‘If it is good enough for our equestrian stars, it is good enough for all of us’

It was an outstanding result from Aachen, where Scott Brash became the first rider to win two legs of the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping on the fabulous Hello Sanctos. We capture the moment he won on page four of this week’s Horse & Hound magazine, out today (4 June 2015), and our showjumping editor Jennifer Donald describes how the “ice cool Scott” proved just exactly why he is the best in the world.

You would think that the children of top riders would have no need of the Pony Club, blessed as they are with expert equestrians for parents. Not a bit of it. Eventer Paul Tapner’s children are members, and Laura Stockdale, wife of showjumper Tim, tells H&H why their two sons, Joseph, 15, and Mark 11, joined — not least to learn how to clean tack properly, and the crucial skill of working as part of a team.

As it happens, Scott Brash is a former member of the Peebles Tweeddale branch, and our H&H interviewee, David Holmes, chief executive of British Eventing, was a member of the Blankney. So desperate was he to ride that he joined the Pony Club without a pony.

This great institution needs our support; if it is good enough for our equestrian stars, it is good enough for all of us.

Finally, we look at the absence of mention of the Hunting Act in The Queens’ Speech, and fully endorse campaigns director for the Countryside Alliance Tim Bonner, who urges every single person who opposes the Hunting Act to renew their membership to the CA, and contact their MP to let them know their views. The aim is to send the strongest possible message to Westminster that the Hunting Act must go.

The chase is on.

Ref: Horse & Hound; 4 June 2015

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now