Buying any horse can feel like a leap into the unknown. What you know about their past often depends on the knowledge – and sometimes honesty – of the person selling them to you. With one notable exception: racehorses.

“Compared with many other breeds and riding horses, former racehorses lead the way on traceability and visibility of their racing careers and lives before leaving racing,” explains Philippa Gilmore, head of welfare operations at Retraining of Racehorses (RoR).

“However, the amount a new owner may discover can vary enormously depending on the horse in question; a high-profile horse, for example, may leave a huge digital footprint with a lot of searchable information, compared to an unraced horse that spent a short time in training.”

Haidee Cambrook has owned and ridden several former racehorses and agrees there is a wealth of potential information about them.

“I have spoken to grooms, jockeys, owners and even breeders,” she says. “What has surprised me most is how many people genuinely want to know how these horses are getting on in their new lives and are willing to help.”

One of her ex-racehorses, Munstead Moonshine (Bambi), was given to her after suffering a suspensory injury. At that point, Haidee knew very little about her, but what she was able to uncover helped her manage the mare’s return to ridden work.

“I was particularly interested in understanding her behaviour. I discovered that she had been a bit of a nuisance to get on and could be unpredictable when ridden, which definitely made sense when I found that out.”

Another of her former racehorses, Ioupy Collonges (Youpy), had enjoyed a more illustrious career.

“I know considerably more about him because of his racing success,” Haidee says. “He was sold for £165,000 just three years ago. I wanted to find out more about the horse behind the racing record, what he’d been like at home and especially what he was like to ride.”

Haidee’s detective work revealed him to be more straightforward than Bambi.

“There don’t seem to be any particular quirks. He was simply described as a lovely horse to have around.”

It was while she was researching a horse she rode for someone else that Haidee made her most surprising discovery yet.

“We found out that he’d actually broken his leg while racing, undergone surgery and then returned to racing,” she says. “We had no idea about this when he was bought, so finding out about it completely changed our understanding of his history.”

Where to start your research

There are various ways to dig into a racehorse’s past, and websites such as the Racing Post and At the Races are a good starting point, as Philippa explains: “If the horse has raced there will be information available about its races, the racecourses it ran on, distances, the type of going, finishing position and more.”

Haidee uses what she gleans from these sites to dig deeper.

“From there, I get a little bit nosey,” she says. “I look up photographers who covered their races, as you can often find photographs showing the horse being paraded and racing.”

Similarly, sales records and catalogues have helped her trace a horse back through its early life. Next, she tries social media.

“Facebook groups such as Racehorses, where are they now? are particularly useful. I usually put up a simple post asking whether anyone remembers the horse, whether they worked with them day to day, or even if they simply recognise the name.”

Can AI help researching racehorses?

When Cecilia Dixon started looking into her ex-racehorse’s background she found a surprisingly helpful resource in artificial intelligence (AI).

“I wanted to find out everything I could about Phoenix’s history. People on Facebook mainly found information about his placings, but ChatGPT did better. It found out that he’d fallen in one race, and had also raced on the Flat, where I’d believed he was purely a pointer. AI was awesome for me; you just keep asking it to do more digging.”

Cecilia is at the beginning of her retraining journey with Phoenix, but says what she’s learnt has already been helpful.

“It allowed me to work out how best to approach it,” she says. “He needs gentle and quiet training with real reassurance as he’s nervous, and I wonder if that relates to the fall.”

Watch their races

Another valuable resource is the footage of a horse’s races. Sophie Pinkett works in racing and currently has three ex-racehorses of her own. She says studying their races can give fascinating insights.

“You can get a feel for if they’re a front runner. If you want to take them hunting, they’re going to really like being up front, no point in trying to hang back and shut gates,” she says. “Or one that prefers to hang back in a race, out hacking they will need a confident companion. You can get a feel for their personality in that respect.

“Also, you can tell if they ran mostly left- or right-handed, which might mean you have issues getting left or right lead.”

Even an unraced thoroughbred might have videos from their training days. Footage that Sophie managed to get from her mare’s previous trainer provided useful insights.

“He sent videos of her on a racecourse gallop. It was interesting to see how she responded to that, and how much work the jockey was having to do,” Sophie says. “It was obvious from the video that he was having to work hard to get her to work at pace. Now it’s the same with her showjumping, she bounces and goes up rather than forwards, which means she fits four strides in where it should be two.”

Ultimately, however, Sophie finds trainers and previous owners are the richest sources of information. One of her current horses is the French-bred steeplechaser Guivinec, formerly owned by the Noel Fehily Racing Syndicate and trained by Anthony Honeyball.

“One of my first questions was about a weird quirk Guivinec has – he Spanish walks,” she says. “Noel told me he’d always done it. And sure enough, when Guivinec took my friend’s daughter to her prom, he did it there too.”

Being able to fire off questions to Noel and Anthony helped Sophie work out where to start with retraining.

“I asked what he’d done, and he’d done quite a bit of flatwork and poles, so when I took him to RoR camp I knew what I could expect. It means you’re not asking completely alien questions of them that they don’t understand.”

Another of Sophie’s ex-racehorses turned out to be a favourite of the trainer’s wife, and Sophie found out she’d done quite a bit of flatwork with him.

“It was handy to have that knowledge,” she says.

She says it’s also worth finding out as much as possible about what they were like on the yard as this can help with managing an ex-racehorse: “Do they have any vices, were they ever left on their own?”

She continues: “I found out that one of my mares had never gone out on her own, so when I first started bringing her back into work, I went out with a friend’s trusty cob. As she got her bearings, I’d start trying to get her to go ahead by half a head on the way home and gradually built it up from there.”

Try their trainers

When Lynne Lewis was looking at an ex-racehorse called Waterloo Sunset as a potential horse for her 12-year-old granddaughter, being able to talk to his former trainers was a big part of the appeal and provided invaluable reassurance.

“I asked to know everything, whether it was good or bad,” she says. “If you’re prepared for the quirks you can deal with it. Waterloo has taken a long time to bend or learn to move off the leg but because we were prepared for that it was easier. I would say to anyone, if you can get hold of the previous trainer, it’s really worth it.”

As Philippa points out, undertaking this detective work will help you build an understanding of what their life was like before, which helps with their transition onto the new one.

“Retraining is about understanding the environment they have been used to, getting to know the horse they are today, and giving them the time and support they need to adapt to a different life,” she says.

“It’s important to appreciate just how significant the transition may be. A horse coming straight from a racing yard may be racing-fit, accustomed to a specific routine, used to a particular diet and may not yet have had a let-down period or any retraining.”

Haidee says research is vital.

“I’m by no means an expert, but I have found the whole experience incredibly interesting and quite eye-opening,” she says. “You sometimes think you know your horse, but then you discover a story from their racing days that explains a behaviour or characteristic you have noticed yourself.

“Speaking to previous owners, trainers, jockeys and riders gives you a completely different perspective on a horse.”

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A buzz has been building around Charlotte Dujardin and Secret Agent for a while now.

The seven-year-old stallion – known at home, fittingly, as James – first turned heads when Charlotte rode him as a four-year-old at the British Dressage National Convention. The following year he scored a massive 97.2% in a national five-year-old class.

Sightings in the competition ring have been few and far between since, but the talk in the meantime has only helped his legend grow.

Now, after finishing second in the seven-year-old final at the FEI WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses in Verden this summer, the secret is well and truly out.

Judge Richard Baldwin compares the excitement around him to the stir caused by Woodlander Farouche, Michael Eilberg’s record-breaking, two-time young horse world champion and one of the great “what ifs” of British dressage.

Charlotte, meanwhile, already has her sights set on the biggest stage of all.

So how did he catch Charlotte’s eye, and what makes him a future team star?

“I knew I had to try to buy him”

“I discovered James when he was just two years old,” Charlotte says. “I was sent a video of him on the lunge, and instantly, I knew he was a horse for me. He had so much presence, elasticity and a natural ability to move through his body. I remember getting real butterflies. I knew I had to try to buy him.

“I first sat on him when he was three and the moment my bum hit the saddle, I knew he was something special. He had so much natural ability, but just as importantly, he had a lovely character.”

That character has made him a joy in the arena at home.

“He’s a wonderful horse to train. He’s incredibly clever; you can teach him something one day and he’ll understand it by the next.

“He has an incredible work ethic, loves his job and really enjoys working with me as his rider. He is a horse who wants to learn and that makes training him such a pleasure.”

Secret Agent at Verden

For all her championship medals, Charlotte had never ridden at the World Breeding Championships before this summer.

“It was one of the best experiences of my career,” she says. “It was a real privilege to ride such a special horse in such an incredible atmosphere. He won the first round and went on to become reserve champion on the second day.

“He’s my horse for the future and my dream for him is the LA 2028 Olympics. I genuinely believe he has the ability to go all the way and compete for a medal. He is an incredibly special horse and I feel very lucky to be on this journey with him.”

Secret Agent behind the scenes

Groom Phoenix Lewis sees a different side of James every day.

“James is such a pleasure to work with. He always tries his best and has the sweetest, cheekiest personality. He loves attention and affection – and we always make sure he gets plenty!

“He’s definitely matured over the past year. The more he’s been out competing and seeing the world, the more he’s developed and grown in confidence.”

Like Charlotte, Phoenix was struck by him from the start.

“I remember the first time I saw him; he was cantering around the outdoor arena and I was mesmerised. He still has that effect on me now.

“The winter championships are my favourite memory together so far. Spending the whole weekend with him and seeing him win there was so special.

“I get really nervous watching him compete! Knowing how hard he and Charlotte both work behind the scenes makes me want everything to go well and I am always so proud of them both.”

The judge’s view

Judge Richard Baldwin has had James in front of him since the horse’s early competition days. He says the horse’s ability goes deeper than flashy paces.

“I first judged Secret Agent when he was about five, and the thing that sets him apart is his athleticism. He’s so gymnastic – his whole body moves and works. Everything is loose and supple – every joint, every muscle. He’s like a bouncy rubber ball and because of that he looks like he finds everything easy.

“His canter stood out to me straight away, although his other two gaits are super as well. Even then, you could see from the natural way he uses his hindleg that the adjustability would come as he got older.

“Normally, horses with big, impressive gaits struggle with adjustability, because they just get bigger and bigger. He finds it easy to collect for a pirouette and then do a big extended canter. That’s what impressed me when I judged him at the selection trial before the World Championships.

“The other lovely thing is that he doesn’t get tense or upset. He can be really athletic and expressive, but he stays relaxed and listening to the aids. In young horse classes you often see big movers and think, ‘I don’t know whether I’d want to ride that.’ He looks a pleasure to ride and he has the athleticism too.

“He certainly has the mental and physical ability to go all the way.”

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“We call that redemption,” said Bubby Upton after finishing runner-up at Pau five-star with Its Cooley Time (Finn).

Redemption may seem a strange word for the brilliant grey who has won two Bramhams in the past 18 months, and his 27-year-old rider whose career path already looks set for stardom. But their Bramham double sandwiched three consecutive falls including at Pau a year ago, when coasting three fences from home.

“Last year I fully let him down and in my eyes prevented him winning his first five-star on his debut,” Bubby says. “It took a long time to swallow and get over that, but this year we’ve come back with a vengeance. This result is only scratching the surface of what we can do.”

Bubby is already a veteran of 16 five-star starts, but this is her best result so far – and sealed over one of the toughest Pau tracks, with only a 37% cross-country clear rate.

“He’s the most talented horse I’ve ever had, he’s a freak of nature,” says Bubby of the Quality Time TN gelding, who is owned by Susan de Zuleta, Jane Dear, Susie Holland-Bosworth, the Duchess of Norfolk, Hilary Russell and herself.

“He’s an incredible dressage horse – beautiful on the flat. He then goes cross-country as low and economical as you like, and then comes out and showjumps like a proper jumper. He’s the absolute dream for a rider.”

But for all that Bubby has always been sure of Finn’s talent, the falls buffeted her confidence that she could bring out the best in him.

“It was hard at times, falling at the Europeans, then Pau, then Kronenberg, bang bang bang,” she says. “But the team behind me have never lost faith.”

Cue a phone call to cross-country maestros Andrew Nicholson and Chris Bartle.

“They have been instrumental, and really rallied round me in terms of analysing my rounds,” she says.

“They picked me up and held me together when I felt a bit lost in my way with Finn. Although he’s class through and through, his unusually high head carriage makes things quite difficult at times and he’s hyper sensitive.

“We stripped everything right back at the beginning of the season and now I feel I’ve got him nailed to a T. They’ve just taught me a different way with him and given me all the belief that I should have in him.”

Bubby explains that she’s grown up riding a different type of horse – winning multiple youth medals – and has had to tailor her approach.

“I have to ride him completely differently to all my other horses,” she says. “I’m quite a positive, attacking rider and because he’s as brave as a lion – nothing fazes him – that doesn’t really work with him. I have to be very precise at every single fence in terms of how I set him up and not take any fence for granted.

“You can’t just shake, rattle and roll like I can on Cola – he’s like a rocket ship or a Ferrari.”

Bubby’s always been one for the minutiae, so it’s not just her riding style she’s tweaked for Finn.

“We've also changed his boots, his cross-country bit, little things like that, and it all just seems hopefully to have been the magic touch,” she says.

Finn now wears open-fronted tendon boots across country.

“You see him showjump and he’s so careful, but cross-country he’s so intelligent and knows exactly how low he can go, so this is just to help him respect the fences,” Bubby says.

“In the cross-country warm-up he’s mellow and goes quite high, but I can’t move him on because he’ll go out the start box like a rocket, so I just have to trust him.

“He’s the quickest animal on his feet, and he’s always like, ‘let me go! I know what I’m doing!’. But the feistier he is the better he is. I remember William Fox-Pitt saying that about Chilli Morning and Finn is the same: he’s a fighter.

“He just knows what’s going on. He knows the order of events and what’s coming next and it’s like he pumps himself up, just like I do. On cross-country morning he shakes!”

Bubby pays huge tribute to her family and home team – including the horses – for their part in her success. Finn’s occasional blips pale into comparison with Bubby’s own resurgence since breaking her back in 2023.

“My family means everything, not just this season but my whole life,” she says. “I keep myself to myself and have my small close-knit team around me and they mean the world to me.

“It’s a savage sport at times, I’ve been through the wringer of it and they’ve been by my side all the time. The Pau result was for all of them, helping me never to lose faith.”

There was just one nervy moment at Pau, when Bubby was pitched out of the saddle on landing over a triple brush into the water. Finn locked on to the next skinny and the pair galloped on as if nothing had happened – which Bubby puts down to a partnership forged when the horse was just five years old.

“That just shows the love and time we put into him, that he repays us in situations like that,” she says, stressing the importance of her connection with all horses.

“There was a moment in time when this was not possible for me anymore, and these horses are what got me back walking and riding again,” she says. “So that's probably why it’s quite evident how much I adore them. Because if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Runner-up at five-star may be the crowning result of the pair’s career so far, but they are absolutely not stopping here.

“I know Finn inside out now, and the second half of this season has been such confirmation that everything we are doing is spot-on,” she says. “I just can’t wait to see now what the next couple of years hold.”

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If you've been showing in the past few years, chances are, you've come across Sarah Chapman. Sarah is a regular on the showing circuit, as both a judge – particularly for the ride aspect – and as a competitor.

As many of us gear ourselves and our steeds up to compete at the 2026 London International Horse Show (LIHS), Sarah is looking forward to judging the Rising Star hack/riding horse and the open style and performance finals alongside Mr Gregory Goss.

Who is Sarah Chapman?

By trade, Llanidloes-based Sarah is a small business administrator, a transport manager, and a show administrator. So even if you don’t think that you have come across Sarah as a judge or competitor, you have probably encountered her through her involvement with many of our leading fixtures, including Royal Three Counties show.

She is no doubt busy, and jokes that if she wasn’t involved in horses, she would be enjoying “having more time for a rest”.

Nevertheless, she has found time to develop a new skillset and has started driving her partner’s old classic car in navigational rallies!

Sarah’s background in horses

Sarah was a horsey child, and when asked which horse she wishes she could have ridden, she says: “As a child I always wanted to ride Champion The Wonder Horse and imagined galloping Black Beauty through the fields”.

She started showing as a child.

“Showing is in the blood,” she says. “My grandfather showed pigs and moved into ponies when my mother started to ride. My grandmother helped to set up the British Show Pony Society Area 15. I started showing at the age of three in lead-rein classes.”

The pony that had the greatest impact on her equestrian pursuits?

“Chirk Sunblest was a talented cheeky pony that taught me a huge amount about how to ride to a fence,” she says. “If you weren’t on ‘your A game’ you’d end up in the bottom of it! We won many classes together over Davina Whiteman's infamous courses.”

It’s no wonder then, that she considers horses “a great leveller”!

“Horses teach you patience, resilience and perseverance,” she says.

Since then, Sarah has remained heavily involved in showing, with highlights including winning at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), the Royal International (RIHS) and many county shows.

“Morse recently, a wonderful day with Ferdy, my two-year-old thoroughbred,” provided a standout day, “when he exceeded all expectations”. The pair were reserve supreme in-hand at the 2026 Sport Horse Breeding GB hunter championships, signalling a bright future for Ferdy.

Training is something Sarah is passionate about.

“I have been trained by such greats as Stella Harries, Davina Whiteman and Robert Oliver.”

She has dedicated many hours to the training of showing competitors over the years, in particular, giving invaluable support to new and grassroots members of the showing community who are eager to learn and understand the industry. In part, this led her to founding The Showing Register (TSR), which flourished under Sarah’s guidance until folded into Grandstand Media’s repertoire a few years ago.

“Founding and running The Showing Register for 14 years was a fantastic experience,” she says.

Sarah’s judging experiences

As well as remaining on the TSR panel, Sarah sits on the British Show Horse Association (BSHA), Sport Horse Breeding (SHB) GB, Coloured Horse and Pony Society (CHAPS), British Show Pony Society (BSPS), and Arab Horse Society panels.

On judging, Sarah says: “I love judging at county shows; these have included Great Yorkshire, Royal Highland, New Forest and the Royal Welsh. I have judged in Australia and at Dublin Horse Show, as well as the Royal International and HOYS on more than one occasion.”

What is Sarah looking for in the ring?

“A horse with a relaxed rhythm and cadence always catches my eye,” she says. “Rhythm and balance are important and a well constructed show that suits the horse's way of going.

“I do not like to see riders trot their horses too fast out of their rhythm.”

To really impress Sarah, though, you will need to display “good sportsmanship, and a cheerful and positive attitude no matter what the outcome.”

• For more exclusive insights into top riders, horses, and judges subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

Thinking of making a DIY horsey Advent calendar this year but not sure where to start? I’ve put together a shopping list to help you out.

Of course, not everyone wants the same gifts and that’s the beauty of making your own. I’ve started with a standard list of 24 gifts, but also pulled together some budget swaps to bring the cost down, plus swaps you can make for children. Everything is available via Amazon, which means free delivery and easy logistics as you’ll be able to choose a single delivery day.

The Advent calendar gift options are all inspired by our guides to gifts for horse lovers and horse-themed gifts for children. If you decide the DIY route isn’t for you, I’ve also rounded up ready-made Advent calendars for horses and found the best luxury equestrian Advent calendars.

Read on to get started.

How to build your Advent calendar

1. Decide whether you’re doing a ‘12 days of Christmas’ Advent calendar or the traditional 24.
2. Select from the products below. There are 24 options in the main selection, but you can choose your 12 favourites or substitute items from the ‘Kids Swaps’ or ‘Budget Swaps’ lists below.
3. All the items are available on Amazon, so just follow the links and add them to your basket. Alternatively, you can view the full list directly on Amazon.
4. Wrap your gifts and place them in a hamper or Christmas box (like this one). Use stickers (these gold stickers are numbered 1-24) to label them in order of opening.

Main selection of Advent gifts

Scroll through and add items to your basket individually or view the full list at once on Amazon.

Swaps for children

If you’re shopping for a young equestrian, some of these gifts might be more suitable. You can add items to your basket individually or view the full Kids Swaps list on Amazon.

Budget swaps to lower the cost

If you’re looking to spend less, these gifts are cheaper and/or go further than some of the options on the standard list. You can add items to your basket individually or view the full Budget Swaps list on Amazon.

