Team Sabble Farm with their miracle foal ‘Bug.’ Image by Nathalie Martinson.
There are moments in horse sport that go far beyond competition results, bloodlines, or long-term goals. They are the moments that stop everything – where instinct, emotion, and sheer luck collide. For Samantha Thomas of Sabble Farm, that moment came in the form of a tiny filly.
Among Sabble Farm’s 2026 crop of foals is Total Fascination (Toto Nation de Jeu x Floreno), a filly whose exceptional breeding hints at a bright future. Around the stables, however, she is simply known as “Bug” – a nickname that came from her mum being called Fly. At just five weeks old, Bug’s life took a dramatic and devastating turn.
Bugs name came from her mum’s stable name being Fly. Image by Nathalie Martinson.
Her dam, the much-loved Sugarloaf Fleureno (Floreno x Anouk), known as Fly, had only just come home from being pregnancy tested and was in foal to Sabble Farm’s stallion Zanzibar when Sam noticed something wasn’t quite right. What began as concern quickly escalated.
“We called the vet and gave her medication, but it wasn’t helping, our vet decided we needed to get her to Bendigo,” Sam shares.
Fly travelled with Bug travelling quietly alongside her – the filly unaware of the unfolding crisis.
“When we got Fly there, they couldn’t do anything to stop her pain, so we decided to do the surgery. Bug just had to stay in a box by herself, which was heartbreaking. Naomi and Kate [vets at Bendigo] took one look at me and sent me home, telling me they’d ring when they had news.”
The call came far too soon.
“I didn’t even make it out the other side of Bendigo and they rang me and said, ‘We’ve opened her up and everything’s blue. She’s not going to make it – you need to put her down.’”
The decision was immediate and devastating.
“Our first thought is always about the horse. I could not think of beloved Fly suffering, and with our trusted vets telling me that she is not going to make it; I made the heartbreaking decision to put her down peacefully in vet care. The next question to me was; “there is a foal in the box – what do we do now?” Bendigo kept Bug overnight and when I came back the next day, I looked at the vet and said, ‘I don’t’ know what to do. I’ve lost a foal before, but I’ve never lost a mare.’ And I just broke down,” Sam shares.
What followed was a race against time.
Bug, born on 5 January, was a late foal – making the already difficult task of finding a suitable foster mare even harder, as most available foster mares had already been paired with foals for the season.
“The vets told me to leave it with them,” Sam says. “And somehow, it all just fell into place.”
A solution emerged at a nearby stud – Shepherd Hill Friesians. By an extraordinary stroke of luck, a mare named Jenneke had her own foal weaned the day before Fly passed away.
Located just ten minutes away from Sabble Farm, the team acted quickly. Jenneke was transported and given vet support to encourage maternal behaviour before being introduced to Bug.
“At first, she wouldn’t have a bar of her,” Sam says. “We sat there for hours, and honestly we were about five minutes away from giving up.”
Then everything changed, and her eyes softened. In that moment, Jenneke made a decision – and accepted Bug. What followed was nothing short of remarkable. The mare, who had never shown strong maternal instincts with her own foals became completely devoted.
“You can just see she’s fallen in love with this little filly; she sticks her nose on her face just to smell her. Once her eye softened and she was letting Bug drink I sat outside the stable for about six hours making sure that she wasn’t going to change her mind, but she never once has.”
“No one could believe how maternal she was being,” Sam states. The owners told us that whilst Janneke has had two foals before, both were colts and whilst she let them feed, she didn’t particularly show a bond with them. However, Bug has become her most prized possession and out in the paddock with the other broodmares, she will not let anyone close to her filly.
Bug (Toto Nation de Jeu x Floreno) and Sam Thomas after being awarded gold by the HHSA. Image by Nathalie Martinson.
FOAL ASSESSMENT
Just four days after losing Fly, Sabble Farm hosted the Hanoverian foal assessment, which Bug was due to start in.
Sam spoke to one of the assessors to explain that Bug was only five weeks old and had lost his mum only four days ago. “If she comes out and you don’t think she’s ready or she gets stressed, please don’t assess her and I’ll put her back,” she requested.
Additionally, Janneke had never been a part of an assessment before; she had no idea what to do and had never been run in an arena on a lead.
“We didn’t know how it was going to go but Jess Martin ran Janneke up for us and they were both perfect. Bug was awarded gold level foal by the Hanoverian Horse Association Society of Australia (HHSA) and became our poster child. There was not a dry eye in the house when it was announced. I just can’t believe how it has all turned out, it just makes your soul feel good even though it’s so bittersweet.”
Whilst Bug was certainly the most emotional story of the day, Sam also had five other foals and a four-year-old presented to the HHSA international judge.
“We had a Glamourdale filly also receive gold, whilst our other two fillies by respectively Furst Heinrich and So Perfect, received silver awards. Our Proud James colt and Dande Quando colt were both awarded silver.
During the day, we also had our 4yo young mare SF Ellara (Toto Nation de Jue x Eskara de Jue) complete a ridden test with Maddy on board and Ellara was awarded 2026 Champion Mare Performance Test.
So we couldn’t have been more thrilled with the overall results from the day!”
Team Sabble Farm at the end of the HHSA assessment day with their miracle foal. Image by Nathalie Martinson.
MEET THE TEAM
While Bug’s story sits at the emotional heart of the stable, she is just one part of a much larger, quietly evolving picture.
Sabble Farm’s operations consist of a close-knit team of riders including Emma Dalton (previously Haywood), Jade Wilkinson, Maddy McDonald and Jess Martin – each bringing their own strengths, ambitions and partnerships.
Emma, who previously competed and trained PHP Sophia successfully to Small Tour and has had great success with young horses, brings valuable experience. She now rides some of the more advanced horses in the stable – those that we think at this stage have genuine Grand Prix potential.
Jade has made the most of her opportunities, producing strong results and stepping into bigger roles with horse like SF Everest (Kilimanjaro x Jazz) who finished sixth at Dressage and Jumping with the Stars this year in the Four-Year-Old Young Horse Final, and imported Andalusian gelding Neron.
Jade Wilkinson riding Sabble Farm’s Neron in the Insa Hansen’s masterclass at Dressage and Jumping with the Stars. Image by Equisoul Photography.
Maddy and Jess round out the team, each developing their own horses while also contributing to the broader program. Jess in particular has formed a successful partnership with the experienced Zanzibar; having never competed higher than Novice, she has recently stepped up to win at Prix St Georges level and is preparing for her Inter I debut.
Alongside this year’s foals, there is already a promising pipeline of youngstock from carefully selected bloodlines, and a clear focus on producing horses for the future.
“The overarching goal is to give riders the opportunity to represent Australia on an international stage on horses we’ve bred and produced from start to finish,” says Sam.
But for all the planning, structure, and ambition, it’s stories like Bug’s that define Sabble Farm. In high-performance sport the result is only part of the picture. The real foundation lies in moments of trust – between horse and human, between animals themselves, and in the quiet decisions made when things don’t go to plan.
Bug was never meant to be a headline.
Yet somehow, through loss, luck, and an extraordinary surrogate mare, she has become exactly that – a reminder that even in the most difficult moments, something remarkable can still emerge. And in a stable full of talented horses and driven riders, it’s the smallest one who might just leave the biggest legacy. EQ
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