‘An exceptional little model’: meet HOYS supreme champion Tidy Town

Tidy Town needed little introduction to the showing world before this season, but now he has truly cemented his place in the history books, netting his fifth Royal International (RIHS) win, and being the first small hunter to land the supreme horse accolade at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in forty years.

The 10-year-old 158cm gelding – known as Guinness at home – is owned by Lorraine Homer, and piloted by her daughter, Alice. He was bred by Michael Byrne in Co Wicklow, and first made his way onto English soil as a foal.

But his trajectory to the very top in showing wasn’t straightforward.

“The day I first saw Guinness, I bought two foals for the Mckay family,” explains Alice’s grandfather, David Tatlow. “One was by Stack of Diamonds, and the other – Guinness – by the British thoroughbred stallion, Superior Premium, out of a Ricardo Z mare. They were two very different sorts of horses. One was tall and backwards – he’s gone on to event successfully now; one was thick-set. I was with Jane Bradbury, who’s a very good judge of a horse in her own right.

“I’m a limb fanatic. If they’ve got good limbs as a foal, they’ve got good limbs to the day they die. Guinness had beautiful limbs. People say, ‘Oh, I can’t judge a foal.’ But you can judge a foal; he’s just a little horse. Guinness was an exceptional little model.”

That said, Guinness remained something of a gamble. For starters, he had been gelded just 48 hours beforehand.

“He was quite swollen and stiff, so we didn’t see much step, but he did have a beautiful walk even though he was so swollen.”

The other snag was that Guinness was small.

“We looked at him and we looked at him. But I kept saying to myself, ‘I wonder whether he’s going to grow?’

“I asked, ‘How big’s the mother?’

“16.2hh, and I knew the sire to be a biggish horse, so we thought, ‘there’s every chance he might grow’. We took the gamble.”

But Guinness didn’t grow. At least, not as much as hoped.

Nevertheless, he stayed at his intended home with the McKie family until Jess McKie broke him in and began his eventing career.

“She did a very good job,” says David, “But she’s tall and he didn’t grow enough for her.”

He returned to the Tatlow/Homer team as a six-year-old to sell on.

“Being based in Northumberland, the McKie’s felt we were better located to sell him – and we found we didn’t really want to sell him on, we wanted to buy him.

“I shouldn’t say this as Alice has produced him to perfection, but I wasn't in love with her wanting to hunt him because I realised his potential as soon as he came back. I said, ‘this is a top small hunter’.

“We’re great friends in the family, but it doesn't stop us disagreeing between ourselves; I was more confident about him being a champion show horse than Alice was at that time.”

Alice agrees, seeing him as a hunting pony when he first returned.

“I hunted him until that Christmas,” says Alice. “I don’t think I took him seriously as a show horse until then, but he got smarter and smarter and I realised I had underestimated him. I haven’t hunted him since, but he was an absolute machine so I can’t wait to again once he’s done showing.”

David was right, and together, Alice and Guinness have formed a formidable partnership.

As well as their five Hickstead titles – three in the small hunter and two in the intermediate hunter ranks plus the bonus overall intermediate sash – Guinness and Alice topped the intermediate hunter type lineup at HOYS, and boast a small hunter win at Windsor.

That same year, the pair were working hunter pony champions at the castle, as Guinness has a third string to his bow: the workers.

“One of the greatest things about Guinness is that you rarely see him without his ears pricked. He really loves his work and approaches it with enthusiasm – even just going for a hack.

“We don’t want to overshow him, but with his versatility – he’s got a real jump in him – and his attitude; he always says, ‘come on, let’s go again’. He’s the dream, he loves his job.”

Earlier this term, Guinness and Alice collected a third working hunter pony supreme title at the British Show Pony Society (BSPS) championships.

“He just absolutely loves those Graham Barclay tracks there,” says Alice.

He also loves a good gallop and Alice argues this is one thing that gives him the edge in the ring.

“Nothing can out-gallop him,” says Alice, whose searing turns up the front of the arena in championships at Hickstead are something to behold. “To ride, he’s got the manners of a hack but the power of a heavyweight hunter. I think it’s what’s made him excel at different venues.

“He can go to a smaller indoor arena like at Addington or into the arena at HOYS and have the adjustability of a hack. But then he can also go into a big grass ring like at Hickstead and open out and gallop.”

Still, performance only counts for half in showing.

“His conformation is another reason he’s excelled year after year,” according to Alice. “He has very correct limbs. He has just the right amount of limb and just the right amount of substance. Fundamentally, he is hard to fault. Yes, he gives a good ride and, yes, there’s showmanship but his correctness means he appeals to a range of judges.”

Whatever it is that gives them the edge, David credits Alice.

“She’s made such a fantastic job of him,” he says. “She’s done it all herself because I’m old and nearly in my grave. Her mother Lorraine’s had more influence than me – it’s her mother who’s taught her to gallop.”

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