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There are those who like their country house – in this case an equestrian property – to feel like it’s rooted in centuries of tradition, and others who seek out bold, contemporary design. Harford Manor – currently for sale – is demonstrably the latter. It’s a striking and dramatic modern exterior with all the bells and whistles – inside and out – that anyone could want from a family home. You can even arrive by helicopter.

Highlights include a 14m dining hall opening onto a covered colonnade, and both a family kitchen and chef’s kitchen for entertaining large parties. To unwind, there’s a wellness area with pool, sauna and spa, plus a leisure building with gym, jacuzzi and a roof terrace.

There’s space for 10 horses – plus a groom – to live in splendour, too. An indoor school means you can escape the elements, while the property has direct access to the surrounding bridleway network.

Modern engineering is discreetly integrated throughout, including ground source heating and cooling, and whole-house heat recovery (an efficient ventilation system ensuring fresh air).

And if it’s to your taste, you’re in luck – it’s for sale fully furnished.

The property is well set up for horse lovers, with 10 stables, a tack room and an indoor manège – set in 40 acres.

Besides direct access to the local hacking network. Harford Manor is in the heart of Berkshire polo land, with Guards Polo Club and other polo facilities less than 10 miles away.

The groom’s cottage has one bedroom, while there is also self-contained staff accommodation (three bedrooms) within the main house.

A spot of tennis? Play on this immaculate all-weather court, in a secluded position overlooked by the house – plus there’s a small, covered viewing post.

You might want to relax and soothe your aching muscles after making the most of all the outdoor sports facilities at your fingertips. A separate leisure building houses the 12m indoor swimming pool.

The jacuzzi is part of the wellness suite, along with a gym and roof terrace overlooking the gardens and paddocks, so you can watch your horses while enjoying the bubbles. There is also a sauna.

The scale of Harford Manor is impressive. The main house is 1,884sqm, with a total internal area of 2,153sqm including roof terrace, balcony and garaging (for eight cars).

The ground floor is designed to “balance formal entertaining with everyday family life” – with rooms such as a 14m dining hall opening on to a covered colonnade, an orangery and a library and art gallery.

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Equine Rescue Services provides horsebox breakdown, rescue and recovery and has a team of 10 incident managers. How we respond to a job depends on a lot of different factors and we look at the whole picture.

In the summer, you get a lot of ponies out with children – it might be one mum with four ponies and four kids, and it’s 9.30pm on a Sunday night. In that kind of situation you think, “It’s a woman on her own, so our priority is resolve the situation and get them safely home as quick as we can.”

If a customer breaks down on an A road, we ask them to call the police (if we call, it doesn’t go through to the correct force), who might close a lane or park the police car behind the horsebox, which provides a reassuring presence until we get there.

Every job is its own challenge. We had a 22-tonne lorry full of polo ponies, it was 11pm on a Sunday and the only lorries we had available were 3.5t, so we had to ferry them in pairs to a local livery yard and stable them until the morning when we had a big lorry available to get them on their way.

Those kinds of jobs are a challenge because you’re working with so many different parties – in that case, four different transporters, plus the police, plus Highways. We wanted to get there at the same time, so that we weren’t putting the ramp up and down on the broken-down lorry, which would have been unsettling for the horses.

If you break down on the motorway, we work with the National Highways. They can see the breakdown on their cameras, and I find that helps reassure people. As soon as it’s time for the actual recovery, they will close the motorway completely while the horses are being unloaded and reloaded.

Without our network of horse transporters, we wouldn’t be able to do our job. We had a call at 4am from a man taking a horse to the airport. He only had an hour and a half to make the flight, so I needed to get horse transport on its way within 15 minutes.

I called all the transporters who were closest to the breakdown and asked them one question – how quickly could they be there. Once I’d called them all, I booked the one that could get there soonest.

Then we were in the hands of the gods, because I didn’t know how quickly Highways could get there to close the motorway. It was a private flight, which they could only hold for 30 minutes. We got that horse there on time.

One of the most rewarding things for me is helping kids who are riding at team events. Once, a family was on their way to the Pony Club mounted games qualifiers, which is really close to my heart as I did mounted games when I was a child. I knew how hard they’d worked to get that far, and we got them there in time and they qualified. They sent me the biggest thank you card, saying “Sandy, you’re a legend!”

No two jobs or days are the same

Every day brings something different. We dealt with a horse that had gone down in the box and was trapped. This involved the need for veterinary assistance, police to close the road, fresh horse transport and the fire brigade in case assistance was needed to release the horses.

The road was closed for 90 minutes as all the emergency services worked together to release the horses and get them transferred to our transporter. We had a very thankful customer and, to everyone’s relief, the horse recovered.

We’re so much busier than when I first started. Last year, we responded to 3,600 incidents and this year, I would estimate that we will be in the region of 3,800. You can imagine how many phone calls we receive.

We have a lot of very famous equestrians on our books. We have many members who are household names, equestrian celebrities and professional riders, but everyone is a VIP in our eyes. We know that everyone’s horse is priceless to them.

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Dan Skelton keeps his cards close to his chest when it comes to the secrets of his success: “I had to learn the hard way, so everyone else can learn the hard way and all!” But a sign hanging on his wall offers a clear insight into the mindset of the newly crowned champion trainer. “I don’t want to be beige,” it reads, and that’s certainly not something of which you could accuse this record-breaking, relentlessly ambitious, convention-defying 41-year-old.

Since establishing Lodge Hill 13 years ago, Dan has propelled his team on an upward trajectory, creating a slick, hugely successful racing behemoth.

Even during those tentative early years, the signs were there that a champion trainer elect was operating from this rural corner of Warwickshire as the winners quickly rolled in. But it was only as recently as 2024 that Dan first came within touching distance of the title, only to be steamrolled by Irish maestro Willie Mullins on the final days of the season for two successive years, in one of the most enthralling battles in racing history.

In sport, you have to suffer the lows to appreciate the highs and, setting the bar even higher last season, Dan amassed a record £5,045,615 in prize money during a relentless 12-month campaign and the curtain came down at Sandown in April with the Alcester handler finally crowned champion.

Surrounded by dozens of his close-knit team, family and friends, Dan was handed the silverware by his former boss Paul Nicholls, a moment he describes as hugely emotional.

“It felt like winning the championship took a long time – it didn’t all come to the door,” offers Dan. “But breaking the £5m barrier was probably the most remarkable achievement. Willie put us into a position where we needed to go somewhere that no one had gone before in order to beat him.

“In hindsight, we should have won the championship that first year Willie beat us, but I didn’t see it coming. It was only having four Cheltenham Festival winners that springboarded us in with a chance; if I had my time again, I would have been better organised. The following year, I was as organised as I could be, we got everything right and he still beat us. But both times he had to win the Grand National – the hardest task in the racing calendar – to do it, so that was phenomenal.

“But look, it just shows that nothing is guaranteed. Sometimes you get beat and if you do, you pull your socks up and go again. I’m not afraid of getting beat – sometimes you learn things from it.

“I grew up around this mentality. I worked for Paul for nine-and-a-half years and every year the objective was to be champion trainer. Before that, my father [Nick Skelton] held this one goal above all else, which was to win an individual Olympic gold medal. So I’ve been motivated by those two things to achieve this,” he says.

Never one to dwell, no matter how mighty the accomplishment, Dan began his first season as champion trainer with another clear statement of intent: he’s going bigger and better than ever. While most jump trainers wind down during the off-season, Dan was out of the traps faster than a whippet back in May, enjoying his most successful summer ever. Even before the calendar shifted into top gear this month, Dan had extended a sizeable lead in this year’s title race, with more than 100 winners and £800,000 in the bank.

A second trainers’ championship is high on the agenda but, moving the goalposts slightly, Dan has set a new target for his team: Operation 244.

Twenty-six years ago, revolutionary jump trainer Martin Pipe saddled a record 243 winners in one season, an astonishing achievement that has never been surpassed. Martin was at the top of his game when Dan entered the racing industry and “the thorn in Paul Nicholls’ side” when the two went toe-to-toe during the early days of Dan’s apprenticeship with the now 14-time champion.

“Martin was the last trainer to gain a massive advantage in the sport,” says Dan. “He thought outside the box; he wasn’t afraid to try new things and he revolutionised fitness. Nowadays we’re all dealing with micro-advantages and marginal gains – I don’t think anyone will have another big swipe like he did. But we’ve all been able to see much further by standing on his shoulders and that’s the ultimate compliment. He changed the sport.

“So I’ve always known about the 243-winner record and, after last year, I thought if we could just strengthen our team with a few select purchases, a nice bunch of summer horses could give us a springboard and we could make this happen.”

Underlining the enormity of it, he cautions, “I think it’s the hardest thing we’ve ever set out to do. We need to stay on the trajectory we’re on, maintaining that consistent standard of winners, for the next eight months.

“It doesn’t give me sleepless nights because we are controlling all the controllables and we’re using all the science and everything else we can to keep the horses healthy. I believe we have the best people behind us and the horses to do it. Sometimes things just come a-knocking and there’s nothing we can do about it. But to achieve it would be incredible and it’s something interesting for the sport to follow too.”

The first signs of a seasonal shift are in the air and the yard is in full throttle when we catch up with Dan in late September. The summer horses are enjoying their final runs just as the winter crew are being ramped up ready to be unleashed.

The network of gallops at Lodge Hill has been topped up, the arenas resurfaced and a new cross-country schooling area built for the youngsters to “enjoy something different”.

A powerful team ethos is central to daily life at Lodge Hill and the backbone to Dan’s success on the track. He estimates to have between 85 and 100 people managing the 170 horses in training over the winter months.

Dan may carry the weight of the world on his shoulders at times but “keeping positivity around the place” is top priority.

“Everyone’s pulling their weight and everyone is oriented around success,” he explains. “The ultimate goal is set and I’ve referred to it as our North Star – it keeps us constant.

“I’m indebted to the team, they’re brilliant. Most of them have been with us for a long time. They get it – they’re passionate, winning people. It’s great to harness that.”

Home-grown jockey Tristan Durrell was crowned champion conditional on the same day Dan earned his trainer’s crown and of course Dan’s “phenomenal” brother Harry, who became one of the top 10 winning-most jump jockeys of all time with his 1,590th winner in August, rakes in the vast majority of Dan’s winners, while also becoming more intrinsically involved in the back-room side of things.

With Dan and Harry currently pole position in both their respective championships, might they accomplish a truly historic double this season?

“When it was possible for Harry to be champion jockey in 2021, I took it as seriously as I could and worked tirelessly to make that happen for him, then he made it happen for me,” says Dan.

The same owners who bought into Dan’s quest for the championship last season are now fully behind Operation 244 as well.

“They’re the most important part. Yes, they have their own horses’ best interests at heart, but they absolutely get behind our team ethos and ambition and enjoy that their horses add into this possibility. That’s something I feel most proud of, most humbled even, as that’s something we’ve worked so hard to create – we’re all in this together,” he says.

“I’m fully aware that having 170 horses to run in the winter makes it one of the biggest strings ever in UK National Hunt racing. But I’m also very confident to say it’s well managed, it’s high quality and nothing gets missed. Our results would suggest that, right?

“It can feel busy at times, but it’s manageable. It makes a healthy, competitive atmosphere.”

Stable stars waiting in the wings include The New Lion, Protektorat and Panic Attack, with multi-Grade One-winning Grey Dawning set to make his seasonal reappearance next month. Younger talent is ready to step up, while Dan believes this season’s team of novice chasers are his best yet.

“We feel very lucky to have a team that can stretch across all formats,” he says.

Talk over the summer has centred around the astronomical sums changing hands in the sale ring and Dan has been the beneficiary of some headline-making purchases, including JP McManus’s €500,000 acquisition Walkonseas. Horses like King George runner-up Il Est Francais have changed yards, and high-profile owners including Harry Redknapp are now investing in the new champion.

Dan’s championship breakthrough feels like the start of a new era of supremacy for the Warwickshire yard; it’s possible even that Martin Pipe’s record as 15-time champion could eventually be smashed.

“The championship is a nice constant to aim for, but it definitely doesn’t feel easier even now we’ve achieved it once,” says Dan. “When you’re behind, you can see the finish line and all you have to do is catch the leader. As soon as you start to make the running, you’re the one to be aimed at and people want to work out how to beat you – you don’t know where the finish line is or even what it looks like. So the dynamics have changed but the focus hasn’t.”

The trophy has pride of place in the kitchen at the home he shares with wife Grace and daughter Flo; a pleasing daily reminder of what he’s achieved. Is obsession too strong a word for life in the Skelton household?

“I’ve not been obsessed with being champion trainer, I’m obsessed with being a trainer and all that entails. I just love what I do,” he says.

“We don’t want to amble through life, we have the foot firmly on the gas and we’re trying to make this something special. We want to be as good as we can be, perhaps break some records and make some people happy along the way; then we can feel that it was all worthwhile.”

Horses to watch this season

Dan says: “We’re lucky to have so many nice horses but these two should really step forward over the next two or three years. They’re young but very talented, so we’re doing everything we can to make them the best they can be.

“They don’t have to be at their best this year. Obviously you can ask them questions and ask them for big performances in big races, but it’s all about building, like we did with Grey Dawning, without overdoing things.”

Maestro Conti

4yo chestnut gelding by Prince Gibraltar out of Valdivia (Samum)

Owners: Hales, Speelman, Mason, Hogarth and Ferguson

Breeder: Patrick Joubert

Best results: won Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle, Cheltenham, 2026, runner-up Triumph Hurdle, Cheltenham Festival 2026

Mydaddypaddy

5yo bay gelding by Walk In The Park out of Debdebdeb (Teofilo)

Owner/breeder: Dermot Hanafin

Best results: hurdle wins at Huntingdon, Carlisle and Haydock, runner-up Formby Novices’ Hurdle, Aintree 2025, third Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Cheltenham Festival 2026

With the new FEI grand prix test and its stretching circle arriving in 2027, Olympic gold medallist Laura Tomlinson has been thinking about how dressage tests are marked.

In her recent H&H column, Laura reflected that scores have become stuck around the average marks, with good tests struggling to break 70%, and called for judges to use the full range – lower scores for real mistakes, but eights and above for brilliance.

On the latest episode of The Horse & Hound Podcast, she shares her hopes for the new movement, and reflects on how the balance of marks shapes the horses that rise to the top.

Is piaffe weighted too heavily?

Asked how the current marking affects the way horses are produced, Laura points to piaffe, which counts double in the grand prix.

“Sometimes you watch the scores and think, well, I’m beating this one, beating this one – and then a horse gets eights for its piaffes, is lower than you everywhere else, and it’s above you immediately,” she says. “Your test might have been more accurate or more soft and supple the whole way through, but the horse with a better piaffe is immediately going to beat that.”

She stresses she isn’t calling for the weighting to be scrapped. “I haven’t thought about it hard enough,” she says. “But it’s interesting how those nuances change which horses come to the forefront and what kind of pressure you have to put on them. It becomes a piaffe battle, basically. If you’ve got one that’s just lovely and soft and does a nice piaffe, you’re already on the back foot.”

That, she says, sits awkwardly with the sport’s recent messaging. “The party line for the last couple of years has been that we’re going for softness, suppleness and less tension,” she says.

“Often the top five horses in the world have got it all. But in the next 20, you’ve got horses with different strengths and weaknesses. If we want the priority to be softness, suppleness and harmony, it’s something to think about.”

What should judges look for in the stretch circle?

That balance is set to shift slightly in 2027. The new FEI grand prix test keeps the existing movements largely intact but adds a stretching circle, ridden rising or sitting, near the end. It is also weighted double, which Laura says “is going to mitigate at least one piaffe”.

She is a fan. “I would almost wish it was at the start of the test,” she says. “I think it’s a great way to let the horse relax over the back, feel comfortable again and take the pressure off for a moment.”

She knows what she would reward if she were judging. “A horse that is able to be let go of in the reins, that follows the rider’s hand, so it doesn’t stay curled up or too overbent, but the nose stretches forward and out,” she says.

“It shouldn’t suddenly dive from its nose to the floor – it should still be in self-carriage. The rhythm shouldn’t change, and the hindlegs should still step nicely underneath, rather than getting left behind because the rider isn’t riding into a strong contact.”

How the judges agree to mark it will be crucial. “It’s all very well having a theory on paper as to what equals the perfect stretch on a circle,” she says. “But every horse is going to do it slightly differently.”

What does this mean for young riders?

Laura’s concern about what the marks reward extends to the next generation. “I’ve seen it the last few years at the home internationals with the junior and young riders, and you just think, crikey, what do they have to do?” she says.

“If they’re on a fairly normal horse but riding quite a nice, clean, soft test, that’s not good enough to get over 70%. Not everyone, especially at under-21 level, is going to be on a super-flashy horse. I feel like we should be rewarding other positives, like softness and accuracy.”

She has felt it herself. Laura won an international grand prix special in the Netherlands last year on 69%. “I actually had quite a nice clean test,” she says. “I’m not saying I deserved 75%, but it could easily have been 71 or 72.”

She is also quick to acknowledge that scoring has moved in the other direction in the past. “There was a time when the marks were getting almost a little bit too out of control – the 80s were flying maybe where they shouldn’t have flown,” she says. “I don’t envy the judges’ position. I’d much rather be sitting on my horse, moaning instead!”

To hear more from Laura, including her thoughts on the National Championships’ move to Hartpury and the new British Masters, listen to episode 182 of The Horse & Hound Podcast here, or search “The Horse & Hound Podcast” in your favourite podcast app.

● Do you think the new stretch circle will change which horses rise to the top in grand prix dressage? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your thoughts published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine

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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.”

• To stay up to date with the latest news and reports throughout the year subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

In episode 182 of The Horse & Hound Podcast, sponsored by FMBs Therapy Systems, Olympic dressage team gold medallist Laura Tomlinson talks to our dressage editor Oscar Williams about her up and coming horses, the changes to the grand prix dressage tests in 2027 and juggling motherhood with riding at top level.

In this episode, Laura kicks off by talking about her rising star eight-year-old Ostmarks Digal, who won the Fairfax Saddles PSG gold and the D&H gold inter I at the LeMieux nationals, followed by the Future Elite dressage title at HOYS.

To hear Laura’s thoughts on the rest of her current string of horses, judges’ scoring, the upcoming changes to the FEI grand prix dressage tests for 2027, and much more, listen to the latest episode of the podcast.

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Whatever your preferred discipline, there is so much to enjoy listening to in our podcasts. We love to hear your feedback on any of our podcasts, so please do send your thoughts to pippa.roome@futurenet.com

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Smile is infectious and The Whiffler always has a grin on his face.

“He has such joy in life,” says Antonia Camilleri, former treasurer of the HH. “He was absolutely the most exhilarating person I’ve ever been on. So much fun.”

Antonia knew him first as Pidge, a hireling with the Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray, where she was trail-hunting at the time.

“The kids were getting older and I needed a horse, so I bought him. He was 500 quid and his saddle was £1,000. Best investment ever.”

Now in his late 20s, he was the first horse Antonia had that was properly her own, after a job and children. A “massive”, nearly 17hh thoroughbred by Saddlers’ Hall, he is “a complete powerhouse of a horse. He’s got General Ironside on his other side.”

A slight pigeon toe probably denied him a racing career and he ended up in Sussex with the Anstruthers in 2010 and a new name, Horncroft Beauty.

“I couldn’t call him Beauty, or Horny. He’s The Whiffler or Pidge,” said Antonia.

“Like sitting on an unexploded bomb”

The switch from knowing him as a hireling to having him at home was tricky at first.

“He was not easy,” she admits. “It was like sitting on a gelignite, an unexploded bomb. He’d go shooting across the field towards a jump sideways, like a crab. The first couple of years were terrifying.”

The Whiffler’s character won through: “He made me laugh! Now, I wouldn’t find it fun at all, but this was 20 years ago. I’d drop the kids at school and rush off.”

The horse had just as much fun: “If he heard doubling the horn, he’d freeze and blow up like a puffer fish. Then when he heard ‘gone away’, I just had to hold on!”

Athletic, like “quicksilver”, he was properly speedy: “I’ve never ridden a horse so fast in my entire life. His acceleration was incredible. He was so fast that my cheeks would sort of flap and I’d think, ‘Oh Christ, I’m going to die’.”

Remarkably, although “not a horse to queue”, he could be well mannered.

