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“Bonnie’s record is amazing, and she goes in any kind of ring – big, small, grass, sand – and jumps clear,” Abdel Saïd tells World of Showjumping about the 13-year-old mare Wathnan Bonne Amie (A Big Boy x Landfriese). “She’s always fighting with me, always delivering clear rounds. When you go in the ring with her, you know that if you ride well, you have a 95% chance to jump a clear round.”

In 2025, Saïd claimed his second consecutive win in the CSI5* 1.60m Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Doha with Bonne Amie, and the two topped the CSI5* 1.55m Eiffel Challenge at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Paris, jumped to the top of the podium in the CSI5* 1.65m Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix in Prague and competed at the Longines FEI Jumping European Championships in A Coruña.

To learn more about this impressive mare, World of Showjumping spoke with Saïd, Bonne Amie’s breeder Riina Pill, as well as Katrin Pill, Tim Prouvé and Samuel Hutton who all rode Bonne Amie as a youngster.

“Bonne Amie’s dam Lara and sire A Big Boy were both in our stable and competed at 1.60m level,” Riina Pill begins. “When Lara retired from the sport, we had already decided to breed her once with A Big Boy. Unfortunately, Lara ended up having only three offspring.”

“Bonnie was a big and friendly foal,” Riina recalls. “A funny fact is that when she was just four days old, we went to take pictures of her, and under one of the photos I wrote: ‘A star is born!’ Bonnie was very friendly with people, but she was extremely afraid of anything unfamiliar. It took quite a long time before she stopped letting outside distractions bother her. She was – and still is – a very sensitive horse, and training her was a constant process of negotiation and making compromises.”

“When she was five, she was badly kicked by another horse during transport and had to be out of work for an entire year,” Riina continues to tell about Bonne Amie’s early years. “We put a lot of effort into her treatment. In the end, I think it actually turned out to be good for her, because as a big horse she had the chance to develop calmly.”

A funny fact is that when she was just four days old, we went to take pictures of her, and under one of the photos I wrote: ‘A star is born!’ 

“Our time together was full of many challenges and required sensitivity in making the right decisions. However, we understood already in her early years that she was a special horse, and that this had to be taken into account. Working with her was very interesting; it is wonderful to work with a horse that develops day by day. In addition, she was very caring towards people and always greeted you with a loud neigh whenever you entered the stable.”

“Bonnie’s heart is bigger than she is. In the competition arena, she is ready to give you everything and always fights until the end. She has a very good canter, and her jump is full of power and explosiveness. I am very happy that Bonnie has found such a great rider with whom she can show the world her abilities. I follow all of their competitions and always cheer for them. As the breeder of such a horse, I can be very proud.”

While Riina’s husband Rein rode Bonne Amie first, their daughter Katrin took over the reins when the mare was six. “I didn't have many horses at the time, so we agreed that I would start riding her,” Katrin explains. “From the very first months, I said to my mum – who was training and helping me all the time – that Bonne Amie is the best horse I've ever sat on. I felt like there was nothing you could build that I could not go and jump with her. Naturally, there were many things to improve, because she was still super green, but the feeling was there already.”

“I took her up to 1.35m level in the year and a half I had with her. I had a really nice time with her. Bonne Amie is a super nice horse, she has such a good character. She's the best horse like that, you can actually do everything with her.”

From the very first months, I said to my mum that Bonne Amie is the best horse I've ever sat on

“We knew that Bonne Amie was good, and in Estonia, we don't have many shows,” Katrin explains about the decision to bring Bonne Amie to the Prové-family in Belgium. “To get her to a higher level, you would have had to either stay in Europe or move there and with one horse it didn't make sense for me to do it. That’s why we decided to take her to Bert, and then Bert's son Tim started riding her.”

“I'm super proud of her,” Katrin tells about following Bonne Amie’s success now. “It's exactly what we wanted for her; to have her in a professional stable with a good rider so that she can actually show what she's capable of. I can say that I was right from the beginning, I had a good feeling about her. She is definitely a once in a lifetime horse. I'm super proud to have been a part of her story. I guess all the doors are open now, and the sky's the limit.”

“When she arrived, she was quite green for her age,” Tim Prouvé, who got the ride on Bonne Amie when the mare was seven, tells. “She was bloody, scopey and explosive. In the beginning, we had to take it slow, and not jump too big and keep repeating the small fences so that she got a bit calmer. She was always jumping like a superstar. I still remember the first day that she came home; we did a few jumps and the feeling was amazing.”

