We are celebrating the Adaptable Arabian as our September Breed of the Month on YourDressage!
Did you know that dressage riders who partner with a member of this ancient breed are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the Arabian Horse Association is a participating organization?
In this read, a rider from Region 1 shares the story of her accomplishments with her highly decorated Arabian, appropriately named King.
By Adrienne Morella
I would love to tell you a story of my horse, King. I met King in the summer of 2007, when I answered an ad for riding lessons from an Arabian breeder, Mary Ann Rafferty. Growing up, my mom had a half-Arabian mare, Rasheyda. By riding her, I fell in love with the breed. We competed in pretty much every discipline and grew up together trail riding, until she was almost 30. After she passed, I took some time away from horses for a few years, but I really missed having them in my life. After that call to Mary Ann, I found myself driving an hour and a half each Friday to take lessons on a horse named King. That’s how our journey started.
A few months into riding, I found out he was for sale, and when Friday rolled around, my lesson was canceled, as someone was interested in purchasing him.
I was devastated, and I remember ugly crying on the way home. My ex at the time said, “You love that horse, don’t you?” He said if we could find a place to keep him that was affordable, we would figure it out. Within two days, I found a cute little place with a co-op situation. It was an older farmer who had the farm but didn’t want to do the work. So, three women, including myself, boarded horses there, and we all took turns each day with the care, feeding, and turnout. It was a perfect situation to further get to know King!
During our time together, King and I have had so many adventures both in and out of the show ring. We have camped in the Allegheny National Forest with friends, ridden on many trails, surprised children for their birthday parties, done photoshoots together, taught countless people to ride, ridden in many open and Arabian shows, acted as a babysitter for green horses, and even walked in parades. He walked his previous owner, Samantha, down the aisle on her wedding day, which was so special!
King has also been a model for many equestrian equipment brands, helping me as a photographer. It’s nice to have a beautiful model to offer my clients! We collaborated with equestrian brands such as Ovation Riding, One-K Helmets, Mountain Horse USA, Tech Stirrups, and Pessoa Saddles, where King is the only Arabian that has been featured in their marketing. He is so well behaved and looks amazing in the tack! King and I were also in a short music video, as the prince’s horse, with me as his stunt rider, galloping through a peony field! How fun!
King has had an incredibly long and successful show career, starting at age three until 2021, with a hiatus in between. I purchased him in 2007, dabbbling in some Western pleasure for a few years, and then in 2010 or 2011, I headed to Virginia for the East Coast Arabian Championships. I realized that’s a six-hour trek for one class, so I started helping out at a farm with horse care and stalls, which I traded for some basic dressage lessons.
I was interested in doing dressage, but had no idea what I was doing. When we arrived, my ex saw a “nice lady cleaning off the desk,” and she told him where to stand to read my test to me. After the class, he tells me this, and it turns out she was the judge, Pam Wooding. He had no idea he wasn’t supposed to talk to the judge, and this was his first horse show, so it was pretty funny. After the first dressage test, I was hooked.
I looked at the comments and how to improve; Pam was fair and honest and gave wonderful feedback. I will be honest, I think I continued with dressage because of her. Not every judge has a kind and helpful way with the scoring, but she did, and it was wonderful. Our first score was a 63.8%. I will never forget it, because when I called home to share my score, everyone thought I was aiming for a 100%.
We competed in many open and Arabian-rated shows. This included Dressage at Devon in the under saddle, as well as in hand, and qualified for the New England Dressage Association (NEDA) Fall Dressage Festival in Saugerties, New York. After a few years of having amazing shows, King had a setback with a suspensory tear and what vets thought might be a degenerative issue. With veterinary advice, I did rehab and every possible healing tool I could.
After about six years of super slow rehab, King was back to regular exercise. During the time of rest and rehab, my trainer’s friend had a horse, Sammy, who was in need of a new home. So, he joined the herd.
He helped me as much as I have helped him, and the two boys have become best friends, and travel buddies. Sam has accompanied us on every single horse show trip since he came home. I think of Sammy as Black Beauty’s Merrylegs. They are attached at the hip… King was able to teach him manners, along with how to act at a show.
In 2020, the world was going through so much, and my work was slow, so it allowed me time to train and ride. We had an incredible show year, and it was the first time I had the ability to go to the US Arabian & Half-Arabian National Championships. It was a huge decision, but with some help, some art sales, and a lot of hard work, I decided to make the trek to Oklahoma with King and his sidekick, Sammy. That trip was an awesome success; we earned a US National Top 10 at age twenty-three in ranch riding. The following year, along with competing, we carried the American flag for Arabian Horse Association (AHA) Region 15 Championships, East Coast Championships, and, most memorable, the 2021 US Nationals closing ceremonies for Friday and Saturday evening.
King has countless regional wins in classical dressage, ranch riding, ranch rail, Western dressage hack, sport horse show hack, Western dressage, sport horse under saddle, hunter under saddle, Western pleasure, and hunter pleasure. And for most of these disciplines, ridden and trained by me, his amateur owner. He had an incredible ninety-nine achievement points, which were earned in 2020/2021 at age twenty-two and twenty-three after a six-year hiatus for a suspensory injury.
He earned his Legion of Honor (2011), Legion of Supreme Honor (2012), and Legion of Excellence (2021) from AHA, as well as national and regional rankings, and USDF All-Breeds Awards at Training and First Level. He also earned third and sixth place in the regional USEF Horse of the Year rankings for working Western horse. In 2024, he was named the AHA Ambassador of the Year. There was just one horse in the US with this honor for 2024, and I was so proud to have gotten that email! We received a beautiful plaque, and it was announced during the end-of-the-year awards ceremony.
During his retirement, King and I have been given the honor of carrying the American flag for the National Anthem during Grand Prix night at the prestigious Dressage at Devon for three years in a row. We also helped honor many World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans at the Honor Flight Philadelphia Parade, where we carried the American flag as well. King was surrounded by bagpipes, music, and hundreds of people celebrating the welcome home for these veterans, and he didn’t miss a beat. He enjoyed everyone who came to visit him, pet him, and bring him carrots. We have done numerous Arabian horse farm open houses, and are the local go-to for carrying the beautiful American flag. It was quite the beautiful honor to do this with my sweet horse, who truly is a wonderful ambassador to the Arabian breed.
Thank you for allowing me to share the story of my boy King. I wanted you all to know how special he is!