“He never went past the field master, he’d just get to the front. I hunted him in a snaffle.”

The best advice Antonia had was from dressage judge Tiffany Tasney, who said, “On a horse like that, if you can’t see your toes, you’re not doing it right.”

“A very nice person”

Pidge could fly-buck and was terrible to hack – “He’d wind himself up, hear a rustle in the bushes and be off. The emergency brake and whip-round was a specialty” – but on the ground he was a completely different horse.

“The kids could bring him in from the field. One classic day, my boys and Pidge were milling about in the yard and my youngest son came and said, ‘I’ve found a new place to store my cars, in Pidge’s tummy...’

Pidge was standing there, stock still, slightly braced. I had to explain to him that it was not a storage place... it’s called a sheath. We took out 11 cars!

Off the hunting field, The Whiffler’s zest for life took him to the beach, on sponsored rides and even, when a pony was lame, to Pony Club camp, “carting my son Charlie round and loving it.”

Antonia did a one-day event with him, “terrible dressage, clear showjumping, then I got overexcited coming up to the start gates and gave him a really big boot. He shot off like a scalded cat”. She wasn’t tempted to relive that particular adrenaline rush, but wishes team chasing had existed then as it does now.

Hounds were a great love, with puppies in the yard: “They’d spend hours rootling around. He liked to smell them, play with them. He likes small things, the cats, the children. Not a mean bone in his body.” He always “wanted to chat, a bit of a whiffle. He’s a very, very nice person”.

Now retired, he’s still interested in everything: “If something’s going on, he jumps the gate, or the electric fence or the wire. He potters with the hens and smells the flowers. He loves it all.” In the field, he’s the boss: “It’s great for fitness, he budges the other horses around.”

“I still can’t get over the fact that I’ve owned a quality horse like him.”

The Whiffler is not going anywhere and he’ll never stop loving life.

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Showjumping superstar Neil 55 is a small but mighty, rosette-winning force of nature. With talented sisters Izabella and Sophia Rogers, 148cm pony Neil has developed an endearing partnership, winning a host of top-flight grands prix, national titles and medals galore, including both team and individual gold at the 2026 pony European Showjumping Championships.

The 14-year-old son of Tangelo Van De Zuuthoeve was bred in Great Britain out of Charlotte Platt’s top showjumping mare Paulien II (Koriander) and has been an out-and-out character since the day he was born.

So how did he develop into one of the world’s best showjumping ponies?

Neil 55, the early days

Neil 55’s success is all in the genes according to his breeder Charlotte Platt.

“We were hoping to breed a special horse, but ended up with a special pony, so that was fine!” she says. “Neil is out of my Nations Cup mare, Paulien, and they are so similar – awesome, but a bit of an idiot, in a lovely way! They just do these random acts of explosiveness and you think, ‘Where did that come from?’ But they have the biggest hearts.

“Neil was always tiny – hence the name, because we had to kneel down to do everything with him,” she explains. “From the moment he was born, he acted more like a dog – he was just the cutest, tamest foal. We always knew he was going to be something special.

“At one point, we had to give all the horses in the field antibiotics and he would come up to us with his mouth open – he’s such a character.

“Loose jumping, he was so elastic, then we took him to a few training shows and shared a video of him jumping a discovery on Facebook and he was sold to Nicola Rogers from there. He couldn’t have ended up in a better home – the way they manage him really works. I love watching him and feel very proud.”

From wild beginnings…

Owner Nicola Rogers bought a five-year-old Neil 55 for her daughters but he was ridden and produced by young rider Courtney Young through his early showjumping days before her older daughter Izabella, then younger daughter Sophia subsequently took the reins.

“What can I say about Neil other than he’s just incredible?” says Nicola.

“When we first tried him, Neil danced and leapt everywhere – it was a show and a half! I could see that he was talented, but he was so sharp, and I looked at Izabella and thought she’s not even 10 years old yet, riding Whinney Lass who is as quiet as a mouse. So I couldn’t see the two connecting. But Courtney absolutely sung Neil’s praises. They only jumped a metre but she said she’d never felt anything like it.”

Courtney ended up riding Neil 55 until just before everything ground to a halt during the Covid pandemic in 2020.

“During lockdown, Izabella fell off Neil, suffered a spiral fracture of the tibia and was off for nearly a year,” recalls Nicola. “But the moment she could stand again, she wanted to get back in the saddle and at dinner one night, she announced that she wanted to qualify Neil for HOYS. Within five weeks, she plucked up enough courage to come off the lunge, qualified for HOYS and Hickstead, and she won both finals – the pony Foxhunter final and JC championship.

“Sophia was always more of a quieter rider so she wasn’t desperate to get on Neil, but gelled with him very quickly and they’ve been incredible together. He’s given us so much pleasure, from being naughty to winning, he’s a real character. If he had the opportunity to come to our house and sit in our room with us, he would – that is where he wants to be.”

“It’s Neil’s world that we all live in!”

Izabella’s younger sister Sophia took over on Neil 55 at the start of 2024.

“It’s Neil’s world that we all live in!” she says. “At first, I felt nervous jumping big classes on him, but Neil really helped me in those early days. We ended up winning the grand prix at our first POYS and everything progressed from there.

“I’ve ridden him for three years now and I trust him completely in the ring. The feeling he gives you over fences is unbelievable. I always pat him when we go in the ring, to say, ‘All right Neil, we’ve got this,’ but it feels like I’m patting my nerves away too.

“He can be a bit of a jerk at home, though! He’ll spook at fillers he’s jumped 50 times and he’ll buck and play. I find it funny now and you just have to go with it, that’s his character. I fall off him quite a lot though! He also prances along and he struts – he has such a funky walk.

“But in the stable, he’s a dope on a rope. He’s stabled in the centre of our barn so he can watch everything – if he were a person, he’d be twitching the curtains.

“In his correct environment he’s proud and confident, but take him out of that he shrinks and worries. He can’t travel by himself and at shows he can’t have the stable door shut, so we use a drape and he’s happy. He’s also horse shy, so in the warm-up, I have to time our jumps carefully so there aren’t ponies near when we land, otherwise he scoots off.

“This year was more nerve racking because it was my last year on ponies, so to win our third team gold and individual gold at the Europeans was amazing," says Sophia. “Mum and I were bawling our eyes out thinking we’d won an individual silver medal, so when it became a gold we cried even more. They were happy tears though! It felt like recognition for everything Neil’s done with my sister and I. To walk into the room and see all my medals does make me think ‘Wow’.

“Everyone wants to buy the world’s best pony, but we’ve made a family decision that he’s staying with us. We’ve learnt just to go with him and we can read him like a book now – you can’t change him, that’s just Neil and we love him for it.”

Neil 55’s best results:

• 2018: won silver league 148cm & under final national championships.
• 2021: won winter JC/JD final Royal International Horse Show, pony Foxhunter Masters national championships, pony Foxhunter championship HOYS.
• 2023: won CSIP Opglabbeek grand prix, team bronze pony European Championships.
• 2024: won POYS 148cm grand prix, team gold pony European Championships.
• 2025: won POYS 148cm grand prix, team gold pony European Championships, leading pony showjumper of the year HOYS, 148cm mini stakes London International Horse Show.
• 2026: won CSIOP Compiègne grand prix, CSIOP Zuidwolde Nations Cup, team and individual gold pony European Championships.

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This won’t change Joseph’s life, but it’s changed mine,” said Saffie Osborne, moments after her record-breaking St Leger win.

Saffie didn’t even have a ride in the St Leger on the Monday before the race. Less than a week later, she piloted the Joseph O’Brien-trained Highwayman into the history books at Doncaster, becoming the first woman to win a British Classic.

Outwardly her life is the same, albeit much busier than she has ever been with media commitments, trying to say “yes” to as many as she feasibly can. The racing wheel keeps on turning and Saffie goes to work – Sandown, Ayr, Ffos Las, Goodwood, Newmarket, back to Wales – riding five to eight horses a day. Even on her one day off, Saffie was on a horse, showjumping at the Newmarket open day.

“I think maybe people took what I said and thought that I meant from an outer perspective,” she says. “For me it changed my life because I grew up as a very competitive person, and I think that fear of failure always drove me.

“After the win, it was the first time that I’ve been able to sit back and relax because I was always terrified of my career finishing and feeling like I failed and I didn’t achieve what I wanted to.

“I feel now like this weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can actually enjoy it. I’ve achieved one of the biggest things I’ve always wanted to, and hopefully I’ll achieve so much more. But this is one thing that I can always look back on in my career and think, ‘I did that.’

“So rather than what it’s done for my life from an outside perspective, it’s more a case of what it’s done for me.

“I’m competing against some of the best jockeys in the world, and you’re constantly trying not to compare yourself. To have such a big one ticked off, to have won a British Classic, which we all know how hard they are to win, has changed my mindset.”

“Like I’d been chucked in a tornado and spat out”

In the hectic days that followed, there were few chances to stop and let it sink in. Saffie emphasises how kind it is of all those who messaged her, and making sure she gets back to everyone is on her mind. Among them was a phone call from Sir Michael Stoute, for whom Saffie rode during his last couple of years training.

“That was really special,” she says. “It kind of felt like I’d been sort of chucked into a tornado and spat out. It was funny, I woke up the next day and I think I’d had such an adrenaline high that I had the worst headache on Sunday morning. I hadn’t even had a drink and felt hungover from the whole rush.”

Saffie’s mother, equine artist Katie O’Sullivan, was at Cornbury Horse Trials with Saffie’s aunt and Jayne McGivern, while her father, trainer Jamie Osborne, was at Bath racecourse. Saffie laughs as she pictures how they described their reactions, screaming in excitement against the genteel backdrops of eventing showjumping and a pleasant family raceday.

“I remember walking into the parade ring for the next race and I felt like I’d just done a 24-hour gym session, my whole body was shaking,” she says.

“When Dad rang me, he just said: ‘This is my proudest day on earth,’ and that really got to me.

“I’ve had little moments where it’s really sunk in, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, that did actually happen?’ I did that. I wasn’t dreaming – because I do have dreams about things like that, then wake up and think, ‘Damn it!’

“I think I was too overwhelmed the day after to take it all in. I remember when Rachael Blackmore won the Grand National and said, ‘I can’t believe I’m Rachael Blackmore.’ There was always going to be a woman who would win a first Classic. It was always going to happen at some point, I can’t believe that was me.”

To win a British Classic is an achievement that most jockeys will never reach in their careers. It’s a milestone moment for women in sport too.

“The reality is, if you’re good enough, you’ll get opportunities. Enough people have proved that at this point,” says Saffie, adding that the likes of famous female jockeys Hayley Turner and Hollie Doyle have paved the way to a point where she is not viewed differently in terms of ability by being a woman.

“Yes, hopefully it might encourage more women to get into racing or little girls to want to be jockeys. But I don’t think it changes the opportunities you get, you get those off merit.”

Winning St Leger was “a complete shock”

Highwayman, 3.35pm Doncaster, trainer Joseph O’Brien. The defining moment of Saffie’s career to date appeared unremarkably as a line of text in the booked rides section on her online racing admin account.

“That’s the amazing thing about this game,” she says. “You never know when the next
big opportunity is going to come, so you have to make sure you’re always ready for it.”

Saffie adds that even though she had spent the week dreaming about winning, when
that moment came, she was in “complete shock”.

“When I crossed the line I just couldn’t believe it. In my interview, I said, ‘I’m speechless. I don’t think I’ve ever been speechless in my life’ – and I haven’t! But I also think that because racing is so turbulent, I’ve devised this way of staying in the middle,” she says.

“I suppose when I was eventing and it was weekend to weekend, your good result lasted longer. Whereas it changes so quickly in racing. I think the St Leger was like the first time that I’ve let myself feel everything.”

To look at Saffie’s career in cold hard numbers, it’s a constant upward trajectory. Riding out her claim, tick, first Group and domestic Group winners, tick, tick, and now a British Classic victory.

Damned statistics never tell the full truth.

At Royal Ascot this year, Saffie came home with a handful of placings. On paper it sounds tidy. For the most part, it was, and for those, Saffie wouldn’t have done anything different: the horses ran well, finishing second is part of sport.

But context is everything when defining whether second is a celebration or a sting, and Touleen’s bridesmaid position in the Group One Coronation Stakes after being boxed in, a hard luck story of the royal meeting, was “painful” to swallow.

“Touleen really hurt, as it felt like there were a lot of eyes on her,” says Saffie. “She’d been a very good two-year-old and it was one of those moments where you just want to curl up into a ball and not come out.

“We’re employed to do a job, if you mess that job up, you know they’re probably going to get someone else. I don’t have a big job, so when you get those opportunities and something doesn’t go to plan, you don’t know when that next big opportunity is going to come along.”

She adds: “After Touleen got beat, Dad and I had a few conversations. I got into a rut, and even though I was riding lots of winners after Ascot, it was that one thing that just sticks with you. You have that doubt in your mind, that moment of feeling, am I good enough? Is everyone looking at me thinking she’s not able to produce at the top level?

“It does eventually get to you when you convince yourself people are thinking that.

“I went into Dad’s office on the morning of King George Day and told him I was struggling mentally, that I’d not enjoyed the last month since Ascot, and it was just getting me down, probably feeling a bit sorry for myself.

“He said, ‘Well, if it’s not making you happy, go and do something else.’ That
was that.

Then he sent me a very long message, basically saying, ‘Just remember, you can do whatever makes you happy for the rest of your life, but now is the only time you can do this. You need to enjoy it now because you don’t want to look back in 10 years and feel like you didn’t enjoy it.

“‘Concentrate on yourself, don’t worry about others, and just remember, you’ll always be happy if you can look back on it and know you enjoyed it.’

“That changed my mindset. I thought, ‘Why am I so worried about all the outside noise and constantly putting this pressure on myself that I’m not achieving what I felt like I should be?’ He then followed up after I rode the treble that day and said, ‘You’re an idiot,’ in typical Dad fashion!”

She smiles, reflecting on that memory.

“He’s a deep thinker, but he’s very funny as well,” she says.

“I’ve had lots of interviews where people ask what I would like to win. And the first thing I’ve always said is that I want to be able to look back and know that I enjoyed every second of it. So that’s first and foremost, but there’s obviously a whole list of races everyone wants to win.”

A British Classic was high up on that list, which also includes as many Group Ones as possible as well as the champion jockey title.

“I always knew I liked winning. I’ve got three older brothers, I didn’t get to win much as a child,” she says.

Looking back... and forward

Saffie was the only one of her siblings to go down the equestrian route, and her desire to learn to ride was self-driven. She loves winning, yes, but her love of horses is her why.

“Everyone at Dad’s yard jokes that I’m the chief pony patter. I love being around them; they’re incredible animals. The life that they’ve given not only me, but my family too…,” she says.

“I think children having ponies and horses is amazing; it teaches them how to care for something that’s not just themselves.

“And even if I was never going to be a jockey or an event rider, competing teaches this amazing mental strength.”

She recalls competing in working hunter qualifiers for major shows and jumping last for team and individual gold at the pony eventing Europeans, reflecting on how she learnt to feel pressure and understand her own response to it.

“I now know that doing my job, where I’m being employed to ride unbelievably expensive horses by trainers and owners and there’s so much resting on every result, that there’s no doubt in my mind that I can deal with it all,” she says. “I embrace pressure; I feel it, but it makes me better.”

In the immediate future, horses will take Saffie to Hong Kong, one of only four European jockeys to be granted a licence there this winter. Australia and the US are on the table, and stints in Dubai next year.

“I feel so lucky. I’m 24 and I’ve been able to travel the world riding horses. If you’d told me that as a kid, I’d have said that’s the dream life,” she says. “This is all I’ve ever dreamed of, and I get to live it.”

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I have spent most of my working life in the theatre, so I thought I knew a good production when I saw one. Nothing prepared me for the hunting field. The cast is enormous, the script is written in a language nobody explains, the set changes every 10 minutes and the audience is expected to gallop after the actors. There are no rehearsals.

And the reviews, usually delivered by the field master at some volume, are immediate.

I started trail-hunting late. My children were already keen members of the Heythrop. For a couple of seasons, I was their ground crew, waiting in gateways with a thermos and a growing sense that I was missing something.

My riding CV amounted to some reluctant Pony Club camps in Somerset (I failed the points-of-the-horse test, ignominiously), a gap year mustering cattle in the Northern Territory and one ill-advised bull.

So when a friend suggested I take on his father’s soon-to-be-redundant hunter, Mr P, I said yes before anyone could talk me out of it. Or, as he reminds me, I took on the costs.

On one of my first mornings’ autumn hunting, leaving the ground for the first time, I came off and knocked myself out cold. A month on the sidelines followed. A sensible man would have taken the hint. Instead I made the first of many discoveries: hunting is not so much a pastime as a condition, and the only known treatment is more hunting.

So, for anyone setting out this autumn, here is some of what I have learnt.

You will understand almost nothing, and that is fine

In my first season I saw a great deal of my horse’s ears and the back of whoever was in front. Hounds were a distant noise; the huntsman a flash of colour two fields away. Shouts rolled back down the line – “Hold hard!”, “’Ware wire!”, “Tally Ho!” – and I assumed they were all aimed at me. Some were.

It took a long time before I could stop concentrating on staying on and start watching what hounds and huntsman were doing: the patience, the casting, the moment the pack speaks as one. When it clicks, it is like hearing the full orchestra after months of listening to the violins tune up. This is the “golden thread” between huntsman and his hounds.

Peter Beckford understood this in 1781. His Thoughts on Hunting, written as letters to a friend, is almost entirely about hounds – breeding them, kennelling them, handling them – and hardly at all about the galloping. The Hunting Act 2004 means today’s hounds follow a laid trail, but the craft Beckford describes would still be recognised in any kennel yard. Read him and the day starts to make sense.

The cast is straight out of Surtees

Robert Smith Surtees published Handley Cross in 1843, and nearly all his characters are still out on a Saturday. The suave master, the enigmatic huntsman, the cantankerous field master, the ebullient farmer and the intrepid thrusters – and, occasionally, a Soapey Sponge on a hireling, angling for an invitation to stay.

Surtees’s great creation, the sporting grocer John Jorrocks, called hunting “the image of war without its guilt, and only five-and-twenty percent of its danger”. After several visits to the John Radcliffe Hospital, I might quarrel with his maths but never with his enthusiasm. Read Surtees before your first meet and you will recognise everyone. Read him after your first season and you will recognise yourself, which is rather less comfortable.

You will fall off – go anyway

Nobody escapes this one. After my early fall, my family placed me on a strict no-jumping regime, and I spent the rest of that season going round by the gates at the back with a small and cheerful band of fellow travellers.

I was consoled to find that Anthony Trollope had been there first. He fitted an astonishing literary output around his hunting, despite being heavy, short-sighted and by most accounts a moderate horseman. In his Hunting Sketches of 1865, he gives a whole chapter to “The Man Who Hunts and Never Jumps”, treating him with more sympathy than he shows some of the heroes at the front.

He was right. The back of the field is not a lesser place. You see more hound work than you might think, hear the best gossip and nobody shouts at you for overtaking the field master.

The grass is always someone else’s

Early on I was told off, loudly, for riding on “the wrong grass”. To my untrained eye, it was a lovely green field. To the farmer, it was a crop he had paid to sow and would rather not see cut up by 40 horses.

This is the most useful thing a newcomer can grasp. Every yard of country we cross is there by the goodwill of those who farm it. Keep to headlands when asked, shut gates, thank the farmers you meet and say goodnight to the master when you go home. None of it is difficult and it matters far more than your turnout.

I have been reprimanded for talking too much, cutting up others at jumps and, memorably, “joyriding”. The field master was usually right. Find a mentor who will tell you the truth and an instructor brave enough to take you on.

Trust the horse

In my second season, I acquired an experienced Heythrop hunter – Bay Con – who knew the country far better than I did. He took me under his wing, gave me confidence and days I will never forget. The lesson for the late starter is simple: buy experience. One of you should know what he is doing and better that it is the one with four legs.

I now have two more in work. I love them both. Mack is a workhorse with a big jump (and cheeky buck) and gets on with it. Grey Con is idiosyncratic and opinionated. He has firm views on where we ought to be standing, what the horse in front is doing wrong and precisely when it is time to go. But he loves his job, is careful and clever, and he has never once let me down.

