Barcelona de Malleret Secured as Grand Prix Hopeful for Irish Fenella Quinn

Dressage

France

Haras de Malleret's French reserve 7-year old champion Barcelona de Malleret has been sold to Irish international dressage rider Fenella Quinn as her Grand Prix hopeful dreaming of Paris.

Barcelona de Malleret is a 7-year old Oldenburg mare by Bretton Woods out of La Palma (by Diamond Hit). She is bred by Reinhold Harder in Germany.

Guillem and Barcelona

The elegant grey mare was acquired by the French Haras de Malleret as a yearling and carefully saddle broken at the yard in Le Pian Medoc in France at the age of three.

Giving her plenty of time to grow, develop and mature, Barcelona's sport career shifted into gear when she was six under Pauline Guillem. The pair finished fifth at the 2020 French Young Horse Championships and were selected to represent France at the 2020 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden. Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to Covid-19.

Barcelona de Malleret at the 2021 World
Championships for Young Dressage Horses in
Verden

The pair made a seamless transition into the 7-year old small tour level division in 2021. Early in the season they won the national competition in Le Mans and clinched team selection for the 2021 World Young Horse Championships in August in Verden, where they placed 17th in the consolation finals with 69.134%.

Two months later at the 2021 French Championships for 7-year olds, Barcelona de Malleret became the reserve champion with two second place finishes on scores of 77.222% and 77.175%.

GP Hopeful for Fenella Quinn

Barcelona's quality and potential for the future did not go unnoticed. The refined mare has been sold to Irish dressage rider Fenella Quinn, who is based in the Scotland.

"Barcelona is strikingly beautiful and I love the way she moves," Quinn explained. "When I met her at Haras de Malleret she was so sweet and relaxed! To ride she has a great brain, loves her work and has lots of power which is exciting for the future."

The 27-year old Quinn made her international show debut at small tour level in 2019 aboard Creatzo (by Johnson x Obelisk). For the past five years he has been training with Irish Abi Lyle. Fenella is looking forward to her future with Barcelona.

Fenella Quinn with Barcelona de Malleret

"First we will spend the winter getting to know one another and then aim for some premier leagues in the UK next year," said Fenella. "Barcelona, for sure, has the qualities to make a top Grand Prix horse so that is the long term goal! I hope we will be able to aim for some big shows together in the future. I cannot wait to welcome her to my barn!"

Like any ambitious rider, Quinn also has the dream of riding at the Olympics one day. "For sure it is the dream! I would love to go to Paris but we will see where our path takes us," she smiled.