An all-round pony of unknown breeding has qualified for the London International Horse Show (LIHS) at the age of 17 with his dedicated rider. Rowena Cooper’s Cooper II qualified for the British Show Pony Society (BSPS) performance pony final with his rider, Rowena’s 14-year-old daughter Poppy Anderson, at The Royal Welsh Spring Festival. The pair won their class, took the section championship and finished their run as reserve supreme of show.
Cooper was bought as a two-year-old “coloured fur ball” from good family friends Grace and Hilary. He’s been based with Rowena and Poppy for five years. Rowena explains: “He originally came from the rugged, desolate mountains of rural Wales. There’s no posh lines running through this pony’s blood or elaborate, tongue-twisting pedigree names. It’s just Cooper or Cooper II if he’s doing dressage. He’s gone from a bumbling ugly duckling into a graceful swan and has a true rags to riches story.”
Cooper II began his ridden career in the dressage arena, reaching novice level and rarely coming away without a placing.
“This pony loves his job,” Rowena continues. “He can fart around in the warm-up ring prior to his test but as soon as his nose bobs down that centre line he’s got his game face on. He puts his head down and he’s calm and collected. He has a square halt to die for.”
Alongside his mounting dressage tally, Cooper also contended local working hunter classes before Poppy picked up the showing bug. Poppy runs Cooper from home and she is up before school every morning to muck out, ride and get ready for shows.
“When I say we can take this pony anywhere, I mean anywhere,” Rowena says. “He thrives in the noisiest places and believes the music is for him. He’s a bit of a prince; he even likes to have an umbrella held for him when it rains. Often, though, he had an unlucky fence down leaving him just out of reach of the win.”
The family were enticed by the BSPS’s new performance pony qualifiers as they believed this could be Cooper’s opportunity to shine.
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“Competing at HOYS or LIHS is Poppy’s wildest dream,” says Rowena. “However, we’ve not had much luck for one reason or another. We’ve also found the showing world quite a tricky community to infiltrate. Everybody is in it to win it and we’ve found it hard. We’ve spent all evening bathing and prepping all the necessary attire only to discover it’s all wrong! The jacket was too long with the wrong collar, the boots weren’t oxblood, the jodhpurs too baggy, and the navy hat silk on a skull cap wasn’t right. The list has been endless! One kind lady did take me through everything and we went ahead and ordered all the correct attire; all eyes were on the prize!”
The family’s efforts paid, though, and their commitment ensured their luck changed at the Royal Welsh Spring Festival earlier this year.
“It was a day I will never forget,” Rowena says. “I got to see my daughter live her dream on Cooper, a pony who came off the side of a rugged Welsh mountain. If they come away with nothing in London it doesn’t matter; we can proudly say we took our home-produced pony to one of the biggest shows in the country. Poppy and Cooper will have a team of people behind them in December including his previous owners who gave him the best start in life. We will all be there wiping tears from our eyes when we see them in that ring.
“This will be Poppy’s last year of showing with him but he has a new little rider in my youngest daughter, Moli, his next partner in crime. He will stay with us forever and to say we adore him would be an understatement. I believe he is worthy of being recognised as one of those super-star, one-in-a-million ponies.”
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Former H&H showing editor and deputy features editor
Born and raised in the Lake District, Alex has grown up on the showing scene. She has qualified and competed ponies at the Royal International, Horse of the Year Show and Olympia and has first-hand knowledge of the current issues in the showing world as well as the horses, ponies and riders who compete in the sport. Alex joined H&H in January 2018 as showing editor, cementing its place as the leading equestrian publication for both showing reports and current showing news in the UK. She moved on in October 2024 to pursue other opportunities, but continues to write for us on a freelance basis.