You are not buying a horse to make you look good. You are buying one who will look after you when you make a mess of it, which as a newcomer you will, several times a day.

My trust in Grey Con is unsurpassed. He taught me to trust him, day by day, jump by jump, and with it came the confidence to stop interfering, look up and enjoy the day.

Before long you will hear the old maxim that a hunting man needs two horses and a spare. It sounds like whimsy but is in fact a warning about livery bills that nobody reads until too late. What began as the loan of Mr P is now three horses and two-horse days, and my accountant has stopped asking.

Be an educated bore

Nobody tells you that hunting comes with a reading list, or that you will want to work through all of it. Roger Scruton came to it in middle age too and On Hunting is the best account I know of the newcomer’s experience. The fear, the bewilderment and the slow discovery of a relationship with the land, with animals and with a community.

From there it is a short step to the 10th Duke of Beaufort’s Fox-Hunting, full of hard-won wisdom from a man who was simply known as “Master”, and to Michael Clayton, for many years editor of this magazine, whose Foxhunting in Paradise is a glorious tour of the great hunting countries.

Siegfried Sassoon is better still on the ordeal of the beginner. In Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, the young Sherston stands at his first meet in an agony of self-consciousness, aware he has arrived at the edge of a complicated social world whose rules everyone appears to have been born knowing. A century on, nothing about that feeling has changed. It does pass.

The friendships 

Hunting brings together people whose paths would otherwise never cross: farmers and financiers, town and country, grooms and retired generals, teenagers and grandparents. It creates new friendships and cements old ones, and quickly, because you are sharing something you cannot explain to anyone who was not there.

The friendships do not stop when the season does. In the summer, groups of us hack out over the same country at a more civilised pace, reliving the best days of the last season and speculating about the next, safely out of earshot of our long-suffering families. And the grooms, car-followers and hunt staff, up before dawn, will teach you more than any book.

The hunt ball

While you are still learning to rise to the trot, nobody mentions that hunting comes with a social calendar of its own. Meets and lawn meets, hunting breakfasts and teas, and above all the hunt ball, which is less a black-tie dinner with dancing than a controlled explosion in a marquee. People who were sober, competent and faintly terrifying in the field at 11am turn out to be capable of quite remarkable things by 11pm.

This is not incidental. A day outdoors, in weather, at speed, with a degree of real risk, leaves everybody hungry, thirsty and in need of company, and a strain of wild hedonism runs through the whole business, in the field as much as in the marquee.

It’s never too late

I will not forget my first two-horse day, at the end of my second season, finishing at six in the evening in the dark after a point that felt like 10 miles (it probably was not). I was exhausted, soaked and elated.

What I really did not know before I started is that hunting is the best antidote to gloom I have ever come across.

Whatever is waiting on the desk on Monday morning, it is impossible to brood about it while crossing a remote field at speed on a horse following a pack of hounds in full cry. You come home cold, wet, muddy and unaccountably happy – and it lasts for days. I cannot explain why this should be so and have stopped trying.

If you are standing in a gateway with a thermos wondering whether to have a go, my advice is to ring someone before you think better of it.

I would do it all again, first fence included. Well, perhaps not the first fence.

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All sports evolve through history. Eventing is almost unrecognisable since it first appeared at the Olympic Games in 1912, practised by cavalry officers, but has continued to transform even in the past 30 years. William Fox-Pitt, who retired from the top level in 2024 having won a record 14 five-stars, says the transformation of cross-country courses is inevitable.

“The sport has changed and will go on changing and we are embracing all the changes,” he says, describing today’s courses as “seriously demanding and technical”. “It’s a very different challenge now, on a very different animal.”

William speaks as a rider with experience both of competing extensively in the long-format days in the 1990s, as well as the current tracks. As Brazilian team trainer, he’s bang up to date with today’s challenges and refutes the suggestion that modern courses are softer.

“What they are doing now is seriously demanding, technical, in terms of both terrain and angles,” he says.

However, a monumental difference is the type of horse and the state in which it starts cross-country. Today’s championship courses are around nine minutes, and while the five-stars are still over 11 minutes, the removal of roads, tracks and steeplechase revolutionises the test.

“We’re not setting out now on cross-country on a horse that has already done 10 miles,” William explains. “At the end of a cross-country course in the long format, they physically couldn’t have done the twists and turns we have now.

“We could go round the whole of Badminton or Burghley with barely a twist or a turn, maybe a bend in the lake. Now you’re doing circles, it’s very different demands.”

“The modern generation cannot understand how the sport has transformed. If you look at old showjumping videos, the horses were so flat on the last day, they clattered round, because all their spring had gone.

“Our horses were hard and fit, strung-out gallopers, not round and bouncy. We were on eventers, not showjumpers. Some of the horses at the World Championships in Aachen could be grand prix showjumpers and that’s such an interesting comparison.”

He compares his junior and young rider campaigner Steadfast, who had Clydesdale blood, and took him round his first Badminton in 1991.

“Steadfast needed to jump with momentum,” William says. “There was one fence at Badminton that only four riders made it straight through. Steadfast fell over the ditch and into the bank and couldn’t jump out.

“On a horse like they ride today, they all have amazing power and scope and that wouldn’t have been a problem.”

Big and bold versus technical?

There is a view that pits yesteryear’s big and bold tracks against today’s technical ones, but the reality is far more complex. The dimensions of the fences remain virtually unaltered, but the old courses were less dressed, less explicit and more daring. Ground rails and strategic flowerpots were non-existent, where they are now ubiquitous.

“It was simpler technically,” says William, “but you didn’t know how the horses would see and work out the question. We’d all be s***ting ourselves.”

He cites a bounce of parallels at Defender Valley at Burghley in the ’90s.

“We were always told a bounce should never have parallels – this was four rails all looking like footbridges so it was hard for the horses to judge where to land,” he says. “We hoped they’d all fumble over, so long as they didn’t stop... That wouldn’t be OK now.

“I also remember, at Badminton, a drop then two strides uphill to a bounce of upright rails. It looked enormous and your horse couldn’t see the second part of the bounce until they took off at the first. Now the courses are more transparent – both for safety and the type of horse.”

The proliferation of Christmas trees guiding a rider’s route is one of the newer techniques designers use.

“In the ’90s we had none of these trees telling us where to jump,” he explains. “You’re now effectively given a turning point to tell you where to turn and where to jump. So although it’s much more technically difficult now, it’s laid out in front of you.

“Before, for the Vicarage Vee at Badminton, if you were a yard to the right or left of the correct line, you’d land in the ditch. It’s still terrifying, still massive, but there is much less opportunity to mess up.”

Frightening doesn’t necessarily mean harder.

“I’d say it’s far more demanding now, but in a different way,” William continues. “At the Vicarage Vee, you’d already jumped that ditch three times, and each time your scared horse was getting scareder, so finally they would stop.

“We had grey gates downhill into water at Badminton so horses couldn’t see them well. You’d skid down and clatter over but that was normal. The test was how you coped.

“Pretty pictures weren’t a priority. Most people riding now would not be OK with what we were doing – not knowing whether it was a stride or a bounce, sitting on the back of your saddle.”

William Fox-Pitt: “The fence I really hated”

And William’s worst fence of all?

“The fence I really hated at Badminton was in the Fairbanks area,” he recalls. “It was a tight turn up a bank over log into space, down the bank and two strides over a chevron rail. They copied it at Jerez 2002 [where he won world team bronze].

“Nothing was on a plate, you didn’t know where you’re landing. It demanded bravery – would the horse jump into orbit off a tight turn, how quick was their footwork to come off the bank over the rail.”

The onus was on both horses and riders to think in the moment.

“Footwork and reactions were key,” he says. “You could walk a course five times and it wouldn’t help. Now you need to walk it five times because you need to know the exact stride pattern, so you can show the horse the way.”

It’s a subtle difference – before, you muddled through, riding by the seat of your pants, and success was making it to the other side without falling off. Now if you execute your plan precisely, though the fence may still be daunting, it should look easy.

“Aachen 2026 was a serious track, but horses could see where to go and had the time to judge,” William says by way of example. “While you can’t see the line on the approach, you land and see it.”

Despite the unpalatability of many of the fences of yesteryear, William believes there is a key indicator that today’s courses are in fact more challenging than ever.

“The changes have taken the depth of the fields out at the top level,” he says. “I was 19 when I started riding at five-star – now it’s rare to be under 25 at Burghley. This shows that the sport is now more demanding. More of us could do it before – maybe not well, but we could get round.”

But perhaps the sign of a truly great rider is that they can adapt to whatever is put in front of them. William’s record – 14 five-star trophies, 26 months as world number one and nine senior championship medals – throughout the decades does not lie.

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“Everywhere I go, people are saying that I made them cry,” says Gemma Stevens, reflecting a couple of weeks after her win at Burghley in September.

“Someone at Blenheim even shouted to me, ‘I was doing my ironing and you made me cry,’ which was hilarious. It really is the most amazing feeling and very satisfying.”

It’s not surprising, perhaps, that Gemma makes people cry – we can join in her emotions because, in an age of media-trained, sometimes bland, sportspeople, Gemma shares so much. Whether she’s taking the trophy or falling off, Gemma tells the press how she feels and so the fans really become part of the journey.

The obvious story that came out of Burghley was her comeback from devastating elimination at the World Championships in Aachen three weeks before. But there’s so much more to this – Gemma (née Tattersall) is 41 years old and, behind the capsule of the month of the worlds and Burghley, is 19 years of riding at five-star and all the associated depths of graft, learning, triumph and heartbreak.

Gemma was, of course, a five-star winner before Burghley, having taken the one-off five-star at Bicton in 2021 with the same horse, Chilli Knight (Alfie). The event was the Burghley replacement as the world tried to recover from Covid-19.

The pair beat some serious combinations, including five-star victors Piggy March with Vanir Kamira and Tim Price on Ringwood Sky Boy. Did Gemma feel she’d really won at the top level, or was she frustrated it wasn’t actually Burghley?

“A lot of both of those,” she says frankly. “It was cool, obviously, to win a five-star. It was
a five-star and we did beat some really good horses, and the cross-country course was tough. There were lots of big fences and it was hilly. The showjumping was a serious track and Alfie held his own in the dressage.

“I did feel that we had won a five-star, but there was definitely a feeling that it wasn’t one of the big ones, one of the big Bs. That has always been my dream. It’s always been my dream to win both of them, to be honest. So Bicton was definitely a box tick, but at the same time, there was more to do.”

And now, having won a big B, have her goals changed?

“It’s changed my life. I feel like I’ve done what I wanted to do and won a big one,” she says. “But it hasn’t changed my ambition. My ambition has always, always been to try to win the big events and be a championship rider. That’s definitely not changed one little bit. I still have huge ambitions and want to keep going.”

Meanwhile, the final few events of the season beckon, then a holiday in the Maldives with husband Gary.

“I feel great. I feel really positive about the future with these horses that I have coming up behind Alfie. I feel satisfied and excited to have a little rest, then to look forward to what is to come next year and the following year,” she says.

Gemma Stevens’ path to the Burghley trophy

Gemma’s five-star career started with a “completely weird” grey called Jesters Quest, who she took on as a catch ride for the CCI2* (now CCI3*-L) at Windsor in 2004.

“He galloped with his head really high and couldn’t do flying changes. I literally went around the course and thought, ‘Well, if I jump fence one, I’ll jump fence two,’” she remembers.

The pair went on to win two young rider team gold medals and completed Badminton and Burghley.

More five-star rides followed, including, of course, Gemma’s horse of a lifetime, Arctic Soul. An ex-racehorse, he took her to the podium at both Badminton and Burghley and a world team gold medal in 2018.

“He taught me so much, about horsemanship, feel, management – and bravery, speed, everything, cross-country. He was a really funny-looking thoroughbred, with his neck coming out of the bottom of his shoulder,” she says. “But there was always something about him that made you think, ‘This horse will turn into something.’

“He was always a good jumper, wanted to be careful and make a nice shape
over his fences.

“The first time I went cross-country on him, at Lincoln in March, I was like, ‘Holy moly, this is a cool horse.’”

The course of Gemma’s life was changed when some 20 years ago, she met Chris Stone, the businessman and horse enthusiast who first came to the eventing world’s attention when he bought the stallion Chilli Morning as a potential London 2012 horse.

“I rode and sold a cheeky little Connemara for Chris and his wife Lisa, then I started going to teach Chris and his daughter Alex on her Prince Philip Cup ponies,” says Gemma. “Then I got brave and sent them a letter and asked if they would buy me a horse.”

The Stones had a horse called Nyali Beach, who had fallen out of love with eventing.

“Chris said, ‘If you can get this horse to win an event, I’ll buy you another one.’

“So we took him right back to basics. My mum helped me. We jumped cross-poles for a month and we got him sweet again,” says Gemma.

She went on to pilot Nyali Beach to win the CIC2* (now CCI3*-L) at Little Gatcombe,
where the Stones received their trophy from the Princess Royal (“that meant a lot
to them”).

The Stones soon invited Gemma to base herself at their West Sussex yard, Tattleton, and she’s been there ever since, with the Stones her principal owners as well as close friends.

Eventers, broodmares, home-breds and embryos

These days, Tattleton is home to a “very big system, situation, everything”, as Gemma
puts it.

There are some 50 horses involved, including Gemma’s seven to nine event horses and five showjumpers, plus a host of home-breds from “cooking” embryos to six-year-olds.

The broodmares include Gemma’s Rio Olympic ride Quicklook V, double three-star (now four-star) winner Chico Bella P and Alfie’s dam, Kings Gem.

Mary King bred Kings Gem, by Rock King out of the Louella Inschallah II mare Kings Mistress, who formed the basis of Mary’s own successful breeding programme.

“She was bought for me by the Stones as a nine-year-old who had done Blenheim and it was a big deal that someone was willing to buy me a horse of that stature,” says Gemma.

“She was some cross-country machine – a serious galloper and that’s been passed on to her babies.”

Gemma was under-25 national champion and completed Pau five-star on Kings Gem, while the Stones bred from her via embryo transfer. She and Chilli Morning produced eight full siblings.

“Just like with any siblings – horse, human, dog – they’re all very different, but they do have similarities in that they’re all gallopers and they can all jump. Also, they’re slow developers and don’t look much as four-, five-, even six-year-olds,” says Gemma.

Chilli Knight exemplified this. He certainly didn’t promise two five-star wins as a youngster.

“He was the most unassuming young horse ever. He was not a great shape, he’s only 16 hands maximum, he’s got pigeon toes. And when he was a young horse, honestly, he was hilarious. He just used to run out at the jumps all the time, cock his jaw, then trip over the side of the school,” Gemma remembers.

But she thought, “this horse is actually really cool cross-country” when he was seventh at Le Lion’s seven-year-old championships and he ran in his first five-star at nine.

On the flat, the fact he “shuffles rather than trots” means he has to have a “clear round” to nail a sub-30 at five-star, but he’s trainable and unaffected by atmosphere.

“Also, he’s got such belief. Even though he’s not particularly great at dressage, he actually thinks he is great, so he goes in the ring and he gives that impression,” says Gemma.

“He’s such a smiley little horse that he’s endearing, and we pick up marks because you can clearly see he’s trying and he’s so well trained. He’s relaxed and he does everything I ask of him.”

Gemma Stevens’ Burghley win built on “years of partnership”

An athlete who understands her own strengths and weaknesses, Gemma isn’t big-headed in saying that she is an accurate rider in terms of placing a horse to a take-off spot. Alfie has never known anything different and those “years and years of friendship and partnership” came to the fore across country at Burghley.

“When things went very wrong at the Leaf Pit, that was him paying me back for all the times I’ve put him right, and him saying, ‘Do you know what, Mum? Thank you for all that. I’ve got your back here,’” she says.

At one-day events, the cross-country jumps aren’t big enough to back Alfie off.

“It’s not much fun. He thinks he’s King Kong and shouldn’t be listening to me at all,” says Gemma, explaining that more recently, she and her the team have worked out and planned around the fact this is worse if he isn’t stabled on site.

“At Thoresby, he was nearly impossible to ride – all I could see was his white face and I had his ears up my nostrils,” she says.

In his four completed five-stars before Burghley, Alfie had only once had more than one showjump down – but five rolled poles at Badminton the year before made some wonder if Gemma could close this one out. What many didn’t know was that Alfie was well below par that day.

“He was sound and finished the cross-country well, but what we didn’t realise was that he’d had a lung bleed, so he was incredibly tired,” she says. “He was not right on that Sunday, because he’s not a ‘giver upper’. He’s always been a fighter.”

Gemma and her team gave Alfie time and care, not running him again last year.

She says: “I don’t usually do this, but at Burghley I wanted to get on him for literally
15 minutes after the trot-up and see how he felt. We put him through a little double and he pricked his ears, shook his head and wanted to go to the fence. It was a case of, ‘Thank God’, because he didn’t do that that day at Badminton; he was completely flat in the warm-up.”

By the time she entered the arena, Gemma had three fences in hand, but she didn’t need them and – as at Bicton in 2021 – she sealed the title with a showjumping clear, on her dressage score.

“What an absolutely crazy sport,” says Gemma, reflecting on the turnaround from Aachen to Burghley. She’s not wrong. Isn’t that why we love it?

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As the dust settles on the 2026 Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) and the Horse & Hound magazine reports have been dispatched to the printers, I thought I’d share just some of my favourite moments from this year’s five-day extravaganza.

David Simpson’s top-of-the-wings clearance to win Sunday’s six bar was simply jaw-dropping. But Jodie Hall McAteer’s jump-off round with Hardessa in the leading showjumper of the year grand prix was also competitive horsemanship at its very best. OK, she beat crowd favourite John Whitaker in the process, but we'll forgive her that because it made for fantastic sport.

Here are my best HOYS moments and stand-out HOYS winners – what were your highlights? Let us know at hhletters@futurenet.com

HOYS highlights and stand-out winners

1. Soaring sky high over 6ft 6in

David Simpson was only reunited with the 14-year-old mare Cindy R just before HOYS and, as well as finishing equal third in the puissance, they cleared a top-of-the-wings 6ft 6in (1.95m) to win the Thistledown Investment six bar.

“She’s the kind of horse who could set a very big record at a wall,” said David.

2. ‘Such a buzz!’: Jodie and Hardessa wow the crowd

Jodie Hall McAteer’s daring, edge-of-your-seat round on Hardessa to win the leading showjumper of the year grand prix was a masterclass in jump-off riding, while her brilliant mare matched her rider's competitiveness, rocketing gleefully over the fences.

“I think for British riders, it’s such a buzz,” she said, having knocked showjumping legend John Whitaker (Equine America Unick Du Francport) off the top spot in the process.

3. That HOYS winning feeling is extra special

Joe Whitaker’s smile on his victory lap sums up exactly what it means to win at HOYS – and he did it twice! He and Seaview Evolution scored an “unexpected” win in the speed horse of the year, having also topped the Dallamires Stables stakes with the Vilarubbi family’s Vagalenco GF.

“I knew I was fast, but I didn't realise I was that fast!” said Joe.

4. All hail the legendary Luichew

I’m such a fan of Andrew Hodgins and Shanaclough Luichew, who first captivated the crowds at London International last year. They’re completely unorthodox, but the Irishman carefully nurtures the fiery chestnut’s unique traits and they are extraordinarily effective over the big red wall. Andrew and Luichew shared the HOYS puissance spoils with Great Britain’s Rachel Proudley (Easy Boy De Laubry Z) in a Saturday night thriller.

“People comment about how wild he is, but I wouldn’t change him for the world,” said Andrew. “His heart is completely in the right place.”

5. Proving that Whitakers don’t need warm-up classes

William Whitaker had never jumped La Vie Est D’Or in a competition before, but he cruised to victory on this catch ride in Friday’s Grandstand welcome stakes. The 10-year-old mare is usually ridden by owner Iona Watkin Jones’s daughter Glain, whom William trains.

“I know the mare well, but I’ve not actually ridden her that many times,” he said. “But I think that watching her over the last couple of years as much as I have has helped to know her.”

6. A young superstar in our midst

HOYS is always a great opportunity for spotting rising stars – both human and equine – but the stand-out for me this year was Olivia Sponer. Aged just 20, Olivia finished fourth in Sunday’s leading showjumper of the year, delivering a brilliant double clear on the wonderful Bingo Du Chateau. Olivia deservedly received the Paddy McMahon memorial award for the leading under-25 home athlete at HOYS 2026.

