Tribute To A Champion: Newington Tinkerbell

This article is from the February 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

At the 2019 Sunsense Australasian Show Horse and Rider Championships, Newington Tinkerbell claimed her fourth National Small Pony title. No pony, large or small, has claimed four titles in the same section since the Nationals began in 1985. Her achievement begins with good genetics, enlightened ownership and outstanding training. In short, Tinkerbell had good fortune from the outset and this is her tribute.

Foaled in 2008, Tinkerbell is by Kolbeach Rembrandt that is by Fairley Tempest that goes back to Keston Royal Occasion on his sire line. She is out of Just In Time Of Astral and it is here that the great Keston Royal Occasion really asserts his influence. This mare is by Sandbourne Royal Ensign that is by KRO out of Kiabe Regalia that is also by KRO. Sandra Donovan’s line breeding to KRO certainly paid off, as the mare resembled her grandsire and indeed Kolbeach Rembrandt had the unmistakable look of KRO about him as well. And Tinkerbell too resembles her immortal relative.

“We bought Just In Time Of Astral from Sandra as a one-day-old foal,” says breeder Roger Searle, ”and I think in Tinkerbell you got the best of line breeding. Rembrandt, Tinkerbell’s sire, went back to a lot of good English breeding as well. When Tinkerbell was born, she was a perfect miniature of her grown-up self, and as I said to Gayle when I went back to the house, I could not believe my luck.

“I mouthed her and handled her and showed her led. She was a successful led pony, but not as a led Riding Pony, which I couldn’t believe. David McKay broke her in and then she went to well-known show rider Rachel Keskinen to produce. Rachel rode her for about a year and Tinkerbell did extremely well as a newcomer pony. After that newcomer year, we needed a young rider for her and that’s when she went to the Lee family. They were very successful and Brynie was incredible with her; she loved Tinkerbell and Tinkerbell loved her. She rode Tinkerbell to her first National title in 2015 and they were unbeaten in her open class in eleven consecutive Royal Shows. When Brynie was too old, Ebonie rode her, so she had no shortage of good riders. The Lees did not over-show her. Tinkerbell was just taken to shows to qualify for the big shows and nothing more. Ebonie had one year on her, then we sold her after the 2016 Nationals. We advertised her and surprisingly Catherine Gale was the only enquiry we had. Apparently there was a rumour about that a child could not ride her. The Lee girls were considered too good and not typical child riders. We were thrilled when Catherine bought her as we knew she had gone to such a good home.”

“Tinkerbell came to us in December 2013,” explains Lyn Lee. “Roger sent her to us to see if she could be ridden by children. And we had two weeks to decide yes or no. So my girls worked their magic, and after a week Brynie was confident she could master Tinkerbell. She was EA Small Pony of the Year 2014, Champion at Adelaide and reserve at Melbourne in 2014, Barastoc and Canberra Champion in 2015 and 2016 and National Champion in 2015, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Tinkerbell was Champion at every agricultural show she attended and won every Supreme she contested. She fits the true description of the ultimate show pony and she demanded attention as she entered the ring.

“She loved our girls, and even after she left for her new home she knew our truck and would whinny and bring her handler over to the girls. Catherine was always amazed by that. We all had a special bond with this very special pony which we will treasure always, and we are so honoured to have been a big part in her journey to the top.”

“Everyone thought she was a firecracker, but she wasn’t,” says Brynie Lee. “She was pretty easy to ride and deal with. We spent a lot of time jumping her and riding her in the hills at the back of the property and she loved galloping around out there. I just got on her and rode her and we just treated her like a pony. She never had much lunging; she was nice to ride, carried herself well and was just a naturally beautiful pony. I don’t think there was a Victorian title she didn’t win, she pretty much won everything. She would always whinny at me when I came around the corner of the stables. She was very sweet and even after she was sold, whenever she saw Ebonie and me, she would whinny at us. She could not have gone to a better home.

“I saw her at her first Adelaide Royal,” remembers Catherine Gale. “I can remember sitting in the stand with mum (Liz Francis) and saying to her, oh my goodness, what is that pony, isn’t she beautiful! I have always loved her and followed her career from that point. In 2015 I heard she was for sale and I said to my husband that I would love to buy her. If she is as good as you say, he said, that’s good enough for me, you have my full support. I mentioned the possible purchase to Margot Haynes, because if I bought the pony I wanted Margot and David Quayle to produce her, because she is so kind and gets the best out of them.

“Margot loved Tinkerbell and confirmed that she had in Ella Manning a good rider for her, so we had the rider teed up. When we bought Tinkerbell, I never thought the journey would be as it has. In the three years we have owned her, she has never come home from a Royal Show without a Champion or Reserve Champion ribbon. She is an amazing animal, and every time look at her I appreciate her beauty.”

Margot explains, “Catherine was looking for a small pony ready to go in the ring tomorrow and asked me what I thought of Tinkerbell. I said I loved the pony and Catherine wanted me to manage and train her and I said, at least we had a capable child to ride her. I am great friends with Ella Manning’s mum, Tara, so I knew we had a rider. If we hadn’t, it would have been a whole different story. Ella, who was nine when we got Tinkerbell hit it off with her straight away. We had been told that it would be a struggle for a child to ride her. The Lees certainly did not say that about her; they told us all about her and they had done a really good job with her. When we got Tinkerbell we had no arena or work area etc so we put Ella on and said give it a go and headed up the hill with no fences or anything, and let her go and see what she was made of and she never tried to be naughty.

“We did not over-show her and only took her to the big shows and that seemed to work. She didn’t need much work before a class, she just needed enough to be on the job. Ella loves her; she rides a lot of ponies, but Tinkerbell was the first one and was so successful and she was always going to be Ella’s to ride. Tinkerbell liked Ella and Ella liked Tinkerbell. She was not a super simple pony and Ella knew what to do and they hit it off from the outset. We have tried to tell Ella that it is not always going to be easy to be so successful and she will not have the same success with other horses, as she and Tinkerbell have had such amazing success. Tinkerbell was a showgirl and she loved it.”

Catherine concludes, “we have had a great journey with Tinkerbell and I found it hard to make the decision to retire her. But I wanted her to retire at the top looking as good and going as well as she can and I feel that’s what we have done. She has achieved what she has because of the people who have owned and produced her. Straight after the Nationals, Tinkerbell went to Robert Cockram at Deanhills Stud and is now in foal to Deanhills Revolution. She has gone seamlessly from showgirl to expectant mother, and the next phase of her successful life begins. It has been a team effort and Margot and David have been wonderful to me and we have all had so much fun showing her. It’s been a wonderful journey all thanks to Tinkerbell.”

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