Taken from: “Ride From the Heart” by Jenny Rolfe, J.A. Allen 2007

Muriel Chestnut lives in Ontario, Canada and is the proud owner of Soberbio XII, a stunning dark bay stallion from the stud Yeguada Villa Mazzara, Barcelona, Spain. Muriel tells her own story:

‘When I first saw Soberbio standing quietly tied to a pillar outside in the courtyard of Villa Mazzara, I remember my heart climbing into my throat and not being able to hold back the tears of joy and disbelief that I was actually in the presence of my dreamhorse! He has the perfect body type, solid without any heaviness and the most romantically elegant neck I had ever seen on a horse. It was like being presence of greatness and feeling rather unworthy. He was, and still is, completely docile, especially for a young stallion, and never bites, nips, or gives me any reason to worry.

‘Soberbio has the most calm disposition which is very conducive to sooth me; we really have a Yin Yang relationship. Under saddle he is a luxury sports car: easy to handle, yet power to burn. He has what Charles de Kunffy describes as a “body trot” i.e. every leg has a job they compete for attention. He is utterly remarkable to watch too. Soberbio is one of those rare horses that may come along just once in a lifetime. I am truly blessed to have this horse.

‘Soberbio has become my soulmate and I’m so looking forward to the future and learning all this beautiful stallion can teach me. I know that my belief in him was warranted and that the sacrifice was completely worth it.

‘This is how I can describe the experience of my lovely Soberbio finding me. You see I wasn’t looking for a horse at the time. In fact I had been precisely instructed by my husband not to even think about it! We already had a small herd of ponies, young horses and a couple of broodmares, and now was definitely not the time to be considering another horse. But after selling my Prix St. Georges mare a few years back, I hadn’thad a “good” horse to ride in some time.

‘The hard part was justifying purchasing this young stallion to my family: “Where is the money going to come from and what makes you think you really need this horse? Is this a good enough reason for you to buy him?”

‘These were legitimate questions and I didn’t exactly have the answers but boy, I bet there isn’t a Pit Bull or Jack Russell out theer that had a more ferocious determination than I.

‘I looked at it this way (and tried to convince the non-horsey but crucial people involved); it was like the Old Masters who, at a point in their careers needed to create their own paints from the best raw materials available. They needed (yes, NEEDED) to create specific tones and colours and textures that no one else had ever created. These paints were a direct function of the artists’ own ability and the availability of the necessary raw materials, without which the ideal colours and textures could not be possible. The same is true with the coming together of the right combination of horse and rider in order to produce a masterpiece. Put painting-by–numbers paints in the hands of Monet and we wouldn’t have the magical paintings that we so treasure today.

‘My Soberbio is an inspiration to me every day. Everyone who has met him has been in awe of him. I know we were meant to share our lives, although it was probably the most difficult thing I have had to do, emotionally as well as physically; I felt in my heart, it would all be worth it in the end.

‘I have a great friend and mentor in Frank Grelo. He is a classically trained Portugese gentleman, a student of Nuno Oliviera and a true artist on horseback (or on the ground for that matter). Frank has a wonderful saying that rings in my head, “There is no love without sacrifice”.’