7. Diminutive Constanza joins the HOYS hall of fame

As Pippa Goddard says of her 2026 HOYS talent seekers champion PDV Constanza, “She wouldn’t be everyone’s ride, but I would pick a small horse with a big heart like her every day.” The pair extended their phenomenal legacy at HOYS, having won last year’s newcomers final and finished runner-up in the Foxhunter.

8. Throwing yourself in at the deep-end

Samantha Wiseman upended the odds when winning the Foxhunter final with AS His Lordship, despite never having jumped higher than 1.40m. Although they lack experience, Sammy has ample belief in her Irish Phil VD Wezelse Heihoeve x Crown Z gelding, whom she’s partnered since the start of his five-year-old year. Known as “Phil” or “The Connemara Pony” at home, as he barely measures 16hh, he is a stand-out performer.

“I’m just over the moon,” said Sammy.

9. The horse I’d most like to take home

This year’s grade C champion, Omex Star HBF (Douglas Duffin) not only oozes star quality but she’s clearly got scope to burn and such a lovely attitude. The daughter of Big Star was bred in Scotland at Laura Tinto’s HBF Stud – watch this space, she’s clearly going places.

10. Catch me if you can!

Raphaela Dawson rounded off a phenomenal final summer on ponies with an electric catch-me-if-you-can victory in the pony showjumper of the year, riding MHS Glow, before doubling down to take an exemplary Foxhunter win on Woody Van Duyversputten.

“I won here in 2022 on my 128cm in my first year, so to come back on my 148cm in my last year and win again is very special,” Raffy said.

11. And finally... the best celebration goes to...

Anya Dewey Clarke continued to bank the HOYS titles, following up on her victory in last year’s 128cm final with a win in the 138cm, riding her gifted “queen of the yard”, 11-year-old Fredaine Du Blonde. Anya’s winning air punches are now legendary, while the huge hugs she gives her ponies after every round are particularly heartwarming. Go Anya!

Don’t miss the full report from this year’s HOYS featuring all the winners and extra insight in this week’s Horse & Hound magazine, in the shops Thursday 15 October.

It’s easy to hark back to the cross-country courses of yesteryear, and pit the traditional “rider-frighteners” versus today’s technical questions, but the reality is far more nuanced. Ginny Elliot, who won 10 gold medals as well as five Burghleys and three Badmintons in the 1980s, refutes the idea that accuracy is more important today.

“When Frank Weldon took over building Badminton [1966–1988] it was all about bravery and accuracy – accuracy was super important,” she says.

“Now, yes, they have to be very accurate too because of the skinnies – which are difficult – and various other challenging questions, but it’s a different sort of accuracy.

“Angles were the main question for us; we had to be pinpoint accurate on our line or we’d land in a ditch. There was such a wide space to get it wrong because the rail was 20ft wide from right to left, to another rail 20ft wide – your angle and accuracy had to be absolutely correct, you couldn’t deviate six inches.”

Ginny gives the example of the angles at Badminton’s Tom Smith’s Walls – now no longer jumped – and the “S-fence”, built of timber.

“You were running downhill,” she says. “There was one stride between each rail, so you had to find your way through on the right striding.”

Burghley’s infamous Brandy Glass in 1983 – so called because from aerial view it was shaped like its name – was another.

“It was angled post-and-rail to angled post-and-rail to a corner, super-difficult, and dear Priceless was perfection; he didn’t deviate an inch right or left,” says Ginny.

She’d been told by chef d’equipe Malcolm Wallace not to attempt the influential direct route if she was on time.

“I think I was the only one who jumped it straight – because my watch wasn’t working, so I had to!”

The onus was on riders of that era to decide their own line and stick to it.

“You had to choose something like a piece of bark on the timber, and a tree in the distance to line up, especially if there were three fences in a row or open corners on a bending line.

“We jumped very natural fences that sat well in the countryside, utilising the natural resources. In my memory, we didn’t have protective rails on ditches like at the Vicarage Vee nowadays, so if you were near the end of the day, the ditch was considerably bigger.

“We rarely had fillers or flower pots; the fences were less dressed,” she adds. “I remember at Badminton a massive parallel on an angle over an open ditch. So you had to make sure you’re on exactly the right line or you land in the ditch.”

“Frank Weldon was a genius course-designer. We often sat in our lorries the night before cross-country agreeing that there were two or three unjumpable fences – how wrong we were. Frank had certainly managed to frighten the riders, but the fences jumped well.”

The challenge was to solve the course-designer’s puzzle.

“One fence I couldn’t work out in my head was at Gawler World Championships in 1984,” she says. “It was a rail, one stride, rail drop into water and then bounce over another rail. I watched it for a while, and it wasn’t working out. Even Charisma fell there.

“A very few managed the bounce, but it was ugly to watch. My question was, having dropped a long way down landing in the water, physically how could the horse get his weight back on his hind feet to take off immediately over the rail?

“So I worked out that if I could get Priceless to take two strides in the one stride, he’d drop in short and then could fit in one stride to the rail instead of a bounce. I just prayed and he did it. It didn’t sit well in my tummy but I was reasonably confident he could do it.

“Priceless had a remarkable brain and sense of quick decisions, a genius.”

They won double gold.

The Gawler fence would be outlawed today – the track produced 26 fallers from 43 runners.

And sometimes, the fences were rightly deemed unjumpable.

“At the Denmark Euros [Horsens, 1981] there was an upright on top of a bank like the Hickstead Derby bank, so horses would have landed right at the bottom,” Ginny remembers. “I walked the course with Richard Meade and I was just a child with nappies on!

“Richard looked at my face when we finished the course and said, ‘don’t worry, they will have to change two of those fences’. They removed them after the chef d’equipes’ meeting and thank goodness, because I was number one to go!”

Bouncing and bucking through bullfinches

Bullfinches were quite a feature in the ’80s. They still pop up today, but they’re arguably less frequent – and certainly less taxing. Ginny remembers a bounce of bullfinches at Burghley, where Night Cap cleverly scrambled in a stride.

“A bounce of bullfinches didn’t make any sense in my head and he must have been suspicious – but he was very clever and luckily I managed to stay on board. I hated that fence.”

Priceless managed to negotiate a huge bullfinch with a massive ditch in front on a steep downhill approach, bucking after Ginny tapped him on the shoulder to tell him to pay attention to the enormous obstacle ahead.

“Bucking was not what I needed when I felt we should be going 80mph! The crowds watching must have thought this very amusing,” she says. “Priceless, renowned for his cheeky behaviour, managed to stop bucking just in time and jumped it really well – goodness knows how.”

Another natural feature, banks, were also more prevalent, with iconic fences such as Luckington Lane and the Normandy Bank now no longer in use. These were a useful method of slowing horses down to make the optimum time sufficiently tough, but from a designer’s perspective, steps and staircases use up too many of the permitted number of jumping efforts.

Mastering the cross-country test

Despite – or perhaps because of – all these taxing fences, Ginny was a consummate cross-country rider, her smooth style belying the difficulty of the tracks. Two of her top horses – Priceless and Master Craftsman – never had a cross-country jumping fault, through their careers of multiple five-stars and championships.

“I was told early on in my career that a horse already knows he is a horse – the art of horsemanship lies solely with the rider,” says Ginny.

“I’ve always asked what the designer is asking from the rider, in terms of how to present their horse in the best way to negotiate a particular fence,” she explains. “Gear-changing is nearly the most important, and the smoother this happens, the less time you use.

“All horses are different and have their Achilles’ heels. As a rider, it’s our responsibility to do the gear changes, the rhythm and accuracy. And if you did all that you should have a high chance of jumping the fence happily.

“You can’t afford to take money out of the bank, so you don’t want a hairy moment at fence four,” she adds. “I would be very cross with myself if my horse hit a fence in front. I had another job to do on Sunday, so my horses had to finish in the best possible shape.”

And with Ginny’s extraordinary tally of medals and trophies, she certainly fulfilled her mission.

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Heiner Schiergen shook his head.

His freestyle music had barely started when the German rider, last to go, signalled that something was wrong.

“When the 27-year-old rider entered the arena and gave the signal for his music to start, it commenced at the canter section,” wrote Richard Davison, who was riding in the class and covered the drama in his H&H column at the time.

It was the Sunday of the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) at Wembley, and the freestyle finale of the Volvo dressage World Cup qualifier. Carole Mortimer’s H&H report at the time called what followed “the greatest dressage drama to be seen in Britain”.

Heiner wasn’t there to make up the numbers. He was riding the nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding Without A Doubt, and the pair had become firm crowd favourites after taking second place in the earlier grand prix – which then, as now, acted as a qualifier for the deciding freestyle.

“Amid scenes of great confusion, Heiner was left standing in the arena as chairman of the judges Eric Lette ran over to the technicians to be told that the first three minutes’ music were missing,” Richard wrote.

A race against the clock

The judges put the clock on and gave Heiner two minutes to fix the problem. Fellow German rider Frank Lamontagne, wrote Richard, “sprinted back to the horsebox for a spare tape.”

An H&H news report continued: “There was an agonising wait before his compatriot Frank Lamontagne came running into the arena with a duplicate tape.”

Frank’s return turned what was really a fairly minor mishap (what dressage rider hasn’t had trouble with their music, or doesn’t know one who has?) into something much more fun: a fiasco.

For a proper fiasco you need two things. High stakes – check. And a complete upending of the normal social order.

As Frank ran back into the arena clutching the spare tape – imagine that happening at the London International Horse Show where the World Cup qualifier is held today – that happened.

A crowd from a sport with a reputation for polite applause cheered him in like a returning hero. They were firmly on Heiner’s side, and they weren’t shy about showing it.

Frank, Richard recalled, was “greeted by cheers befitting the bearer of the Olympic flame”, and Heiner then “performed a good, lively test”.

Carole wrote: “He finished to immense applause and cheers from the enthusiastic supporters who were convinced his test could have won."

But that was only the first act of the fiasco – as the crowd began to settle, no score was forthcoming. Instead, it was belatedly announced that despite being allowed to perform his test, Heiner had been disqualified.

“The news was greeted with an even more vocal audience booing, jeering and stomping their feet,” Carole wrote. “A reaction more reminiscent of continental counterparts.”

The H&H news report described how “booing and foot-stamping turned to cheers as the rider entered the arena to debate the issue with chairman of the FEI dressage committee Eric Lette and Joep Bartels, the Volvo World Cup Dressage director” (pictured above). The uproar, it added, lasted “a full four minutes, continuing as organisers struggled to stick to a programme of presentations.”

The result got lost in it all. "The somewhat overshadowed victory belonged to Canadian Penny Rockx and 16-year-old Winsome,” Carole wrote, with our own Richard second on Askari.

The explanation

Despite the chaotic scenes, Eric Lette’s reasoning afterwards was quite straightforward. "After the bell has sounded, the rider has one minute to enter the arena," he said. “We gave him two minutes, but the final wait was nearer eight. The tape is the responsibility of the rider, and I must be fair to all the riders.”

In other words, Heiner had overshot the time allowed to start his test by some distance.

Richard said in his column that, as Eric explained at the press conference later, the decision had already been made before Heiner rode.

“As seven or eight minutes had elapsed before Heiner’s music began,” he said, “he was only allowed to ride on the understanding that the incident would go before the independent appeals committee. In the end, he decided not to appeal, no score was given and the disqualification stood.”

Heiner, for his part, saw it rather differently. “I think it would have been better to have been disqualified rather than letting me ride the whole test,” he said.

“A lot of time was wasted as I did not realise what the problem was. It was stressful waiting, but once I started riding my nerves disappeared, although I felt the horse had gone over.”

What happened to the tape?

Nobody could say. It was revealed afterwards that “somehow, part of the music programme had been blanked out.”

The show’s technicians insisted “the professionally-produced tape could not be tampered with,” but Lamontagne “claimed to have checked the tape three times before handing it to the technicians.”

Richard wrote: “Inevitably, rumours of sabotage circulated the arena. It was unpleasant for the technicians, and produced a most unsatisfactory end to what was otherwise an excellent competition.”

Richard’s verdict was that it was a “mix-up just waiting to happen”. Heiner and Without A Doubt were “the victims on this occasion”, he said, but “it could have happened to anyone at any show”.

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Aston-le-Walls hosted the British Riding Clubs Howden Combined Championships (26–27 September).

There were 14 classes for Riding Club members – with scores counting for both individual and team results. These included a mix of combined training (dressage and showjumping), and combined challenge (showjumping and cross-country), over heights from 60cm–100cm.

Darc Legend’s competitive career came to an end in the best way when he was crowned overall champion in the open combined training with Joanne Watts.

The 18-year-old home-bred gelding has represented Carleton RC at numerous British Riding Clubs championships over the past 11 years and has multiple national titles to his name – including this one in 2022.

“He’s been an amazing stalwart and has never let us down,” said Joanne.

“He felt great today, and I was really pleased to finish on our dressage score. We’ve had some of our most enjoyable days at riding club events and to finish on a win is special.”

Winners from the Riding Clubs Combined Championships

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Edwin Prosser and Laura Collett were recently revealed to be Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) 2026 supreme horse and pony judges. For equestrians both in and outside of showing, Laura’s is a household name. But what of Edwin?

For those of you who do not know the Welsh pony aficionado, here’s an insight into his background in horses, in showing, and what he will be looking for in the ring at HOYS.

Edwin's background in horses

Edwin grew up around ponies.

“My father had a smallholding,” says Edwin. “I used to drive his pony and trap. Then I had a pony and learned to ride and went to Pony Club.”

In his teens, Edwin picked up the ride on two local jumping ponies.

“The local butcher had bought 14.2hh jumping ponies for his daughters, and when they grew too old to ride them, I was offered the ride, and rode them for two seasons around the local county and agricultural shows.”

After leaving school, Edwin worked with point-to-pointers for a year before taking time away from horses.

“Then when my daughter was one, I bought her a Welsh section A and when she was old enough, we showed her for a few seasons on the lead until my daughter decided to give up. At that point, I looked to the in-hand ring and bought a section A stallion to show myself – Foxhunter Clove, who was champion at Glanusk in 1976.”

A long association with the famous Cottrell stud followed.

“I went to buy a foal from Mrs Johns-Powell at the Cottrell Stud, and from there she kept an eye on me, and I ended up doing and showing her ponies for 22 years.

“We won lots of major shows, including the Royal of England and the Royal Welsh, and were supreme at the Royal Welsh with Cwrtycadno Cadfridog in 1996, qualifying for the ‘Cuddy’.”

This wasn’t Edwin’s last qualification for Horse of the Year Show’s ‘Cuddy’ supreme – now the Price Family supreme in-hand championship.

Cadfridog’s daughter, Edwin’s own home-bred Mintfield Songthrush repeated her father’s success, standing Welsh section B and supreme at the Royal Welsh in 2004, earning her a spot in the coveted HOYS line-up.

He also produced Dr Wynne Davies’ stallion Trefaes Taran to qualify for the final, before he was shown by Dr Wynne’s son, David, to stand second in the pony final.

Since hanging up his showing jacket, Edwin has thrown himself into stewarding, including a 15-year stint in the main ring at the Royal Welsh.

As well as being a Welsh breeds enthusiast, Edwin is a big racing fan, making annual trips to Ireland to visit, among others, Coolmore, Ballylinch and Ballydoyle.

Edwin is also an experienced judge.

He had the honour of officiating over the in-hand championship at HOYS in 2022 with Tullis Matson, and joined Jocelyn Price to judge the junior mountain and moorland (M&M) final the same day, so judging the supreme won’t be his first experience of officiating over at the NEC.

“I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to this time,” says Edwin. “It took a while to sink in when I was first asked. It’s a real honour.”

Edwin has also judged all over the globe, including twice in Australia, America, Holland, France and Belgium, as well as at countless shows in the UK.

What will Edwin Prosser be looking for?

In the supremes, Edwin insists he will be looking for a quality exhibit and a good mover. It must also be “true to type” whatever it is, have clean limbs and correct conformation.

It may be easy to assume that given Edwin’s background and personal interests, he will be drawn to the welsh, or even the former racehorse, but previous form suggests not. Edwin and Tullis chose the horse division winner, broodmare Lovestruck as their champion, and Connemara mare Skaergaardens Delicious Love for reserve.

“It will be whatever stands out as the winner on the day,” says Edwin.

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Tetrathlon is the multi-discipline sport that encompasses swimming, running, riding and shooting, building an impressive skill set, that requires precision, fitness and athleticism, as well as horsemanship.

Children’s sport should create friendships, develop confidence, build resilience and spark the early notion of hard work and reward. But most of all, sport at this precious age should be fun. Step forward tetrathlon. What started as a sport for boys in the 1970s, has become the ultimate competition format for the true well-rounded athlete – enjoyed by the whole family.

Pony Club tetrathlon combines four disciplines: pistol shooting, swimming, running and riding. The distances and fence heights are set by age group: beanies (seven and under), tadpoles (nine and under), minimus (11 and under), junior (14 and under) and intermediate and open (25 and under). In some competitions, boys and girls compete separately, in others there are mixed gender teams at all levels.

“We probably have a higher showing of boys than we do in the other traditional Pony Club sports,” explains Alex Connors, Area 9 tetrathlon coordinator. “It was launched as a boys-only sport to keep boys interested in riding. Then over the years, girls were welcomed in, so now it’s equal.”

Pony Club tetrathlon chair Mandy Donaldson says the cross-country riding and shooting tend to draw boys in. The shooting phase – overseen by a qualified range officer – uses air pistols with lead pellets. Under-eights throw beanbags instead for this phase. And becoming a proficient swimmer is a life skill whatever avenue they end up following.

“It has a real appeal and the dads like coming along for the shooting,” says Mandy, who became chairman after her children grew up competing in the sport.

“We have dads who have become involved in volunteering and done the range officer qualification. ‘Tet’ becomes
a real family affair.”

Tetrathlon “builds an interesting skill set”

There are growing discussions around the benefits of children taking part in multi-discipline sport and this is something tetrathlon naturally promotes.

“The ultimate tetrathlete is a classic all-rounder and I think that’s part of the appeal,” says Area 5 coordinator Richard Mulcaster, who has come full circle in the sport from competitor to parent, to coach and coordinator.

“It provides a really interesting dynamic. For example, if you can score maximum points on the riding phase and you’re a really good shooter, you don’t have to be an amazing athlete.

“Very few score really high on all four phases. You might have someone who is strong at running, but not swimming – and when you think about it, the physiques of runners and swimmers don’t tend to go hand in hand. That’s why I think it’s so good for children of all levels, it welcomes everyone, the children get together and encourage each other.”

Richard adds that tet builds an interesting mixed skill set.

“When you put all four together, there’s the precision of shooting, the fitness and athleticism of running and swimming and the horsemanship of riding. I think that’s unique and that’s the broad appeal,” he says.

“You’re competing against friends, but you’re really pleased to see them do well, because it’s so hard to achieve. Then there’s always a party or two.”

Tetrathlon cross-country: “no walk in the park”

The riding phase takes place over a cross-country course along with a mounted gate-opening exercise, and a slip rail obstacle that requires dismounting and remounting. There is a maximum 1,400 points on offer for a clear round within the time allowed; points are deducted for time-penalties, jumping faults or for taking the alternative learner (L) fence – a simplified option.

The cross-country phase is no walk in the park.

“Intellectually, they have to be way more mature than their level [of riding]. The cross-country is four-star lines,” says top eventer Harry Meade, whose children Lily and Charlie compete for the Beaufort, training every Wednesday after school.

Twelve-year-old Charlie’s ambition is to win the open boys: “It’s the coolest trophy, a silver sword mounted on a plaque, and you get to keep it for a year,” he says.

Alex says “tetrathletes absolutely love a challenge” when it comes to cross-country.

“By having a learner fence, it means we can build our courses really top-end and quite difficult, on the basis that there’s a way for somebody who’s less experienced to get round, by taking penalties for doing those options,” she explains, adding that five-star eventer Nick Gauntlett is among the central England region cross-country tet coaches.

“We’re jumping really testing lines. We have difficulty finding schooling courses that would naturally be set up with the right kind of angles and questions at 80cm or 90cm, so very often we will cart around our portable jumps and get creative,” adds Alex.

