The Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award winner is selected by a panel to celebrate the life and work of the individual whose contribution to equestrian sport is unparalleled and worthy of sincerest praise.
Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award winner 2025
The winner of the Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement accolade at the Horse & Hound Awards 2025 is Jane Holderness-Roddam.
Jane’s entire life has been embedded in the equestrian world. Her idyllic childhood surrounded by ponies set her up to become the first British woman to compete in three-day eventing at the Olympics. She was the first woman to win an Olympic eventing medal of any colour – team gold at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 and returned home a national hero. She also won Badminton, Burghley and was part of the gold medal-winning British team at the European Championships at Burghley in 1977.
Jane went on to establish the exceptionally successful West Kingston Stud with her husband Tim. The stud will close at the end of this year, marking Jane’s retirement, after 30 years of work that has had immeasurable benefits in Britain and across the world, for rare and native breeds, riding poniess, Arabs and sport horses.
Jane has devoted huge energy to her numerous roles in equestrianism, including chairman and president of British Eventing, of the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy, the British Equestrian Trade Society and the Caspian Horse Society. She is a former national chairman of the RDA, and a former council chairman of the British Equestrian Federation.
Jane has written more than 25 equestrian books. In 2009 she was presented with the Queen’s Award for Equestrianism.
Jane has given exceptional service to equestrian sport as a judge, steward and official, much valued for her kindness, her wisdom, her positivity and her friendliness and as such, the H&H panel cannot think of a more deserving winner of this award.
Previous Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award winners
Previous worthy winners of this award include:
2024: William Fox-Pitt
2023: The late Queen’s former stud manager Terry Pendry
2022: David Broome
2021: showing supremo Allister Hood
2020: Lucinda Green
2019: Bob Ellis
2018: Cptn Mark Phillips
2017: the late 11th Duke of Beaufort
2016: Nick Skelton
About the Horse & Hound Awards 2025
The Horse & Hound Awards are celebrating their 10th year, being held in partnership with NAF and Agria.
As ever, the Horse & Hound Awards winners were nominated and voted for by you, with the exception of the Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award, which was decided by a Horse & Hound panel. We recognised both the big names who have made 2025 special and the unsung heroes who make it possible for all of us to enjoy equestrian sport and our horses, at every level.
The ceremony took place at Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire, where some 300 people, including stars of this summer’s European Championships, enjoyed a glamorous evening of champagne, winner reveals, speeches and dancing on Wednesday 26 November.
