tara tried, and she bought her! The pair has won classics in Kentucky and Santa Fe along with many Reserve Champions. Just like any horse, they have their ups and downs at times, but Tara loves how much Ella truly enjoys her job and has fun while doing it.
Tara’s favorite memory is from last year at Santa Fe, the last show day after two weeks of showing she decided that the pair of red boxes, that she had already jumped a few times, were terrifying. In the classic they managed to take a creative route back to the next jump and finished with a 3 time fault, and a 3rd place finish. After she spooked and saw that the boxes were not actually going to eat her, you could tell she was quite offended at her own reaction and that she had gotten distracted. I can honestly say that after meeting this mare in person, I can picture this round in my head along with Ella’s reaction.
