A previously successful working hunter pony claimed the Senior Showing and Dressage Ltd (SSADL) 2026 Royal Windsor senior in-hand championship and booked his ticket to Royal International Horse Show (RIHS).
Pippa Kirby and 25-year-old Pied Piper first won the senior plus class for horses and ponies aged 24 and over. They then pipped three-time champion Gabriella Cox and Wolfgang Golden Symphony to take the sash.
Piper was bought by the Kirbys as an 18-year-old for the working hunter classes for her daughters Indiana and Isabella.
“We retired him from Horse of the Year Show when he was 22, when he was placed with my eldest daughter,” said Pippa.
“My youngest daughter took over at a slightly lower level, but he actually went and won the Burghley sports pony final – which was fabulous – as a 23-year-old.”
Although he is a quarter of a century old, Piper still enjoys popping fences. “My youngest isn’t really into jumping, but we have to take him because he just lives to jump,” Pippa said.
“He’s a legend. We only take him out because he loves it so much.”
Despite his previous successful career, this is the grey gelding’s first time in The King’s garden.
“It’s his first ever visit to Windsor and the first in-hand class he’s ever done,” Pippa explained.
At home, Pippa said, Piper is “king of the yard”. She puts his condition and soundness at 25 down to feeding TopSpec and the skills of her farrier Toby Pedley.
Last year’s champion, 22-year-old Wolfgang Golden Symphony (Dante), stood in reserve for the 2026 Royal Windsor senior in-hand title led by his owner Gabriella Cox. The Dutch warmblood won the senior class for horses and ponies aged 20 to 23.
Gabriella, a firefighter, has owned him since he was four, and has competed in Pony Club, dressage, and the Interforces Equestrian Games with him.
She said: “This is his favourite show.
“You cannot practise at home; he loves to rear as much as possible, but the second he comes here, he knows his job.”
The winner of the pre-senior class for 15 to 19-year-olds was Abigail Lane and 18-year-old Blackbourn Roger.
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