Fife Hunt branch member Jessica Evans, 17, has been competing in tetrathlon since she was 11. Her goal for this season was the Pony Club championships with her gelding Todd.

“I’ve done a couple of British Eventing competitions, but nothing compares to tet lines. We went to Northern Ireland for the senior international and I’ve never experienced a course like it,” says Jessica, who chose tetrathlon because she wasn’t a fan of dressage.

“It becomes quite tactical because you need to think about your points. If you have a stop and then need to take the L fence, that’s a big chunk of points to lose, so you might be better just doing the L fence and taking those penalties to begin with.

“Anybody from any stage can do tet. I’m not the best swimmer, but you don’t have to be good at every event. Nobody judges, we just have fun.”

In tet, siblings can share ponies if they are in different age groups – and having the best horse or pony does not matter. For those who don’t ride, they can compete in three-phase triathlon competitions and the Pony Club offers non-ridden memberships.

“In the horsey world, you can buy a fabulous horse, pop someone on and off they go. But in tetrathlon, if you haven’t got out of bed and gone for a run, or stayed after school and gone to swimming club, you don’t get out as much as you could from the sport,” says Mandy.

“It takes away from being able to buy success, you can’t buy a faster run time or swim time.”

From Pony Club tetrathlon to the Olympics

Tetrathlon has produced many world-class athletes across the disciplines, including eventing, swimming, shooting and modern pentathlon.

Former Pony Club open tetrathlon champion Louise Waugh – née Helyer – won European medals for Great Britain in modern pentathlon.

“I had a brilliant time doing tetrathlon, it opened so many gateways to wonderful things,” says Louise, whose eight-year-old daughter Charlotte is now venturing into tetrathlon.

“I loved the challenge of the different disciplines and I made friends for life – they came to my wedding, and one is a godmother to my daughter.”

Another former tetrathlete is Kate Allenby, who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“I grew up in Australia where everyone swims – then when we moved to
Dartmoor, I got some riding lessons. I joined the Pony Club without a pony and having crossed off all the events that needed a pony, one of the things that was left was tetrathlon,” says Kate.

“My parents were amazing. They found a local gun club that taught me to shoot and I later got a pony on loan. Everything came together and I never looked back.

“I progressed through Pony Club then on to British teams and I made friends around the world. That was the crux of it really, the friendships. There’s a photo on my parents’ wall and it’s me, Jeanette Brakewell, Nicola Wilson and some others at the Pony Club championships when we were about 17 or 18.”

Kate, now a school PE teacher, says tetrathlon teaches young people to “manage themselves”.

“It teaches you how to work out where your weaknesses are and how you can make the biggest gains. When you’ve got team-mates around you, you support each other,” she explains.

“If someone is better in one phase, they become your role model, but maybe you’re helping them in a different phase – it’s swings and roundabouts. Nobody ever gets too big-headed in tetrathlon because they’ve all got a strength and weakness.”

Those involved in the sport say tetrathlon is building valuable life skills – and the community spirit is only highlighted further by the number of people, both athletes and parents, who return as volunteers.

“It’s the best sport any child could get involved in and that’s why I’m prepared to come back and give back to the sport,” says Mandy.

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Back in 2022, we qualified a pony for Horse of the Year Show (HOYS). It was a particularly special ticket; “Brian” was home-bred, and to say he was tricky would be a wild understatement!

A few weeks later, a parcel arrived in the post for Brian from “the HOYS fairy”, and Brian became one of, by now, almost 200 ticket holders to receive a package.

The HOYS fairy, Morean Hamilton, reveals why she continues to enjoy bringing an extra little bit of magic to certain combinations’ HOYS prep...

Ayrshire-based Morean began this tradition a decade ago.

“The first time I saw a little mini browband like the ones in the packages was with a friend from the north of Scotland. She had her own browband company, and she made them as little Christmas decorations,” says Morean.

“Then I ordered my new horse box, and she made me a blue and white one for my lorry, and that's when I got the idea. I asked her, ‘I wonder if you could do these for me for HOYS?’ And she did. That would be 10 years ago.”

That first year, Morean ordered and distributed eight browbands and accompanying cards.

“At that point in time, it was friends that were going, or people with home-breds and whatever, and that’s how it started. Unfortunately, after a couple of years, that original friend stopped making the browbands, and I thought, ‘I don't want to stop this,’ so I spoke to Valerie Lafond at Lafond browbands, and sent her one through the post for her to see. I asked if she would be willing to make them.”

Luckily, Valerie agreed, and now Morean orders 20 each June in preparation.

“Valerie makes them and she changes the design slightly each year – I get a little surprise too. I collect them from her or she posts them, and they're usually here for a good couple of months,” says Morean. “I know she has countless messages from other people, but I’m lucky Valerie only makes them for me each year, which makes them that little bit extra special. They’re one-offs.”

As well as the browbands, each recipient gets a card and some gold “sparkly bits” that come in a box topped with the HOYS logo, and some “signature purple tape”.

“I wrap them and do all the wee frilly bits. All the little sprinkles and whatever – they’re just all theatre, and help to make it a nice little surprise.

“I used to make the cards by hand using scrabble pieces,” says Morean, “but now I order the little credit-card sized ones that can be carried in pockets. It got too much to make 20 each year; I just didn’t have the time.

“I do use the HOYS logo, but I have permission to do so from Sandy Anderson. He joked that I had ‘stolen’ his logo, but in good humour. I checked that I wasn’t breaking any copyright rules!”

Morean explains that the season decides who receives a package each year.

“There has to be something special about it – a first HOYS or something remarkable. That’s why I sent your Brian one,” she tells me. “When I saw him qualify after all these challenges, I had to send him one.”

This season has been no different.

“I was watching the coloureds at the Royal Highland, for example, and a lovely little pony with a young girl was called forwards as champion on her birthday, and then they told her that there had been a mistake, and she wasn’t the champion and sent her back into line. I thought, ‘well that’s such a shame’, and added them to my list.

“I’ve got friends that have tried for years to qualify one with their wee girl, and this year, they’ve got two qualified, so they were a must. It kind of sorts itself out.”

Whether she knows the combination or not doesn’t matter to Morean.

“There’s often a degree of the Miss Marple about it,” she jokes. “I have to find out where to send it, so I track down mums or friends who might know where to send them.”

She sometimes has to adapt the package, too.

“I wanted to send Team Harvey some luck this time, but I couldn’t send all eight combinations a browband, so with a bit of detective work, I made a call to team member Hazel Sleight to make sure all the children – and adults – had an individual card, and a browband to share.

“They have this kind of universal appeal, and it always surprises me that people will reveal that they have wanted one for years, and wondered how to get onto the list!”

She sends them all out in September.

“I send them over my birthday,” she says. “I always take a few days off at that point anyway, so it means I can make sure they all get to their destinations.

“It’s so disappointing if they get lost, but that’s only happened a few times thankfully. I usually get a message to say thank you, and sometimes I get videos of the children opening them. I always make sure Valerie knows they are appreciated, too.

“Then at HOYS, I’m there for the week, so I try to watch how they all get on. It’s nice to follow the journey.”

This year, as well as watching, Morean will be there as a sponsor – Hamilton Tarmac sponsor the small hunter division – and as an owner, with five horses produced by Kirstine Douglas qualified across six classes. So what about her own horses? Do they get a browband?

“One of mine is being ridden by Kirstine’s groom, so she’s had one. But I make my horses special hoods. I like pink, or leopard print or something, but this year Kirstine has insisted on navy. I’m not there every day to exercise them and so on, so this is my way of preparing them; my HOYS tradition.”

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This time last year, Great Britain’s showjumping team were celebrating a momentous victory in the Longines League of Nations (LLN) Final in Barcelona, Spain.

The thrilling competition came down to a nail-biting jump-off between Scott Brash (Hello Jefferson) and Billy Twomey (Jumping Jack Van De Kalevallei), the former prevailing to lift the LLN Final silverware for the first time.

A year on, Great Britain has again qualified for this prestigious final after a string of good results this season, including team victory in Rotterdam spearheaded by Harry Charles and his then brand new ride LT Holst Freda. The four-round series concluded with Great Britain sitting second equal, tied on points with Germany, behind leaders France in the overall standings.

The top eight nations from those that contested the LLN series have qualified for this year’s final; hosts Spain take the number to nine.

So which horses and riders are flying the flag in Sunday afternoon’s LLN Final in Barcelona?

2026 LLN Final Barcelona: who is on the British team?

Reigning champions Great Britain field an A-list squad spearheaded by world number three and recent team bronze medallist at the showjumping World Championships in Aachen, Scott Brash. The Scotsman is spoilt for choice at the moment when it comes to horsepower and he has elected two of his top mares as potential team contenders – last year’s European Championships heroine Hello Folie and this year’s World Championships medallist Hello Mango, both of whom are owned by Lady Pauline Harris and Lady Pauline Kirkham.

Although Ben Maher is on the sidelines following his recent fall in Spruce Meadows, chef d’equipe Di Lampard has had a wealth of talent to choose from. She has selected team stalwart Tim Gredley with 14-year-old Medoc De Toxandria to travel to Barcelona, the pair jumped double clear for Great Britain’s winning side at the Nations Cup at Hickstead this summer.

Also on that Hickstead team was Jessica Mendoza, who will be bringing either Summerhouse or In The Air, and World Championships reserve rider Jack Whitaker lines up with 12-year-old stallion Jack JL, owned by Candice Reilly, who was last seen jumping alongside Tim and Jessica in Spruce Meadows, Canada.

The Barcelona squad is completed by LLN series debutante Jodie Hall McAteer with her mother Mandy Hall’s mare La Gupardie, who is only a 10-year-old but a very exciting prospect in Jodie’s string.

Can Ireland go one better in 2026?

Ireland has also enjoyed a consistent season in the LLN series, finishing fifth overall with 265 points. The nation will be represented in Barcelona by Billy Twomey (Ace Of Hearts Z), Trevor Breen (Highland President), Denis Lynch (Vistogrand) and Cian O’Connor (Chatolinue PS). Horse Sport Ireland high performance jumping manager Jessica Kürten has chosen Jason Foley as Ireland’s travelling reserve with Cute Face.

The Irish squad will be hoping to build on the result from 12 months ago when finishing runners-up to Great Britain after that thrilling jump-off between Scott Brash and Billy Twomey.

Who are their key rivals in the LLN Final Barcelona?

The newly crowned world champions Germany field three members of that title-winning team: Marcus Ehning, Sophie Hinners and world number one Richard Vogel. That trio line up alongside Jörne Sprehe and LLN newcomer Kendra Claricia Brinkop, so head to the LLN Final Barcelona as one of the clear favourites. Can they maintain their form in the closing stages of a very busy season however?

France scored two qualifying victories this season – in the series opener in Abu Dhabi as well as on home soil at St Tropez-Gassin weeks before the LLN Final. Winning riders Julien Epaillard and Antoine Ermann clearly arrive in Barcelona in tremendous form. Here they will be joined by some formidable team-mates in the form of Olivier Perreau, Kevin Staut and Nicolas Sers.

Brazil will be represented by Rodrigo Pessoa, Pedro Veniss, João Victor Castro Aguiar Gomes de Lima, Stephan de Freitas Barcha and Pedro Junqueira Muylaert, while Belgium’s hopes lie with Niels Bruynseels, Abdel Saïd, Emilie Conter, Pieter Devos and Roy van Beek.

Italy’s quintet are Piergiorgio Bucci, Emanuele Camilli, Giampiero Garofalo, Giacomo Casadei and Giulia Martinengo Marquet. The USA has Laura Kraut, McLain Ward, McKayla Langmeier and Kristen Vanderveen in action this week.

Lining up for host nation Spain are Julio Arias Cueva, Carlos Bosch Cebrian, Luis Jesus Escobar, Imma Roquet Autonell and Armando Trapote.

Where does the LLN Final Barcelona take place?

The annual Nations Cup showjumping-style event is hosted at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain, from 1-4 October.

Showjumping action begins tomorrow (1 October). The grand prix of the city of Barcelona takes place on Friday evening and the Queen’s Cup on Saturday night.

The LLN Final takes centre stage on Sunday afternoon as the new format continues to prove a huge hit with spectators. Four riders represent each nation in round one, the best three scores counting, and three combinations return for round two, when every score is added to the team tally.

Horse & Hound will keep you up to date with the latest news online and you can read the full report from the LLN Final in Barcelona in next week’s magazine, in shops Thursday, 8 October.

Castration of horses and donkeys is the most common surgical procedure in equine veterinary practice performed worldwide. However, there is widespread variation in how the surgery is performed, and in which medications are given pre- and post-operatively.

Elise Rodden MRCVS, a surgical resident at Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic and B&W Equine Hospital, explains: “There is a vast variation used by vets in the methods to geld or castrate a horse, presumably because no one protocol is perfect.

“Certainly, different options are available depending on the clinician’s choice and the exact circumstances. For instance, castration can be performed standing or under general anaesthesia (GA), in a hospital setting or on yards, placing sutures or not, using local anaesthetic or not, or leaving the skin incisions open or closing them.”

What can go wrong during castration?

Although a routine procedure, castration is not risk-free and although most complications are mild, some are serious and can even be fatal. A review undertaken by Elise in 2025 found 17 different reported complications following castration procedures.

“Among the less concerning complications are those that cause no distress to the horse but are a concern for the owner, such as swelling or continued undesirable behaviour, and mild complications that resolve with minimal intervention (oedema or localised infection),” says Elise.

“More seriously, severe and life-threatening complications such as bleeding, prolapsed gut or abdominal infection/inflammation can occur.”

Despite castration being a routine surgical procedure, reported mortality rates are up to 1%.

“Perhaps unsurprisingly, scrotal swelling is the most common problem reported, followed by infection of the surgical site,” adds Elise. “The size at which the scrotal swelling changed from being a normal post-operative finding, which is expected after surgery, to being considered to be a complication varies tremendously.

“Although less common, some of the other observed complications can be more serious if they are severe. These included bleeding and evisceration (when intestine or some abdominal tissue comes out through the open skin incisions), which can be a non-survivable complication.”

The risk of evisceration is thought to be higher for certain breeds, such as draught breeds and standardbreds. A prior history of a scrotal or inguinal hernias would also increase this risk.

“The risk can be minimised by suturing the tunic (which surrounds the testicle and is continuous with the lining of the abdominal cavity) closed once the testicle is removed,” explains Elise. “This prevents any intestines from the abdominal cavity from escaping into the abdomen via the incision at the castration site.

“To place such sutures safely and in a sterile fashion, a GA is recommended, which obviously increases the cost of a routine castration. A more complex procedure in a hospital under GA is more appropriate in these cases.”

Talking in more general terms, Elise says risks can be reduced by “gelding young, and ensuring that the colt is well-handled and castrated in a clean environment.

“Ultimately, the surgical choice should be based on a risk analysis for the individual horse, alongside your vet’s preferred approach and the facilities available, as well as economic factors.”

Why do we castrate colts?

When colts are gelded they can no longer produce large quantities of testosterone, making them easier to handle.

“Testosterone is a driver for sexual behaviour and reproduction,” explains Dr James Crabtree, junior vice president of the British Equine Veterinary Association and an independent vet consultant in equine reproduction and stud medicine.

“Horses are very big animals; colts that are a bit lairy don’t have their minds on the job and can be unpredictable. If you remove that testosterone, you remove that hormonal driving force behind the unwanted behaviour and the potential barrier to onward training.”

After castration, testosterone levels drop very quickly.

“It can be within a few days,” says James. “The reason we talk about not putting a newly castrated colt in with mares isn’t because they are still producing sperm, it’s because they could still have sperm left in the reproductive tract and the behaviour may not change immediately.

“Behaviour isn’t just the hormones; it’s also learned. It will vary according to individuals and environment. If the environment is very stimulating, with a lot going on, the horse may take longer to calm down.”

A further complication is that testosterone isn’t produced only by the testes. Mares also have testosterone, produced by their ovaries and adrenal gland, and a gelding will continue to have very low levels of it.

Is a horse’s growth affected by castration?

As well as being androgenic (responsible for promoting male sexual characteristics), testosterone is also anabolic – that is, responsible for muscle growth. So castration inevitably has a physical impact as well as a behavioural one.

“You can look at lots of different species and see this. For example, bulls are stocky with lots of muscle and bullocks are leaner,” says James. “Of course, that doesn’t mean to say that, with training, you can’t put the muscle mass on a gelding.”

Testosterone also plays a role in bone development as it indirectly helps close the growth plates (the cartilage at the end of the long bone, which fuses upon maturity). If a colt is gelded relatively early, before the plates have closed, the plates can stay open for longer and the gelding may grow taller than if he had been left entire.

These and other factors are taken into account when deciding at what age to geld.

“In racing, some people don’t want to geld too early, as that testosterone might give the horse a competitive advantage,” explains James. “In contrast, some colts’ testicles aren’t fully descended until they’re three years old, which can present a comfort issue for them in training, and which can be resolved by castrating.”

Why can some “coltish” behaviours remain?

Despite the lack of testosterone, some geldings do continue to demonstrate sexual behaviour long-term after castration and James says the reason behind this isn’t fully understood: “It might be remembered, as some geldings were stallions for a time, or learnt or genetically programmed.”

In other cases, it may be because the horse has undescended testicles; that is, they are not in the scrotum.

“If a gelding is showing dominant behaviour – often colloquially described as being a bit ‘riggy’ – it can be because there is testicular tissue still there, which you can’t see. In those individuals, we have to do some diagnostics.”

Using a combination of physical examination, ultrasound and hormone tests, a vet will assess whether any testicular tissue is present. If so, it’s removed surgically.

What are the side effects of castration?

Testosterone is part of a “negative feedback loop”. When the testes produce a lot of testosterone, it signals to the brain and pituitary gland to slow down production of the LH and FSH hormones. Without testes, that feedback loop is interrupted and less inhibited.

Research in dogs reveals some interesting differences between entire males and castrated males.

“There’s good evidence that intact males [dogs] have a lower risk of several immune-mediated and autoimmune diseases, making canines one of the veterinary species in which testosterone appears to exert a genuine protective immunological effect, although testosterone also increases the risk of several androgen-dependent conditions, particularly those affecting the prostate and perianal region.

“However, there’s currently no evidence to suggest that testosterone has a protective role in the long-term health of male horses.”

There’s also some evidence with dogs that the drop in testosterone following castration can cause increased anxiety and fearfulness, but again James says this isn’t typically seen in horses.

“Clinically, I don’t see a lot of geldings who lack confidence – if anything, you could argue they are not burdened by testosterone or oestrogen.

“It could be because horses have reasonably good socialisation from a young age, with their dams and other horses, so they don’t need testosterone to feel confident. Whereas dogs are often raised in single dog households and lack confidence when taken to a park full of other dogs.”

An alternative to surgical castration

A vaccination that could be an alternative to surgical castration has been used with some success. However, it’s currently not available for use in horses, meaning that any use is “off licence”.

It acts on the GnRH, which signals to the pituitary gland to release the hormones that stimulate the ovaries and testes, essentially limiting testosterone production (and oestrogen production in mares) from further up the hormonal chain.

“The GnRH vaccine is really interesting,” says James. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that it may suppress more than surgical castration, as it acts on a greater number of hormones. Also, its use is not without some significant risks.

“In some cases, the vaccine could be used for a time and you could still breed from the horse in the future, but there are no guarantees and its effect should practically be considered irreversible.

“Most people, if they want the stallion to have a breeding career later, will collect semen and freeze it first and then castrate, either surgically or chemically.”

Harry Meade rides out for Christian Williams, and goes behind the scenes to learn about their routines, management and philosophy

I am always intrigued visiting yards to see how other riders and trainers do things. When I go to a yard to try a young horse, I’ll often get side-tracked in the corner of a stable asking niche questions about their work routine or some other detail.

Christian Williams’ base at Ogmore-by-Sea is a state-of-the-art training
centre, but not in the conventional sense. I was fascinated to discover how his programme has been shaped by the extraordinary south Wales coastline, where the landscape itself provides facilities that many purpose-built yards would struggle to match.

The backdrop is stunning. Overlooked by the 12th-century ruin of Ogmore Castle, the yard is set at the mouth of the River Ewenny as it flows into the Bristol Channel. The beach and sand dunes are dramatic – immortalised in the filming of the desert scenes in Lawrence of Arabia. But as I arrive at the yard, with herds of thoroughbreds grazing in the sandy paddocks, the smell of salt and sea on the warm air of the summer heatwave, the atmosphere is low-key and peaceful.

