Hope Wilson and 14hh Charlie Girl (Poppy) came third in the Forgandenny BE90 regional final in August, earning their ticket to Mars Badminton 2027. This was the crowning achievement of their six years together, during which they have also competed up to elementary level dressage and won at the national side-saddle championships – not to mention welcoming Poppy’s unexpected BOGOF foal a few months into their journey.
They were also on the winning Scottish team at the Chillington Hall regional youth championships in 2024, and walked away with the individual BE80 title.
“I was just numb, when they won at Chillington,” Hope’s mother Hazel told H&H. “I think I just couldn’t believe it. People were coming up and saying ‘You must be so proud’ and I said yes but it was probably a week afterwards that I actually realised the extent of what she’d done.”
Hazel said she had always ridden, describing herself as a “happy hacker” and local competitor, but Hope had never really been interested. She preferred her ballet and dancing – “She wasn’t really that interested in getting her hands dirty!” Hazel said – but when lockdown was on, so dancing and school were off, she found herself at a loose end and needed something to do.
“She quickly formed a bond with the little 11h Welsh A I bought as a companion,” Hazel said. “The other companion pony I’d bought had bucked her off a couple of times so she was nervous of getting on Belle but finally we got there.”
Belle and Hope got on well together and progressed to winning their first 60cm showjumping class. After a few months, Hazel said, as Hope’s desire to ride and leg length increased at a similar rate, she decided to buy a pony she and her daughter could share and have fun on.
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Hope Wilson and Poppy also excel in side-saddle competition
(Image credit: Hazel Wilson)
“This was a hairy 10-year-old cob; I thought we could share her, and if we came out of lockdown and she went back to her dancing, I could ride the cob and just tootle about,” Hazel said. “But the sharing lasted until we discovered Poppy was actually in foal!”
Hazel suspected Poppy’s extra weight might be an unexpected guest, and in March 2021, her vet confirmed she was due in a couple of weeks.
“Both Hope and I had the privilege of being there at the birth and it was amazing,” she said, adding that no one knows who the sire of the foal, now five and called Daisy, might be.
“I think she’s got more Welsh in her as she’s slightly finer-boned,” she said. “She’s about 15.1hh so she should hopefully be a good type for Hope to take up the levels.”
Once Poppy was brought back into work, there was no stopping her, and Hope, who had also recently been diagnosed with autism – but having the horses helped.
“We’ve found a balance, and the horses have held everything together,” Hazel said. “Hope started eventing at a low level, with the Pony Club. I’d never seen her do a dressage test till our first event with the Pony Club and everyone said ‘She’s good’. She got the highest dressage score of the whole thing.”
At the start of 2024, Hope said she wanted to be chosen for the Scotland team for the youth championships, and duly was.
“Hope never wants to know her dressage score until the whole thing’s over, but the other girls on the team said she was in the lead,” Hazel said. “She showjumped and I could see the nerves were beginning to take over.
“She was last to go across country and I think even the boy on the tannoy was astounded because there were some pretty horses there and this little piebald cob who I don’t think he’d been taking too much notice of until that point. He apologised over the tannoy and said ‘We’re actually looking at the individual winners here’. It was very emotional.”
At the start of this year, Hazel said, Hope put a list of her goals for 2026 in the tack room, and Badminton was on it. She and Poppy achieved their qualifying places, then went to Forgandenny in August.
“She was putting a hell of a lot of pressure on herself to do it; probably, unbeknown to me, a lot more pressure than she was showing,” Hazel said. “So I think she felt pure relief, joy that she had achieved this and a hell of a lot of satisfaction because her friends are all riding bigger horses than her, and she can’t help but feel sort of the underdog.”
Hope Wilson’s double win
Hope also rides 16.2hh Irish-bred Ballygriffen Cooper for a friend – she won one BE90 with him at Scone last month and another with Poppy – but the plan was not to aim him for Badminton as he is still quite green, but also, Hazel said, to give Poppy her chance to shine.
“I want her to have her moment of glory,” she said. “She’s a cake-loving cob; 11am or 11.30 she hears the kettle coming on and makes her way to the tack room as she knows the cake tin is coming out! She’s absolutely amazing, she’s got a heart of gold and I swear in some way she’s trying to repair for us keeping her and her foal together.
“I think she’s had quite a few foals but has been parted from them; I think in her way she’s trying to give back a bit for the home she’s got. It may be nonsense but she looks after Hope and takes it all in her stride, she’s almost like a second mother to her.
“When we bought her, I just wanted to see my daughter happy, I had no expectations. When we go out, we just give it our best shot and it’s not about winning, it’s about the horses and their welfare, and seeing what we can do together.
“I’m not made of money and can’t afford to buy Hope everything maybe others have; she has to make do and make the best of what she’s got and by god, she’s certainly doing that.”
Hope is due to start studying business at university this month, but with her sights firmly set on Badminton 2027. And Hazel said she wanted to take this chance to celebrate her daughter and Poppy’s achievements.
“The aim as always will be to do our best but more importantly enjoy the experience and have fun,” she said. “As long as the pair of them come home safely that’s all I care about. I hope Badminton is ready for a patchy cob!”
Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
