Her elegance and free spirit coupled with her naughtiness and brilliance increasingly became an attraction for us all to watch her progress from a young horse in 2000 to an international Grand Prix horse in 2006.

Whilst her last two years put her into the limelight, the consolidation of training over the previous five or six years is testament to the end result. Her strong will and mind won out many times in the early years and we would always leave a competition with chatter about how good she will be once she decides to show us her best. So to see her achieve as much as she did in such a short time, she has left us wondering, once again, what might have been.

Cinderella was purchased by Mrs. Claudia Harper in April of 2000 from the Hanoverian Elite Auction in Verden - Germany. Matthew says “The mare was purchased for Claudia to ride with the help from me. Unfortunately she turned out to be quite a handful at that stage of her career and Claudia decided it was best for me to carry on with her training and to compete with her. Lucky for us, she has probably turned out to be the most successful horse I have ever had to train and compete on.”

As a 5- and 6-yr-old Cinderella won many young horse classes including Champion of Champions at Dressage with the Stars.

Over the next few years, Matthew and Cinderella enjoyed great success through the lower levels. During the 2003/04 season they started to establish the training at Prix St Georges level. This became an exciting period for the mare as she decided the sound of the bell to start a test was her signal to try major spins and copious airs above the ground! Despite this enthusiasm the combination was never unplaced in small tour.

In the year leading up to the close of qualification for the 2006 World Equestrian Games, the chestnut mare had an incredible roller-coaster ride onto to the world stage in her first year at Grand Prix.

In July 2005 Cinderella made her first Grand Prix start at the Dressage NSW home base of Clarendon. This was followed by her first CDI-W start at the Australian Dressage Championships in Sydney where she finished in 3^rd place followed by a win at the CDI-Equitana.

Following the 2005 FEI World Cup Pacific League Final, Matthew describes the pair’s next big decision: “At the time, Ulla Salzgeber was giving regular clinics here in Australia organised by the EFA. Between Ulla, Claudia and myself we had come to the conclusion that if we were serious about competing at the 2006 WEG in Aachen that we needed to get Cinderella to Europe to get some serious competitions under her belt.”

They travelled to Europe in March 2006 and Matthew describes the enormous benefit of training every day and competing under the watchful eye of Ulla was “the best thing I have ever done, career wise. To be getting that sort of help on a daily basis was just amazing and to feel the improvement was super!”

As WEG drew closer, the pair competed at many German national shows and FEI Events with success until the Wiesbaden CDI when there was clearly something amiss with the mare. Subsequent tests and examinations by vets revealed a tumour on the mare’s eyelid, which was removed. Her recovery was remarkable and as ever, the mare was bursting to return to work

With only six weeks to WEG there was much to be done and it is now history that the determination and commitment by horse, rider, trainer and owners proved to be an amazing combination.

Cinderella’s and Matthew’s performance at WEG has been well documented and included being part of an Australian first as this country had two riders qualify for the Grand Prix Special.

The pair returned to Australia to win the Pacific League Final of the World Cup in 2006; however, after arriving back in Germany for more training, plans to travel to the Final in Las Vegas were abruptly cancelled as another tumour had appeared on Cinderella’s eyelid. This time a tumour was also discovered on her larynx. Clearly the disease had taken hold.

On 2 July 2007, Cinderella’s health took a serious turn for the worse and the heart-wrenching decision needed to be made quickly by Claudia and Matthew in consultation with the vets. The mare had given so much, so the decision was made quickly to avoid any unnecessary suffering she would be let go right away.

This beautiful, fiery and sometimes explosive horse has shown extraordinary talent and passed away aged just 11. 

The courage and commitment by Claudia and Francis Harper and Matthew Dowsley to face changes and challenges in their finances, routines and lifestyles, has been greatly appreciated by Dressage lovers around the country. We will miss this wonderful horse and we extend our sympathy to all the connections.

Finally, Matthew’s summing up of his experience with the red-headed mare with the fairytale name:

“What a fairytale this has been.”