Inside the indoor barn – which houses about 25 boxes as most of the 45-strong string live out 24/7 – eight horses for the first lot are tied up outside the stables being tacked up. My first impression is how very relaxed they are.

Riding out on the beach – “It’s idyllic”

I’m introduced to my ride, Fever Dream, a chestnut eight-year-old by Sholokhov who has won four races, and legged up.

We walk straight into the River Ewenny, a fast-flowing river reaching nearly up to the horses’ bellies and they stand patiently as we wait for Christian to join us. He often rides out to keep a close eye on his string. Watching him ride, his background as a top National Hunt jockey is obvious. Whatever the pace, his horse works softly into the bridle, relaxed and balanced throughout.

We hack down to the vast expanse of Ogmore beach along a couple of miles of sandy tracks, at one point climbing up a dune and then very steeply down in super-deep dry sand.

While horses tend to prop walking down firm or wet grass, on this deep sand they tilt their pelvises and tuck their quarters under, striding down like a panther. It’s only a short stretch, but it strikes me what a terrific natural feature it is from an athletic perspective – more beneficial for the horses’ backs than any physio session.

The beach was idyllic – you can see why Christian has little problem finding staff. We canter slowly in three huge circles. The sand rides in an identical fashion to the deep Wexford sand that has served the likes of Willie Mullins and countless Irish trainers so well. It’s wet, so it’s not loose, but deep so the horses work hard at a steady pace. Even better, it’s groomed daily by the tide.

The horses work hard, and recover by wading into the sea, walking and trotting along the shallow surf. Like a natural water treadmill, it’s beneficial for building up their strength and topline without concussion but with constant resistance.

They call the route back to the yard the “rollercoaster”. It winds around narrow, snaking tracks, almost like goat paths, which we canter along.

Christian’s father ran a trekking centre from his yard, so he grew up spending seven hours a day taking English tourists for beach rides. He knows these paths so well and it does feel like some sort of extreme trekking experience riding top-class racehorses.

You can’t go fast because of the complexity of the paths: 18-inch wide sand gullies carved into the long grass with banks keeping you in. You’re constantly weaving, going up and down, so both the horse and rider have to be incredibly well balanced, switching leads and adjusting to the rapidly changing inclines, which are at times extreme, almost a white-knuckle ride – it’s brilliant.

It impresses me how, when we get to the twistier bits, the horses stay in this relaxed, collected canter – it’s working every muscle in their body with terrific engagement and relaxation. It’s a constant challenge on the horse’s ability to find first gear and not let the engine drop out. I feel like I’m riding a high-class polo pony – never strong, and able to manoeuvre, open up and close down.

I love how this kind of work gives the horses something to think about without any kind of mental stress. Besides being supple, balanced and relaxed, it requires tremendous mental concentration as the horses think where to put their feet. It’s far from demoralising – it’s a decent workout and it’s fun. I’d imagine strong horses settle quickly here.

Next, we come to a fascinating sporting landmark – the Big Dipper. This is like a ski piste of deep soft sand, which levels out at the bottom. Here, what looks like a group of professional athletes are limbering up to run up the slope. There’s a tyre on a harness ready for action. It looks gruelling. Christian tells me that this is a well-known natural training area, where Olympic sprinters Linford Christie and Colin Jackson, and other track athletes, boxers and rugby teams used to do conditioning work.

Before sport became institutionalised with the likes of Loughborough and Bisham Abbey created as centres of excellence, many athletes used to come here on training camps and take advantage of the sand and steep inclines – just as Christian is doing for his equine athletes.

Christian doesn’t have all-weather gallops, horse walkers, covered rides or indoor schools. Yet his outfit is like a bespoke training centre with a wonderful variety of natural facilities, with both fitness and therapeutic benefits.

If I imagine a blank canvas to create a state-of-the art yard where everything could be sculpted to provide the changing gradients and surfaces that are best for horses’ fitness and welfare, you’d base a lot of that on what Christian has. He has the rollercoaster undulations of the dunes, the long straights and Wexford sand circles on the beach; the sea and rivers work as swimming pools, cold water spas and water treadmills.

They have all that on their doorstep and can incorporate it incidentally into their programme with little effort.

Turnout, feed and rugging

Back at the yard, the horses are hosed off before being turned out naked, in groups of seven.

My horses also spend most of their time out in the field, but in individual paddocks. Ours have horses all around them, but they each have a corridor between them and the horse next door as I worry about kicks and preventable injuries. Christian says that they rarely get kicks, but any that do would be stabled more and go out in smaller, separate paddocks on their own.

The horses are fed outside from individual tubs. Christian’s brother and assistant trainer Nicky explains that they know their hierarchy and all line up in a queue at feeding time according to their order, without fighting. They’re on sand – apparently you can walk in the fields in your slippers in the middle of winter – so the horses can go out in all weathers, well rugged as necessary.

There’s a negligible amount of grass, just enough to pick at but without the worry of them blowing up on lush grass in the spring. I’d imagine they get most of their nutrition from their bucket feed and haylage (which is made locally and smells delicious).

It’s a nice connection that Christian and I both feed D&H, and we chat about the benefits. His horses look outstanding – they are fit, but well conditioned with unsurprisingly good toplines in keeping with the kind of work they are doing.

Finally, we head up to a huge field on a hill overlooking the sea that Christian rents off a local farmer for his summering horses. This is on limestone soil, which not only has great drainage and grass cover, but has natural mineral benefits too.

There must be about 30 horses here – shoes off, sun-bleached coats – enjoying their last few days of holiday before it’s time to move back to the yard and start their fitness work ready for the National Hunt season.

Christian walks around the herd, picking out a few superstars such as Kitty’s Light – winner of the Scottish National and nearly half a million in prize money. Another is six-year-old House Of Habsburg – a big, strapping type who’s won his last three races and is tipped for the top.

I think that I’d like to live at Christian’s yard if I were a horse. My overall impression is that they’re both mentally and physically relaxed and enjoy their work – no doubt due to living out the whole time and being in full, varied and mentally stimulating work. It seems inconceivable that a horse could be unhappy in its work here.

It’s not brass knobs and marble troughs, but if you were going to design a training centre from scratch with nothing but the horses’ welfare and athletic development in mind, you’d wish for something remarkably similar.

But this outlier on the Welsh coast is a one-off that, sure as anything, money cannot buy.

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Anyone who has sold and bought property knows that moving is one of the most stressful things a person can do – but what about equestrian property?

If moving once and landing in a horsey home for life is your aim, buying a forever home – or one to invest in and sell to fund retirement or future projects – takes more than just instincts. Forward planning will set you on the path to success.

From planning permission to budgeting and maintenance, here are the key factors to consider when trying to maximise the value of equestrian property.

Buying the right equestrian property

Buying a horsey home that'll set you and your horses up together forever, for many, is a dream come true. However, many of these sought-after forever homes return to the market.

How can people bear to let them go? Frequently, the situation is out of their hands.

Sometimes the sale of a late relative’s home puts equestrian property back on the market. Other times empty-nesters willingly downsize. Or, the home – though perfect when bought – simply isn’t futureproof.

“It’s about balancing domestic comfort with equine functionality,” says Abi Rhodes, director at Rural Scene. “The most common issue I hear from customers who are moving is that they simply don’t have enough grazing land.”

According to Sarah Lucas, land agent at Brown & Co, buyers should also consider evolving needs over the coming decades.

“That may mean accommodating retired horses, supporting younger family members entering the sport or creating additional income opportunities.”

Properties can fall short in their provision for the human occupants too.

“If the home needs to grow outwards or upwards to accommodate relatives in the future, structural and legal boundaries must be vetted immediately,” adds Abi.

While buying somewhere to live forever may secure the rest of your life, many properties become a nest egg that will facilitate retirement or future projects.

Adding to or extending equestrian facilities, or the home itself, is obvious for maximising values of equestrian property. Turning a ring-fenced agricultural smallholding into a bells and whistles “fully equestrianised” haven will, as Abi puts it, “always fetch a premium price”.

How much does equestrian property maintenance cost?

Let’s say you uncover an ideal-acreage equestrian home within budget in the kind of location that ticks all your boxes now and forever. Perfection in theory – but don't be caught out by maintenance.

Stunning equestrian properties don’t stay flawless on their own, so how can you chose a property that stands the test of time?

“When purchasing a long-term ‘forever home’, a multi-decade timeline shifts the financial focus from surface-level cosmetics to major structural life cycles,” warns Abi. “Over 20 to 40 years, every major component of a house will eventually reach its expiration date and require complete replacement.

“To plan accurately, buyers must break their long-term expenses into three distinct categories: fixed structural life cycles, preventative maintenance and rolling cosmetic updates.”

A buyer intending to remain in a property for several decades should budget for the full life cycle of key building components, says Brown & Co land agent Lulu Agnew. “Long-term ownership is often more affordable when these predictable costs are planned for gradually rather than dealt with reactively.”

In terms of maintenance, Lulu and Abi advise:

• Boilers, bathrooms and kitchens need periodic replacement
• Roofing, windows, drainage systems and external finishes may require significant investment over time
• Routine maintenance, such as gutter cleaning, fencing repairs, tree management and redecoration should also be anticipated
• Stable buildings require ongoing attention to roofing, timberwork, concrete floors and drainage
• Arenas need regular levelling, surface maintenance and drainage management to remain safe and functional, and surfaces will need topping up over time
• Exposed exterior wood requires staining or painting every three to five years to prevent rot
• Metal roofs on barns rust and standard shingles or metal sheets require full replacement on a 25-year cycle
• Timber post-and-rail lasts around 15 to 20 years; even pressure-treated wood posts rot at the ground line where moisture sits. Expect to replace individual rotted posts and snapped rails annually, with a complete fence-line replacement required every two decades

Maximising value of equestrian property with renovations that pay off

What if you plan to sell down the line? Smart investments will increase value.

“A well-maintained property will be worth more and look attractive to prospective purchasers,” says Sue Grant of Fox Grant. “A well-thought-out staged maintenance schedule can help to budget and spread the cost.”

Even totally undeveloped land can be transformed into a viable equestrian set-up.

“The cost of installing mains water to paddocks and field shelters generally pays dividends when you come to sell,” Sue adds. “Look on second-hand sale sites for materials; it’s amazing what people want to give away. Farm sales are also a good place to look for equipment.”

For larger-scale projects, a little research will help you spend wisely.

“Size is key,” says Abi, when offering tips for building an arena. “In this day and age, a 20x40m often isn’t large enough.

“Well-ventilated barns with internal stabling and wide aisle ways seem to be more sought after now compared to the old-fashioned timber looseboxes.”

Abi adds that high-quality, low-maintenance fencing is frequently overlooked.

“Fencing is the very first thing an equestrian buyer sees and poor fencing is a financial deterrent.”

Supporting your income with an equestrian property

Securing your future takes many forms – one of them could be capitalising on your property’s business potential.

Fox Grant managing director, chartered surveyor and horseman William Grant’s enterprising mindset helped him launch several business ventures from his equestrian smallholding in Wiltshire.

He purchased a five-acre parcel next to his own property for extra grazing, but started diversifying shortly after.

“We welcomed our first camper in 2009; they wanted somewhere to stay near Stonehenge, which is just a couple of miles from us,” he says. “Now we get around 15,000–20,000 campers a year.”

As well as the campsite – which has grown to include glamping units – William also facilitates storage and runs weddings and events, including Solstice Fest, a four-day music and wellbeing festival in June.

For William, anyone with land who is enterprising and open-minded enough can use it to earn a partly or completely passive income, and permitted development goes a long way.

Permitted development under class BC in England allows the use of any land as a recreational campsite for not more than 60 days in total in any calendar year – limited to 50 pitches.

In England, class BC is in addition to class B permitted development UK-wide, which allows you to use any land for any purpose for not more than 28 days.

William says demonstrating what’s commercially viable on your land through permitted development can also make resale more lucrative.

“If you do sell your property, then you’re also selling a business opportunity,” he remarks. “You’re adding equity by showing people there is cash flow right there waiting for them.”

Planning permission for equestrian homes

Off-the-peg equestrian homes are few and far between, and securing the finished article at purchase stage often requires an astronomical budget.

For Charlotte Roberts-Barr, senior consultant at Boatwrights, the best thing a purchaser can do is see the potential for long-term gains in an equestrian property.

“You can enlist the services of a planning consultant or put in a pre-application yourself,” says Charlotte.

You don’t have to own a property to submit a pre-application, but it can up to 10 weeks for a decision. Therefore, vendors can benefit from being able to demonstrate planning potential to prospective buyers via their own pre-app.

“I’d estimate it would cost around £1,000 for a consultant to submit it, but they understand the language and trigger points that the local authority may or may not look for,” Charlotte adds.

Maximising value with planning permission

Even if you don’t plan to make major changes to a property before you sell and capitalise, you can be shrewd with planning to secure development for potential buyers. If you have agricultural buildings standing empty, changing their classification – even without fully completing any works – can help boost your nest egg’s value.

“I would always apply for Class Q planning,” says Charlotte. “If it’s an agricultural building with a concrete base that’s been used for agricultural purposes in the last 10 years, you can apply for a 56-day notice to convert that building into a residential dwelling under Class Q planning.

“It’s the difference between a barn worth £100,000 and a barn worth £300,000, for instance.”

You can diversify your property to attract a future proprietor even if you don’t plan to run a business from home yourself.

“Let’s say for instance that you have a stable block and obtain planning to convert it to holiday lets,” says Charlotte.

“You would then undertake a material start to that conversion. This would constitute the most basics works as detailed by that scheme, such as clearing trees or moving fences.

“The key is also to ensure you register commencement of works with the council. That’s basically your stage one and it locks in the planning permission for that specific development – the planning cannot lapse.”

● Have you bought, renovated or diversified an equestrian property? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your thoughts published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine

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Classic-winning Saffie Osborne is the latest in a long line of famous female jockeys to have broken the mould and make horse racing history.

The sport of kings is no longer just a man's world, as a succession of pioneering women have proved over the past 50 years.

So who are the most famous female jockeys in racing history? From Grand National hero Rachael Blackmore to multi-winning Hayley Turner, we celebrate the groundbreaking achievements of some of the women riders who have changed the shape of horse racing.

Famous female jockeys and the key milestones

• 1804: Alicia Thornton makes a groundbreaking debut for female jockeys, riding side-saddle in a race held at York
• 1967: Val Greaves becomes the first ever female jockey to ride in a Flat race under Rules and the pioneering rider would later become the first professional to win over jumps
• 1972: The first race for female jockeys takes place at Kempton, won by amateur Meriel Tufnell, Britain’s first female champion jockey

• 1976: Diana Thorne becomes the first female winner under National Hunt rules when she beat her father John in a photo finish for a hunter chase at Stratford.
• 1976: Jenny Stamp is the first woman to ride at the Cheltenham Festival, partnering 25-1 shot Fair Gleam in the National Hunt Chase
• 1977: Charlotte Brew finds fame as the first woman to ride in the Grand National, although it would take another five years before Geraldine Rees became the first to finish in the Aintree showpiece, finishing eighth on Cheers
• 1978: Karen Wiltshire makes history as the first female professional to ride a winner on the Flat, at Salisbury for her boss Bill Wightman. The same year, Lorna Vincent enjoys a breakthrough first female victory against fellow professionals over hurdles at Exeter racecourse
• 1983: Caroline Beasley is the first female jockey to ride a Cheltenham Festival winner, coming home first in the Foxhunter Chase. Three years later, the amateur then scored a pioneering victory over the Grand National fences with the same horse in the Fox Hunters’ Chase at Aintree.

• 1984: Linda Sheedy enters the record books aboard Foxbury as the first female jockey to ride in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, partnering Foxbury
• 1987: Gay Kelleway, who a year earlier became the first woman to ride in a British Classic, makes history as the first woman to win at Royal Ascot
• 1993: Julie Krone is the first female jockey to win an American Classic

• 1996: Alex Greaves, daughter of pioneering Val (above) becomes the first female jockey to ride in the Derby at Epsom, going on to become the first female Group One winner the following year riding Ya Malak, finishing in a dead-heat with Kevin Darley in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York.
• 2006: Nina Carberry is the first female jump jockey in Great Britain and Ireland to win a Grade One, taking the Champion Bumper at the Punchestown Festival on the Noel Meade-trained Leading Run. She became the leading female rider at the Cheltenham Festival with seven career winners.
• 2008: Debutante champion apprentice Hayley Turner goes on to become the first female jockey to ride 100 winners in a year. In 2011 she becomes the first to ride a Group One winner outright and earns her place in racing history as the first woman to ride 1,000 winners. The only other female jockey to do so is Hollie Doyle.
• 2012: Another famous female jockey is Katie Walsh, whose third-place finish in the Grand National on Seabass was a significant milestone as the highest ever finish for a female rider

• 2015: Jump jockey Lizzie Kelly becomes the first woman to win a Grade One over fences - aboard Tea For Two at Kempton – going on to become the first female professional to ride a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, landing the 2018 Ultima aboard Coo Star Sivola.
• 2015: Ascot’s Shergar Cup is won by an all-female team for the first time, with Sammy-Jo Bell earning the silver saddle award as the leading jockey at the race meeting.
• 2015: Michelle Payne is the first female jockey to win the famous Melbourne Cup in Australia, riding Prince Of Penzance to victory at odds of 100/1
• 2019: Bryony Frost earns a legion of new fans when becoming the first female jockey to win a Grade One at the Cheltenham Festival
• 2021: Rachael Blackmore makes global headlines as the first female rider to win the Grand National, followed by the Gold Cup the following season on A Plus Tard

• 2022: Hollie Doyle achieves the first placing in a British Classic then becomes the first woman to win a European Classic
• 2025: Aamilah Aswat makes her racing dream a reality as the first Black British female jump jockey, winning her first race a couple of months later
• 2026: Saffie Osborne becomes the first female jockey to win a British Classic, partnering the Joseph O’Brien-trained Highwayman to victory in the 250th running of the Doncaster race

Look out for other leading Flat jockeys riding at the moment, including Joanna Mason and Gina Mangan, while the likes of Izzi Ryder, Fern O'Brien and Gina Andrews – sister of Cheltenham Festival-winning Bridget Andrews – continue to pave the way in jump racing.

• For more exclusive and expert insight into equestrian sport, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

In episode 181 of The Horse & Hound Podcast, top British equestrian Gemma Stevens talks to our eventing editor Pippa Roome about winning Defender Burghley Horse Trials, how it feels to have achieved one of her major career goals and what’s next.

In this episode, Gemma reflects on the incredible journey she's been on with Chilli Knight, from an unassuming young horse “who used to cock his jaw and run out all the time” to winning her first “big B”.

To hear more about the role Chris and Lisa Stone have played in Gemma’s career, what she's learnt from other key horses such as her brilliant cross-country specialist Arctic Soul and whether winning a “big B” has changed her ambitions for the future, listen to the podcast.

Want to listen to more podcasts?

Every episode is available for H&H fans to listen to via your favourite podcast app, as well as here on the website. Search for “The Horse & Hound Podcast” in your preferred podcast app and click subscribe to be notified about each new episode.

• View all episodes of The Horse & Hound Podcast

Whatever your preferred discipline, there is so much to enjoy listening to in our podcasts. We love to hear your feedback on any of our podcasts, so please do send your thoughts to pippa.roome@futurenet.com

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This year’s Agria Blenheim Horse Trials results were as exciting as ever, with riders scooting up and down the leaderboard until the final top 10 were settled on Sunday afternoon.

Tom McEwen dominated, scoring a one-two in the Agria CCI4*-L as well as winning the GFS Saddles young horse CCI4*-S on Brookfield Danny De Muze.

Let’s check out the top 10 from the showcase class, the CCI4*-L…

Blenheim Horse Trials results: the CCI4*-L top 10

Tom with his two horses in the CCI4*-L, The Fieldmaster and Brookfield Quality, plus his team. His grooms for his five horses were Amy Bliss Bennett, Molly Walker and Adam Short.

The Fieldmaster moved up from fourth after dressage with the second fastest cross-country round, just three seconds over the optimum time.

