‘He’s still making dreams come true’: meet the 31-year-old pony who won at HOYS – again – and ‘absolutely loves his job’
Welsh pony Merlin, once found abandoned and tied to a tractor, went on to be at the top of the mounted games world
A superstar pony who was once found abandoned, castrated and left tied to a tractor to bleed has won his fourth Prince Phillip Cup title at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) – aged 31.
Merlin, a 12.2hh Welsh pony who was rescued as a youngster, became one of the top mounted games ponies in the world, winning nationally and internationally – and making many young riders’ dreams come true.
His most recent HOYS wins were in the Prince Phillip and the Lemieux cups, the two mounted games competitions, with Thea as part of the North Herefordshire team.
“He’s just an absolute legend,” owner Gemma Hopkins told H&H. “He’s phenomenal; I can just sit there looking at him, thinking he’s another type.”
Gemma has owned Merlin for about 18 years, but her family’s first connection with him was far longer ago.
“It was a sad story; he was found tied to the back of a tractor,” she said. “They’d taken his balls off and left him tied to a tractor bleeding. Somebody turned up, he was not halter broken, he was wild. They couldn’t even get him on a lorry, so they walked him home. And later, he fell into the games scene.
“I met him when he was three years old. My husband trains the North Hereford team but back then, he was training the Welsh team. This kid came to me and said, ‘We’ve got this pony. I think he’s going to be really good but he keeps kicking everyone when you try to vault on him’.
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“My husband said ‘Let’s have a look at him’, and he came out, double-barrelled the kid, and my husband said ‘I don’t know what to do with that, put him back in the stable’, and off he went.”
But Merlin moved on, had plenty of practice and was soon able to show his prowess on the mounted games circuit.
“He’s the most successful games pony there has ever been,” Gemma said. “He owns more world, European and British titles than any pony there’s ever been; I would lay my life on it that no other pony will ever come close to what he’s won.”
Gemma bought Merlin for her elder son Ben when he was six, by which time Merlin had already won world titles.
“I took Ben and put him into a local riding school – it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done as every week he went to Pony Club, and the riding school, and trotted round at six years old on this powerful little pony; he was a little machine,” she said. “He learnt to ride, and it was really good for him. He spent about 12 months, 18 months off the circuit, then when we felt Ben was ready, he rode him – and Ben went about four or five years unbeaten on him. He won British, European, and World titles on him for years.”
Ben’s younger brother Sam took the ride; he followed in Ben’s footsteps by winning at Royal Windsor for Wales. After Sam had outgrown Merlin, he went to a girl called Jazz, who rode him for England at Royal Windsor – and won.
He won the LeMieux Cup with Jazz last year, then Thea took him over in 2026, “and they’ve won everything”.
“He’s done such an amazing thing for so many kids,” Gemma said. “I’ve never sold him because he did too much for my children, and he’s just an absolute legend. He’s never been easy because he’s got [equine metabolic syndrome] EMS. We’ve got it all under control and have done for years but it’s part and parcel of getting old, isn’t it? He lives with me but I’m more than happy. I don’t ever lease him, don’t take money for him, even for his shoeing, I just want to see him happy doing his job.”
Gemma said that anyone looking at Merlin “wouldn’t put him at a day over 18”.
“He’s got no gray hairs, he’s the supplest pony you’ve ever seen, he pings around the place like nobody’s business,” she said. “We trotted all our ponies up at HOYS with the vet and I promise you, he trotted up the best out of all of them. He’s phenomenal.”
She added that she said at the start of 2026 this would be Merlin’s last competitive season owing to his age but that he is not ready to retire.
“He’s still beating everyone, he’s still making dreams come true,” she said. “He’s done so much for everyone, I’d love to say ‘Now’s your time to retire’ but the only way to control his EMS is through exercise, and he loves his job. When the lorry goes out without him, he gallops about as if to say ‘Why aren’t I on it?’
“The equestrian community might say ‘What on earth is a 31-year-old doing competing?’ but he’s so athletic, he’s on no supplements, he looks a million dollars and he’s just not ready to retire. I feel if he stopped doing it, the EMS would kick in – and he absolutely loves what he does. He owes me absolutely nothing and he’s my world.”
“He looks a million dollars and he’s just not ready to retire”
Gemma Hopkins
Gemma said Merlin trains once a week and “drags me around” out hacking, led from the others.
“He’s the fittest pony I’ve got,” she said. “I watched him at HOYS and thought ‘He’s really not ready to hang his boots up; what do I do?’ So I think he has to keep going till he tells me he’s had enough. He was absolutely flying at HOYS, he just loves competing.”
Gemma said Merlin is the beloved yard troublemaker, squeezing under fences, always the one who escapes and would be found in the feed room, but he “gets away with murder”.
“He’s unique,” she said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of kids and ponies and have never met, and don’t think I’ll ever meet, another one like him.
“He’s got such a positive attitude to life; nothing fazes him and he just wants to give his all. He never gives up and has never let me down. Sometimes they need a bit of recognition, don’t they? He’s a legend.”
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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.