She is a big horse, but she feels so light off the ground, and she has a great mentality – which is her best quality

“It is the best feeling that I ever had on a horse, it couldn't have been better,” he continues. “She was explosive and smart on the fences. She is a big horse, but she feels so light off the ground, and she has a great mentality – which is her best quality. She always gives 100%. She wants to do her best, and she never gives up. Bonne Amie is simply a one-of-a-kind horse. I don't think there are many horses like her in the world.”

“I started to do some small shows and she jumped clear all the time,” Tim tells about his time with Bonne Amie. “She jumped amazing. There was not one show that I thought that it wasn't good. The statistics were spectacular. When I was at Sentower Park, I told Abdel that we have a really good horse. The next winter, Bonne Amie started to jump ranking classes and she kept delivering clear rounds – and then Abdel called my father and he really wanted to buy her. It's nice to see her jumping in the big classes now. It makes me happy that she's doing so well.”

“She was really big,” Samuel Hutton, who rode Bonne Amie for Abdel Saïd when the mare was eight, tells about his first impression of the mare. “She had a lot of blood. I actually tried her with Abdel – and I never tried a horse like her. When you came to the fence, she was so away from the jump, and the feeling was incredible.”

She's a horse you'd love to have – she's unbelievable

“I had her for a short period of time and quite quickly, stepped her up to bigger classes,” Samuel explains. “She's a horse you'd love to have – she's unbelievable. The fight in her brain is the best quality in her; she just wants to leave the jumps up and she always wants to do her best. She's so brave, with so much quality – and she's so competitive. Underneath you, she has a lot of power that needs containing, but she uses it in the right way.”

“To see her staying in our stable and witness the career Abdel's had on her has been fantastic,” Samuel shares. “She is a championship horse; she's actually the best on the last day, which not many horses are. To handle, she's the sweetest, she likes her people.”

“Bonnie is exceptional in many ways,” Abdel Saïd tells. “She has so much power, and a lot of quality in her jump. What is a challenge with her is her eagerness; it can be difficult because she’s 1.85m high and I’m not the biggest guy. Trying to navigate around the course can sometimes make me feel like I’m driving a Jeep with a Ferrari engine. It’s a lot of power to contain.”

“It was my partner Antonia [Pettersson-Häggström] who came across Bonnie back when she was 8,” Abdel continues. “Antonia had been doing some scouting, and immediately loved Bonnie, who also had a pretty impressive record with a clear round percentage of 95%. However, my first reaction was actually the opposite as she looked really difficult. As I looked at more videos, I got more convinced – she jumped so many clear rounds. Tim Prouvé was riding her back then, and he did a good job with her – as an 8-year-old she had already jumped clear in the two-star ranking classes.”

Trying to navigate around the course can sometimes make me feel like I’m driving a Jeep with a Ferrari engine

“I called the Prouvé -family up, and they told me a lot of people had been asking about her. They didn’t want to put a price on her, but were of the opinion that she might suit me so I was allowed to come by to try her. We agreed that if I liked her, we could discuss about a possible sale,” Abdel tells. “I went there with Sam to try her, and I still clearly recall that winter evening when we first jumped her. My God, she was all over the place, but the power and the quality of the jump was insane. I knew right there and then that she was going to be really expensive, so at the time I bought her together with one of my partners Mr. Kayali.”

“For the first part of 2022, Sam rode Bonnie to give her a bit more milage and at the end of that summer I got her back,” Abdel continues. “Quick enough, in October that year, she jumped a five-star Grand Prix double clear – in St. Tropez where she finished 5th. And then, of course, people started asking about her. I really wanted to keep Bonnie for my own career, so I made the choice to buy Mr. Kayali’s shares out and she has proved that decision right as she has ended up being an incredible horse for me.”

“Bonnie is a super kind horse, and to handle she’s like a gentle giant,” Abdel tells about Bonne Amie’s personality. “You can park her anywhere, and she will not move. She’s the kind of personality that doesn’t want to make a step wrong. She’s super sweet, but delicate so you have to be gentle with her. In her box, she can be a bit grumpy – she likes to have her own space when she’s on her own.”

She’s the kind of personality that doesn’t want to make a step wrong

“She’s very sensitive though, which sometimes makes her a bit tense and then she can have a rail here or there. That’s something I really had to work on; to get the connection with her consistent the whole way through the course. Today, her rideability is probably the best it’s ever been, but she is far from finished in the production. Her biggest asset is, and has been, her heart. In many of the big classes I jumped her at the beginning of our partnership, she was still not rideable, but she jumped clear because she wanted to. I find that to be an incredible quality in a horse,” Abdel concludes.

31.3.2026 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.