Mable

Mable lives with us under our Sanctuary scheme here at Greenbank as her owners did not want to sell her and simply wanted her to live somewhere that she would be understood and taken care of.

I first met Mable when she was just 4 years old when her owners sent her here to be backed for riding and she was always a very sweet horse to work with. She returned a year later to learn to drive which she took to really well and drove both singles and pairs before returning to her owners. She joined us again in 2018 as her owner was worried she was getting bored at home not doing anything. She is a wonderful member of the team and a favourite with many of our followers due to her rather large tummy and ‘wiggly’ bottom when she’s driving the carriage!.

Mable is quite an old fashioned type of Friesian and is registered in whats called the KFPS Bi-Book which is a separate register for Friesians not by approved Friesian breeding stallions. By modern standards she would be considered too small, a little long in the back and short in the leg but this doesn’t stop her from being a lovely horse. She also has the most beautiful Friesian head and perfect little ears that turn in slightly at the tips!

With her conformation Mable doesn’t find schooling work particularly easy and she’s certainly one of the bounciest Friesians to ride if not asked to work in the right way. Like many she will naturally put her head up in the air and hollow her back which in the long run can cause problems if not corrected. Although she was involved in our experience days for a number of years we found that she was getting lots of problems with her back as she was losing the strength to be able to carry riders who were unable to ask her to carry herself correctly. She now benefits from more consistent training and we hope in time to be able to rebuild her muscles in the right way in order to avoid further problems in her back.

Mable is a lovely little driving mare who has taken many of our visitors out in the carriage over the years and will continue to do this as long as she is happy to.

Like all our horses Mable is guaranteed a home here at the farm for life and you can follow her journey through our social media and online training packages.