Dubai...

Dubie was born in the early hours of New Year's Eve 2008.

By our own homebred stallion Riyadh and from one of our Shatoor daughters, Allegria -

thus making him linebred to Shatoor, Asfour and El Shaklan, with female lines to Hanan and Estopa

and links back to Tersk through Sarika and the Aswan daughter Nadira.

Our  initial disappointment at his being a colt was temporary to say the least, it was obvious from birth he was a good colt indeed! His sire set a very high benchmark when he was born, a standard by which all our foals are now compared,

Dubie not only met this standard admirably, but exceeded it on many levels...  we were excited to see how he'd mature.

Dubie's Dam was a maiden, first time mother... we handled her in the same we would as with any other new Mums,

holding  and reassuring her, as she got to know her new foal and learned to feed him - she's a lovely kind natured mare, so it never occurred to us at any stage during the pregnancy that she would not have sufficient maternal instincts.

However within the first 24 hours, it became apparent that she was not "mothering" her foal as we would have hoped.

She was fine while we were with them and would quietly stand and let him feed, but as soon as left to her own resources she would walk away and leave him, or do her best to ignore or avoid him -  she would object to him invading her space in no uncertain terms, with a swift kick or ears pinned menacingly.

Pedigree

By day three, after continually holding his mother every hour for feeds,  it became increasingly clear that no amount of persuasion nor medication was going to help Allie accept her new role as mother and the decision was made, for the peace of mind and wellbeing of both mare and foal, to separate them and hand rear him - several attempts were made to find a suitable foster mother for him, however none proved to be successful.

Dubie made the switch from mare to bottle, to bowl without so much as a hiccup and was doing well on Wombaroo Horse milk replacer - initially fed 2 hourly,  and then reduced to 3 hourly feeds of a higher volume.

Due to the summer heat, and with it the arrival of the flies, our thoughts turned to more effective ways to feed him which would protect his formula from the elements, extremes of temperature and pests,  be more time saving than holding a bottle or bowl for him and allow him to feed without direct interaction with us, therefore avoiding him forming too close a dependency on us, his human parents... Thus the "Mobile Self Serve Milk Bar" was created...

Made from a 5 litre Insulated Willow Drink Cooler, it's tap replaced with a short piece of tubing, fitted with a rubber lamb's teat,  the Mobile Milk Bar attached to either the paddock gate or stable wall and enabled us to just top it up when required with milk [or water] and let him help himself... it was very handy indeed for the 2.00 am shift!

With his nutritional requirements now under control, the new challenge became  how to address the very important job of role model for him - he needed a horsey mentor to teach him all the things that his mother normally would, things such as grazing and eating hard feed... not to mention all the vital horsey body language.

As luck would have it, our first born foal for the season, the Welsh B filly Brindabella was due for weaning...

Affectionately known as our " Pat Magnet",  Bella has a calm, unflappable and people friendly nature - just perfect for her new role.  She coped with her weaning with a minimum of fuss and bonded happily with her new foaly friend, teaching him polite horse etiquette, how to pick at grass, hay and pellets and all the joys of foal play!

Bella was the first horse Dubie met who actually liked his company and made overtures of bonding with him, she did wonders not just for his general life skills coaching, but for his self confidence as well.

Back to Foals...

Even with his new found foaly friend, his bond with us,

his human family, remained strong as ever...

He was just as happy to play and frolic with us as with his new paddock mate.

He loved meeting visitors ... and readily turned on the charm, for all who came to see him.

No one could resist that cheerful inquisitive nature, or those huge dark eyes.

From International Judges, to breeders with many years of experience, to small children alike, all who met him agreed there was indeed a special aura about him...

Here was that next step in our breeding programme... a colt with the potential for greatness.

We looked forward to watching him grow...

and had many great plans for his future.

Sadly... those plans will now never be realized.

Still on 3 hourly feeds, he continued to grow and prosper -  it was encouraging to see  how well he was doing and at no stage did he develop that "poddy" poor doing look that orphans sometimes do.

He appeared a fit, healthy, well grown youngster, growing more and more beautiful with each passing day.

Monday the 16th of March dawned just like any  other day...

The Victorian Classic had been held the previous weekend, culminating on the Sunday afternoon

with Dubie's Sire Riyadh being awarded Reserve Champion Purebred Entire,

amongst some of the strongest competition he's faced to date.

Following the show, we were honoured to have a group of interstate friends and the Classic Judge -

Jay Constanti call in for a brief visit to our farm, to meet Shatoor, Riyadh, and of course baby Dubie.

All of our boys, the Father [Shatoor], the Son [Riyadh] and the [double cross] Grandson [Dubie]

took great delight in showing off for our guests ... but none moreso than Dubie.

The general feedback from our visitors was wonderful, but it was a source of immense pride to hear Jay make specific comment on the "family resemblance" here at Rokewood, to the Estopa and El Shaklan family he was so accustomed to, and so fond of, from his time at Om El Arab.

With the three generations here to see, he remarked on how well on track our breeding programme appeared to be... with Dubie as the obvious next step in that breeding programme.

Everyone here that day agreed he would be "one to watch" in the future.

After topping up Dubie's "Milk Bar", we escorted our guests to a couple of other local farms , taking a little time out to socialize and chat before heading home in time for our baby's next feed.

On arrival back home we noticed Dubie lying down fast asleep , so went and prepared his milk to take down to him... A sinking feeling came over us, as he didn't rise as usual to meet us at the gate for his bottle, instead remaining motionless on the ground. With hearts in our mouths, we ran to where he lay, only to have our worst fears realized - our precious baby was not asleep at all... he was dead.

With no apparent signs of illness or injury, Dubie appeared to have just gone to sleep,

never again to waken... we were bewildered, shocked and utterly devastated.

Farewell dear little one... not a day goes by where we don't think of you, and wish you were still with us.

With deepest thanks to the remarkably talented sculptor Karen Grigson of Mirror Image Equine Sculpture and wonderful wildlife artist, Denise  Krajnc of Nature Awakened Wildlife Gallery, we have commissioned a sculpted,

hand painted portrait in Dubie's image to remember him by.

His portrait is now completed and safe at home... for good.

Thank you so much Karen and Denise, for the absolute heart and soul you have put into this piece -

keeping the memory of our precious baby alive forever.

Special thanks to our dear friends...

Kelli Greene of Arabians Australia, for her beautiful tribute to Dubie,

and to the remarkable photographer Samantha Pearce, for the "Autumn" image which inspired the sentiment behind it ~ two incredibly talented and inspiring ladies.

Thank you!