The Weel family are heading to Florida, L-R: Reitland’s Obama, Emma, Atterupgaards Franz, Paul, Espe, Abby, and Mila with dogs Miley and Honeybee. Image by Simon Scully. LUIS – for mobile image, crop/centre on the third horse/person.
Driven by passion and purpose, the Weel family are heading to Florida for six months to train and compete in Wellington’s elite dressage circuit — a bold new adventure for rising star Abby and her talented team.
The Weels are a family that takes the bit between their teeth. Paul and Emma Weel and daughters Abby and Mila lean into every opportunity with energy and intent, chasing the best experiences they can find.
Abby Weel with Espe and Reitland’s Obama, both of which will travel to Florida. Image by Simon Scully.
Paul is an ardent motorsport enthusiast and hands-on businessman in the radiator and performance-engineering game, a man who also competes with great success in extreme desert racing. His and Toby Price’s Team Australia Racing off road ‘Trophy Trucks’ compete in the International World Desert Championships in Baja, Mexico, where they won the Baja 500 in 2024 and placed second on the leader board for 2025. Paul is currently in Mexico preparing for the Baja 1000 this month. It’s an extreme sport for an extreme man with an extremely active, enthusiastic, and passionate connected family. The Weel family have diverse interests and thrive on enthusing and encouraging each other to strive to be as good as can be.
Emma is no shrinking violet. Her life is a whirlwind of real estate, property development and interior design, with a flair for colour and style that mirrors the way she approaches life and parenting.
Mila, 13, follows in her father’s footsteps and has taken to motorsport with a quiet wit and quirky good humour – happy to go with the flow but quick when it counts.
Abby, 15, is an avid dressage rider who came up through Pony Club show jumping and all-round activities before focusing on the classical sport. She launched her dressage career at FEI Pony level on the imported bay pony Reitland’s Obama by High Flow’s Oxford and has dominated FEI Pony classes ever since.
With a businessman’s eye for the future, Paul has invested in quality horses. Through Helgstrand Dressage, the family has acquired outstanding prospects, including the stallion So Perfect (since sold). Emma, herself a dressage rider, owned and competed Santiago (Sandro Hit x Florestan); under Emma’s ownership, the gelding was campaigned in Europe with success by the late Elliot Patteson before being sold.
Santiago was originally owned, trained and campaigned by Matthew Dowsley who now serves as the family’s trainer and mentor. ‘The Doctor’, as Matthew is fondly known to the Weels, keeps success and good horsemanship at the heart of the program. The Weel family moved from the Gold Coast to Bowral in 2023 to be closer to Matthew for the help in continuing their dressage sport.
These days, Emma rides another Santiago (Apache x Donnerhall 11). Santiago-H is a seven-year-old chestnut Belgian Warmblood who was ridden by Abby when she competed alongside several other young Aussies at the 2024 Future Champions competition in Hagen Germany. Emma has competed Santiago at Medium level with success and the horse is training towards Grand Prix.
Abby and Espe in training at Matthew Dowsley’s. Image by Roger Fitzhardinge.
TWO EXCEPTIONAL HORSES
Travelling to Europe to further Abby’s ambitions, the Weels found two exceptional horses: Atterupgaards Franz, a beautiful bay gelding at eight years old by Franziskus x Bon Bravour, and Espe (formerly ridden by Annabella Pidgley). Espe is an 11-year-old mare by Escolar x Dimaggio, and with Annabella Pidgley had 23 international wins and collected six European Championship medals.
Both horses were imported to Australia mid-2025. Abby admits that she does not have a favourite… but Espe the mare can do no wrong and she happens to be very fancy!
The Weels thrive on dedication, and that commitment to bettering themselves now sees them seizing an opportunity to base in the United States for six months and compete at Wellington, Florida. They’ve leased a house within walking distance of the stables where they’ll work in association with Helgstrand Dressage, and those stables are a short stroll to the competition venue (Wellington International, formerly Palm Beach International Equestrian Center). Wellington is famed for its winter weather, exceptional facilities, and a deep calendar of FEI competitions – an ideal place to stretch, learn, and grow.
