The winner of the NAF Five Star silver league final at the 2026 Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) said she had thought this might be her 19-year-old superstar’s swansong – but the mare may refuse to retire.
Catherine Housman and her own Contrichta triumphed by half a second over Lucy Hassall and One For Lucy, from second in a six-strong jump-off. The fiery and fabulous mare, with whom Catherine has won and been placed up to 1.30m level, including coming seventh in this championship in 2022, manoeuvred like a pony, ears pricked from start to finish, and pulled off some cracking turns lines to seal the deal.
“I knew I could have been faster so that was nerve-racking waiting but I really overthink it if I watch people go, then do something stupid and have a fence!” Catherine said. “So for me to go earlier is better because I just do my own thing, do what I set out to do, and if it’s enough, it’s enough. If it’s not, it’s not.
“It was the same when we qualified at Chard, I was early to go in that jump-off and I just went pedal to the metal, ‘Come on, let’s go!’ She’s better when I dare her a bit.”
Catherine works for Julian Mincher, to whom “Dante” came as a sales livery about five years ago.
“I’d had a long time out of the ring,” Catherine explained. “She was really brave and always going, and one I could trust and learn on because she’d been there, done it, a bit. I like them hot and forward, and she’s definitely hot and forward. I took her to an arena hire and that was it, I fell in love with her.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
“We really clicked and I just felt like she was my horse, like I’d never had before.”
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Catherine said she knew what she wanted to jump and that Dante would be the one to do it, and she was. They did Catherine’s first 1.20m together, her first 1.30m and were placed at the Blue Chip Winter Showjumping Championships. They also qualified for the bronze league final at HOYS in 2021 but Dante went lame days beforehand.
“Then I thought I wanted to step up after jumping the 1.10ms, and do the silver league, and she’s just so much fun,” she said. “The aim was always to come here, and especially after coming here and not having such a great jump-off when I was placed here before, I just wanted to come here today. Third time lucky; I’m very superstitious, and I just knew I wanted to win it this year.”
Catherine told H&H after she qualified in August that she might retire Dante after HOYS owing to her age, although the Heartbreaker mare is showing no signs of slowing down.
2026 silver league final win the icing on the cake
“She’s 19 now and winning here was just the icing on the cake, I thought ‘What a way to go out’!” she said. “But everyone’s telling me not to; look at her go, she’s still fit as a fiddle, and I don’t think she’s going to retire very easily.
“I’ve given her holidays before and she jumps out of the field and brings herself back into the stable. I’ve tried to leave her out, and she just appears one day in the yard, and you say ‘Oh, hi, holiday’s over then’!
“She’s fit, well and sound and you can see, her ears are forward in every picture, looking for the next fence, turning before I do – I have to be a bit careful of that! – but I’d love to retire her fit and sound, and maybe have an embryo from her. I’ll just go with the flow, and maybe slow her down a bit, much she’s not very keen on slowing down!”
Catherine added that there were plenty of tears at HOYS when she realised she had won, and that the lap of honour was the icing on the cake.
“You dream of it as a kid, don’t you?” she said. “To be able to do that, it’s what dreams are made of. She’s just everything to me, my horse of a lifetime, I’ll never find another one like her. I’ve run out of words for her, she’s just phenomenal.”
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.
