‘I have no words’: small hunter adds another title to his tally
Tidy Town and Alice Homer are the top pick for the 2026 Horse of the Year Show small show hunter of the year crown
Alice Homer and her mother Loraine Homer’s Tidy Town proved the ones to beat once more when they were called forward as the top pick for the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) small show hunter of the year crown.
Ten-year-old “Guinness” is by Superior Premium out of Ricardos Trump. He was judged here by Rachel Moore Rooney (ride) and Susan Stockley-Bridges (conformation), and with Alice has been a tremendously consistent campaigner and arrived at HOYS unbeaten in small hunter ranks this term.
“There are no words left for how incredible he is, there really aren’t,” Alice said. “As a young horse, we maybe used to say that HOYS wouldn’t be his show because he loves a big, galloping ring, but I think as he's got older and more mature he’s proved he can either step up to the big grass rings or, like today in here, he can be so measured and controlled.
“It’s like you’re riding on a piece of silk, his mouth is so soft. He can extend then come back like a hack, but yet he has all the power of the hunter. It’s just incredible.”
The pair were extending a serious run of form, with this year’s highlights including titles at the Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) – in intermediates as well as in small hunters – the British Show Pony Society (BSPS) Summer Championships and the British Show Horse Association (BSHA) National Championships. The pair are also seriously dominant in working hunters.
“He won his third RIHS small hunter title, and his fifth RIHS title altogether, this summer,” she added. “He also won his third-in-a-row supreme working hunter pony at BSPS. Actually one of the biggest ones was at the BSHA National Championships when he won the overall hunter championship, so he beat the lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight to get the big classic supreme hunter championship.”
Having claimed the intermediate show hunter title here with the Irish Sport Horse last term and now with the small hunter title under her belt to boot, Alice has her eyes on one final prize.
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“I would love, tomorrow, to do well in the working hunters, because I have a finite amount of time in the intermediates,” said Alice, 24, who has just one season left in this particular class. “I know it sounds ridiculous when you've had such a good season… and I really was not expecting to win this one, I really wasn’t!”
Second to Alice and Guinness was the former Royal Windsor and Hickstead Derby Meeting winner, Red Valentine – who also stood supreme hunter at the British Show Horse Association (BSHA) National Championships in 2025 – ridden by Will Morton.
Will came through to the small hunter final having earlier in the morning secured two slots in the hack showdown. He won the large division on Nicola Miller’s exciting Small-land Maytino five-year-old Copybush So Fashion, and stood second in the small section atop Sara Fisher’s Time After Time.
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Bethan joined Horse & Hound as showing editor in January 2025, after spending two years as Editor for Showing World. Having adored ponies since childhood, she started showing as a teenager and has enjoyed wins at major shows up and down the country, including Royal Highland, New Forest, and the Royal Welsh, as well as HOYS, RIHS and London. She is particularly passionate about Welsh breeds and is also a Welsh language commentator.