As if organising three competition horses to head overseas isn’t tough enough, the logistics read like a pilot’s logbook: Australia to Hong Kong to Chicago to Miami. Add two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (Miley and Honeybee) and the entire family relocating, and it’s a bold, brave and brilliant leap, very much in keeping with the Weel way. As they say, in for a penny in for a pound! With several successful seasons already behind her, Abby now has two additional horses to build miles and experience. It’s going to be an amazing chapter. Both Abby and Mila will continue their schoolwork with online programs whilst away.
Abby is a talented rider, and along with talented horses, good coaching and opportunities that have opened up for her, she says, “I feel very privileged and very proud to be able to continue in a sport that I love at such a great level. I have to thank my parents and everyone associated with the horses for the positivity and the chance to follow a dream.
Reitland’s Obama was the FEI Pony Champion at the Brisbane CDI this year. Image by Roger Fitzhardinge.
“I love the mental approach
to the sport just as much
as the physical…”
‘I LOVE TO COMPETE’
“I love to compete and I love to train. I love the mental approach to the sport just as much as the physical. It will be fantastic to have my family around me, also to cheer Dad on with his US racing, and to have Mum and Mila by my side. I can’t wait. It’s a big move, it’s full-on! I’m excited! Of course, I will miss my friends in Oz and especially the Doctor for his daily mentoring and coaching with his odd outrageous but honest sarcastic wit.”
Obama will compete in the FEI Pony, Atterupgaards Franz in the FEI Junior and Espe in Abby’s first season of the FEI Young Riders.
Since being in Australia, Espe has done two Medium tests, two Advanced and one Prix St Georges, with all scores over 70% – winning two tests and placing second to Matthew Dowsley in the others. Franz has done two Medium, two Junior Team tests and a Junior Individual test. Winning the two FEI Team tests with over 70%, Franz needs careful riding, but what a talent! He shows all the Grand Prix movements, which Abby is training with him.
Mila, the quiet and quirky member of the family, is equally thrilled about going to Wellington. “I’m going to become the best groom!” she quips, adding with a grin: “Of course, I will have schoolwork to do and you know how much I love French – although apparently I’m won’t be able to do that in America, what a shame!”
“I can’t wait for the change and I will, for sure, be heading out with Dad to some of the racing. I know it will be hard to leave Abby and Mum and the horses, but they will then realise my importance in the scheme of things,” she grins. “I hope that they will cope. It’s going to be fantastic, and we all can’t wait!”
The Weel family are heading to Florida, L-R: Reitland’s Obama, Emma, Atterupgaards Franz, Paul, Espe, Abby, and Mila with dogs Miley and Honeybee. Image by Simon Scully.
Abby and Espe. Image by Roger Fitzhardinge.
“We love a challenge
and we are ready to go!”
‘CHALLENGE AND A NIGHTMARE’
On chatting with Emma just before their departure, she says she can’t wait to see the sport in America. “We have experienced and competed and trained a little in Europe, and to see the sport in Wellington will be amazing. The opportunity to see so many top riders and horses in the one location, to watch so many competitions, to meet and mingle with all sportspeople with the same passion… to have our own horses and family together, closer to Paul’s racing. Of course, there is great weather and for sure the social side will be fun!
“It’s going to be a challenge and a logistical nightmare, but our lives all have these elements every day. We like it like that, and we love a challenge and we are ready to go! No risk – no fun!”
Paul is a gentleman. “Happy life… happy wife… and two teenage daughters. What can I say! I am just so proud that I can help in my family’s pursuit towards excellence. I am as excited as they are at the opportunity that this avails. We will have the best time together as well, despite missing our home, friends, lifestyle, house and, of course, The Doctor who keeps us all tuned in and up to speed. I say never miss a chance nor let it slip by.”
What a family and what opportunities. Abby Weel will be in the mix over there for sure, and with her talent and support and family she will be stepping up a notch and is serious about her prospects. They will all return to Australia to their beloved property in Bowral in April 2026. EQ
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