Tom piloted Brookfield Quality, owned by John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn, to second place. This 17-year-old horse is hugely experienced, with three top-five placings at five-star. Here he added four cross-country time-faults and one showjump down to a 26.5 dressage, which had left him third after the first phase.

Sam Ecroyd steered two horses into the top five, finishing third on Vicki and Stewart Irlam’s Jackpot, who was previously ridden by his girlfriend Emily King. The pair moved up from overnight sixth in the final showjumping phase, in which they added just 0.4 of a time-fault, and made a 16-place rise on their dressage rank of 19th.

Owners join the top three riders on the podium in front of Blenheim Palace – still partially covered in plastic because of an extensive roof restoration project.

Fourth-placed Speedwell, owned by Karen Coumbe, Colin Graves, Deborah Strang, Hannah Caven and rider Jesse Campbell, jumps the brush fence out of the first long water crossing on the way to fourth. Putting some blips earlier in the season behind them, New Zealand rider Jesse is now considering a tilt at five-star at Kentucky Three-Day Event next April on this former ride of his late wife, Georgie.

Sam Ecroyd built on third in the CCI4*-S at Bramham Horse Trials and third at Millstreet CCI4*-L with the 11-year-old Bloomfield Manuscript, owned by Joe and Kate Walls and Tricia and Rob Sargent, with fifth here.

At Millstreet, his showjumping let him down. One down here was a significant improvement and the pair again showed their speed across country with just 3.6 time-faults on a day when only one pair, 11th-placed Oliver Townend and Sommersby, made the target. Like Sam’s other horse, Bloomfield Manuscript climbed up the leaderboard, as he was 17th after dressage.

A showjumping clear sealed sixth for Gemma Stevens and Chilli’s Jester, owned by Chris and Clare Mathias and Chris and Lisa Stone. The horse is a full-brother to her recent Defender Burghley Horse Trials winner Chilli Knight.

Wiltshire-based New Zealand rising star Tayla Mason and Joopiter take seventh, up from 51st after dressage. The horse is owned by Tayla, her mother Sonya, Therese Miller and Katherine Corich and like her top horse Centennial, was bred by Sonya, by Euro Sport Centavos. His dam is Tayla’s young rider horse, Just Joop.

Young Australian rider Oliver Barrett re-routed after a fall at the eventing World Championships and finished eighth on his parents Craig and Prudence and brother Jesper’s Sandhills Briar, on whom he won Adelaide five-star in the spring. The pair led the dressage, but slipped down the order with 19.2 time-faults on Saturday. They finished on a good note with a showjumping clear.

Oliver was part of the mixed Australian-US team who took on the British Rising Lions in the Blenheim Challenge team competition. The Stars & Stripes came out on top, taking the majority of the £70,000 prize-money, which was split between riders, grooms, the US youth programme and US-based non-profit Work to Ride.

It was another good weekend for Tom Jackson, who rode Brookfield William – owned by the familiar Brookfield names of Alison Swinburn and John and Chloe Perry – into ninth place. The 10-year-old gained four places with his showjumping clear on Sunday.

New Zealand’s Clarke Johnstone secured 10th on Sparky Lad, who won the big-money ex-racehorse class at Cornbury in 2025. The son of Smart Missile belongs to Waratah Equestrian PTY Ltd. Their top-10 placing was achieved despite a frangible breakage across country – without it, they would have been third.

• More from Blenheim in this week’s Horse & Hound magazine, dated 24 September. To stay up to date with the latest equestrian news, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

Graham Dunkley is one of the judges who has the enviable task of judging at the 2026 Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).

This year, what each judge is assessing will be revealed just the night before the class. Trialled in 2024, this format is back by popular demand. So, while we won't know what Lancashire-based Graham is judging for the time being, we can learn a little more about him, his background in showing, and what she will be looking for in the ring.

One thing we do know, having been trained as a classical chef, Graham can handle the heat...

Graham's background in horses and showing

Graham rode and began showing as a child. Though he rode many show ponies, two native ponies have had a significant influence on his equestrian journey.

That particular journey “began back in 1975 on a little Welsh Section A lead-rein pony called Norgwill Pipi,” says Graham.

“At the time, the local riding school was run by husband and wife team Bob and Pat Templeton, who decided to try their hand at producing show ponies. Bob later became a well-known showman with strong links to HOYS and after marrying Julie, they went on to help shape the showing world as it is today.

“My little pony Pipi also went on to enjoy success, winning his breed section at the Olympia finals.”

The second pony hit headlines just earlier this year. This was the latest addition to the Dunkley family’s herd: Highland pony Genesis of Westown (Noah). Incidentally, you can find out more about this in the March 5, 2026 issue of Horse & Hound.

“Quite unexpectedly, Noah brought me back into the show ring as a rider after a 30-year break. It certainly was not planned but he reminded me that being in the saddle is my happy place,” says Graham.

“In showing, it is easy to become so focused on turnout and performance that we put too much pressure on ourselves and those around us. Noah reminded me that we do this sport for fun. For those of us who are truly hooked, nothing quite compares with the bond between horse and rider, and competing against yourself to be better that you were yesterday.”

Owning horses is a lifelong learning curve for any equestrian. Graham believes that “the most important lesson horses have taught me is that the right way in the end isn’t always the quickest way. There isn’t a gadget or TikTok video out there that replaces the need for patience, kindness and understanding that every day is a school day. That is true when working with horses, and it is just as true in every aspect of life.”

In a lifetime spent around show ponies and horses, Graham has had a good number of highlights to remember.

“I have been lucky enough to ride some beautiful horses and ponies over the years and have enjoyed many amazing moments.”

However, one of his fondest is the memory of “a small local show, watching my son absolutely smash his first-ridden debut on his little Shetland pocket rocket.”

Graham's judging experiences and highlights

“Before judging, I got into stewarding once my riding career paused.”

This is something he would encourage all prospective judges to do.

“It teaches you how to manage a ring, which is ultimately the job of the judge. You learn to spot that child who is about to take flight on their bombproof schoolmaster, or how to deal with the one who has had a wrong leg and needs some encouragement before dealing with mum outside the ring.

“I was one of the main ring evening performance stewards for Ponies UK when it was at the East of England Showground, along with Phill Judge and Nigel Oliver. Great times.

“You also see much more than you would from the other side of the ropes and when I was starting out, the knowledge I gained from watching and talking to the senior judges was invaluable and helped me gain the confidence to become a judge.”

Graham started judging at at a very local level, “as is the case with most judges,” and has now now been a panel judge for over thirty years.

“I have been fortunate to judge at some fantastic shows and, without detracting from those experiences, my highlight has to be my two previous HOYS judging appointments; to judge at HOYS is both an honour and a privilege.

“That is the gig that every judge starting out wants to be invited to. The first time is obviously a bit daunting leading up to the show; however, the second time, you can allow yourself the time to take it all to enjoy and appreciate the experience of judging the best of the best.”

What will Graham be looking for in the ring?

“I started my riding career on show ponies and these, for me, will always hold that special place,” he says. “However, you will always get a kick when that special animal walks into the ring and that can come from any of the sections.

“I want to see animals smiling through the bridle, with an attitude that cannot be ignored,” he continues. “Reaching the finals is incredibly difficult, so all the ponies will already be of a high standard, true to type, correct in conformation and way of going.

“I’m really excited to see the one or two with that unmistakable star quality, deserving of having their names on the roll of honour alongside the great show animals of the past.”

Graham’s pet hates

“Maybe I am turning into a grumpy old man but I have a few. My biggest bugbear is bad manners and that is from the competitors. I was always taught to smile, be on time, be correctly presented and give the impression that I was doing something I enjoyed.

“Another one is animals going in a forced outline and not carrying themselves. But the pet hate that frustrates me the most is overcomplicated individual performances that are often inappropriate for the class and are usually badly executed.

“As a judge, I want to see lots of little things done well: correct paces with crisp transitions. I would rather see simple perfection than complex chaos. I have lost my winner numerous times for this reason.”

Tips for HOYS first-timers

Graham says: “The clue is in the title – be a showman.

“From the second you step into the ring to when – if you are lucky enough to be – you’re cantering out on the lap of honour, you are on show and someone will always be watching.

“Don’t play it safe; try to wow. With reference to my earlier point, that doesn’t mean attempting a one-handed serpentine, with a rein back and a walk to canter thrown in for good measure. At HOYS, there will be a set show, so take time to execute it correctly, don’t rush and most of all, enjoy the ride.”

• For more expert insight from judges, top riders and producers, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

I had a proper debrief after the Europeans last summer with my trainer Anne van Olst. It wasn’t the result we wanted, so we went right back to basics and started again from there. What did we want to change? What could be better in the preparation? It was about becoming more of a team again, really – harmony, seeing what works.

It’s difficult when it doesn’t go to plan, but we never doubted Glamourdale would get back to his best. He always feels like he’s getting stronger and there’s always a little bit more in him – the hard part is getting it all right at the same time.

One thing we worked on was my position – just being quiet, sitting still, taking a breath instead of thinking, “Come on, we have to do it,” the second I’m in the ring.

The other was the basics: taking time off for him so he could hack, gradually building him up, then giving him a weekend to relax before we upped it again.

We kept to a variety all winter and didn’t compete him too much beforehand, so he arrived at the world championships in Aachen happy and fresh rather than campaigned into the ground.

We arrived on the Sunday, with the vet check on the Monday. It isn’t far to travel for us, so there was no need to go early. We were in the new stable block in Aachen, which was amazing even in the heat, with our own section for the British horses.

Things like the wash bays were well set up and big, too, which makes life easier with a stallion. Getting him there can be tricky if there are mares and other horses around, so having that sorted made a big difference.

He’d had a couple of weeks off breeding work before Aachen – not long, because he’s in demand. It’s part of what pays his costs, so that side matters, too. Mentally, he’d happily breed all the time, but we have to balance that against keeping his body fresh. And before Aachen, as a team, we got everything right.

We ride him over to the trot-up rather than leading him in-hand, because it keeps everything separate in his head from the breeding work. As soon as I’m on his back, he knows it’s dressage. It’s a system that works well with the stallions; if they’re led in-hand, they can get confused.

But from the moment we arrived, he was quiet and happy in his stable. We had one familiarisation session on the Monday, then I just sat on him and walked on the Tuesday to give him a leg-stretch before the grand prix the next day. That morning, he felt so good that I thought to myself, if there’s going to be a time, it’s now.

Glamourdale loves the crowds; he’s always been like this. Even at seven, when he won at the young horse World Championships, he loved that crowd. He’ll walk out on a long rein afterwards, just listening to them cheer.

But in the warm-up at Aachen, every time I let him go on a longer rein, he’d look over towards the main stadium and try to go there. I’d have to tell him, “No, we have to wait, it’s not our time yet.”

The whole way in, he was whinnying, ears pricked, trying to go faster. Then as soon as he was actually inside, he’d go quiet, and you could feel how settled he was. He’s done it in London, too – heading off to the main arena on a long rein because he knows that’s where everyone is. It’s an amazing quality for a horse to have.

I thought the grand prix went well. He warmed up beautifully and there was just a small misunderstanding going into the first piaffe. After that, we were completely in tune. At this level, you can’t dwell on a mistake – you’re already onto the next movement. It’s milliseconds, millimetre work – the slightest shift of a seat bone or a wrist – and over time it just becomes instinct through repetition.

But we did what we needed to for the team that day, which was the most important thing.

We had a day off before the special. We did a light training session in the covered arena that day so it wasn’t too warm for him, just working a few exercises in walk to get the feeling I needed without riding him too much – half-passes, walk pirouettes, that kind of thing.

At the end, I picked him up and rode the last line of the canter pirouettes, then I just sat there and said to Anne: “He’s so ready.”

It gives me such extra confidence having Anne there on the ground.

She’s so knowledgeable and she knows us inside out. Having her there also means someone’s making sure you don’t do too much, because you’ve still got two more days of competing ahead.

At that moment we both knew that whatever happened, we couldn’t have prepared any better.

On the day of the special, we had a long break between morning and evening sessions due to the heat. I was competing in the evening. I watched Becky Moody and Jagerbomb’s test in the morning, then went back to the hotel for lunch: simple pasta with tomato. It’s always pasta before a competition, so I know I’ll have the energy. Then I put on a sleep playlist to zone out properly.

A couple of hours before I got on, I switched to more of a high-beat playlist to switch on. It’s always the same songs, Titanium by Sia, Diamonds by Rihanna. Then I watched old videos back and ran through a few exercises to make sure my body felt ready. By the time I got on, I had total focus.

Going into the special, all you see is your pathway in and you just stay in it. I don’t remember much else, I was in such full focus.

I remember the trot extensions, the passage, the half-passes – we just floated through. It gave me a read on how he was feeling, and from there, you know how much to ask of him and how much risk to take.

After the Europeans, that pressure around the first piaffe – where we had made a mistake – was definitely in my head too, but we’d worked hard on my head as much as anything: relax, don’t panic, he can do it. In the special, I believed it and I think that showed in him.

I could hear the crowd. I remember I was in the middle of my one-time changes on the centre line and I just heard gasps. I almost laughed, I was like, “Really? In the middle of my ones? What’s going on?”

But his changes are incredible – so natural and big that sometimes I actually play it safe and don’t allow him too much forward, because he naturally goes into them. I wasn’t going to ask him to wait this time though.

I thought, if you want to do it like this, let’s do it, and show them the best we can. It’s always a risk showing changes that big. They take up the whole diagonal and if you start them even slightly late, you can find yourself in trouble by the end. But I’ve done them enough times now, I know if I get the timing right going in, we’ll be fine.

I hadn’t watched anyone else’s test beforehand or taken note of the scores, although you can’t really avoid hearing them over the loudspeaker while you’re warming up, so I did hear a few before I went in. Coming out of the arena, my legs were shaking. I don’t think I’d ever felt adrenaline like it.

There was one combination after me, Katharina Hemmer and Denoix PCH, who won bronze. I didn’t watch them go. I took Glamourdale back to the stable, gave him a carrot and walked back to the mixed zone because there’s nothing worse than standing there waiting.

But I knew it was the best test we’d ever done. There have been amazing tests before, but for the whole thing to come together like that was incredible. And to win, you’re doing it for the whole team, not just yourself. You don’t want to make a mistake for “Glammy” either, because he deserves the win. It was incredible.

In the freestyle, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an atmosphere quite like it, but for me it was the complete opposite of the special. It’s strange. I’ve never been so relaxed. We were just chilling in there, enjoying it, going with the music, taking our time. In the special, we both felt we needed to fight for it. In the freestyle, it was purely about enjoying it.

Our freestyle came together in bits. I’d picked out a few songs, and Joost Peters, who puts the music together, noticed they were all to do with flying, so he suggested a flying theme. I’d been playing We’re Going to Ibiza! by Vengaboys while riding him at home and thought, this fits so well – so we wrote in the line where I say, “Welcome aboard Glamourdale Airlines,” like an air hostess before we go into the ring.

The crowd laugh so hard at that bit that they almost miss the second line – “Please fasten your seatbelts, we’re about to take off. Enjoy your flight.” It’s such a fun idea and it suits him perfectly.

I could hear the crowd through the extended canters. Hearing them get excited while you’re riding is such a nice feeling.

When I got off, I said to everyone, “We couldn’t have done any more.” That’s such a good feeling to have – not, “If only I’d done this or that,” just that was everything. Whatever happened next, even a silver or a bronze, that was everything we could have ever dreamed of doing.

There were a few more to go after me in the freestyle, but again, I didn’t watch anyone. I wasn’t able to watch the test back straight away, so while we waited for the last scores to come in, I was just watching clips people were posting on Instagram from the test – just to feel it again.

When Isabell Werth was going, I had Anne in one ear telling me how well she was doing, and I was saying to her, “Can you not? I already know she’s amazing!”

No one had ever successfully defended two individual titles before. To be honest, it’s taken a long time for it to sink in – I had my first proper night’s sleep again only recently. It means more than our wins in 2022, I think, because staying at the top is mentally so much harder than getting there, and to prove we could do it again four years later, with the same horse going better than ever, is a huge testament to the whole team.

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Tullis Matson has an old black and white photo of a Suffolk horse ploughing a field with his grandfather. It’s not just a sentimental treasure, for heavy horses have had a huge impact in Tullis’s pioneering work with rare breeds. But that began with a passion for the horse.

“Suffolks, like many heavy horse breeds, put food on our table in the 1930s and ‘40s; they worked with us through wars, so now we have a choice,” says Tullis, founder and director of Stallion AI. “Do we let them go, or do we save them? It’s our heritage.”

Tullis spent a morning at Gatcombe Park Stud, where the Princess Royal has a small herd of Suffolk horses – stallions, mares and geldings – to see “how they’re trying to stop these amazing rare-breed horses from going extinct”. He went for a hack, a ride in the carriage and drove horses chain-harrowing a field, before visiting a few of Gatcombe’s Suffolk mares in their paddocks with Princess Anne.

“What amazes me is their versatility,” he says. “It was an incredible experience, I had an amazing ride – and I didn’t know how many gears they had. They’re powerful – weighing a tonne – yet graceful with it.”

Suffolks are of special interest to Tullis. In 2019, his cryoconservation techniques were used to select female sperm to breed a Suffolk filly in an effort to boost critically low numbers of mares in this rare breed.

“I’ve never looked through a foal’s back legs so quickly!” he says. “It was a big milestone. When that filly was born, I said, ‘This foal holds the future.’”

Tullis has used the same pioneering techniques for other endangered species, including bull elephants and white rhinos, through his charity Nature’s SAFE.

“Suffolks are close to my heart; my mother loved them,” he says. “But also this breed means so much to me because they’ve been a challenge when it comes to breeding. So we’ve had to up our game in terms of how we can freeze the semen and that’s now what we’ve pushed across to other breeds of horses we can help.

“Not only that, but we’ve been able to help other species like rhinos and elephants, and it all comes from the Suffolk horse. I thank the Suffolk because they helped develop this technology. We had to pull out all the stops to save them – if we could do this with this amazing animal, why couldn’t we do it with other species.

“The importance of saving these horses is absolutely paramount. If we lose the breed we can never bring it back.”

Princess Anne keeps a handful of Suffolk horses at Gatcombe, alongside other rare breed animals, such as Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs.

“I’m old enough to have seen these horses working in Norfolk,” the Princess says. “My passion for the Suffolks really comes from an annoyance that we forget at our peril just how good they were at working and how much they worked for us.

“These horses are the future,” says Tullis

We’ve lost that trait, identifying that these animals really enjoyed what they did.

“The heavies have been bred to work for a very long time. It’s in their DNA. People need to understand they’ve been our companion animals and working partners. They understand what they’re doing and enjoy it: show them a piece of harness and they know what to do. They say, ‘That’s OK, we’ll do that.’

While Tullis is already impressed by these heavies’ versatility, Princess Anne lists more of their skills.

“All our paddocks are chain-harrowed by the Suffolks,” she says. “There are places where having horses working makes a difference – they make less mess, they’re neater, they can work in smaller places.

“I just wonder if they could have a future with the fuel crisis,” she laughs, “so they’re not entirely loss-making. That would be nice.”

One avenue she would like to see explored is logging: “The logging is done much more in Nordic countries, the States and in Canada,” she says. “If you want a harness, you have to go to Scandinavia or America to get it, but there is more scope here than you think. And my Christmas tree was delivered by Suffolk last year. They could do more of that.

“There is commercially a possibility for these horses – we just have to be aware of what that could be so that people can make it possible.”

Tullis adds: “Their numbers are slightly improving but you cannot be complacent. They can’t exist just on goodwill, we have to find a job for them. It’s incredible what they’re doing at Gatcombe.”

Both Princess Anne and Tullis agree that to save the breed, we need to think outside the box, continuing to push the bounds of both technology and ideas.

When a breeding population falls very low, inbreeding makes it hard to get mares in foal. The SPARKS (Single Population Analysis and Records Keeping System) advisory scheme, which uses deep pedigree analysis, is now being applied to Suffolk breeding to inform appropriate matches.

“It’s like a dating agency for Suffolks,” and has really helped turn around other rare breeds such as Cleveland Bays,” says Tullis. “Inbreeding is such a problem in small populations because it can lead to mid- to late-term pregnancy loss, higher neonatal losses, infertility and problems with semen quality. And foals are more likely to be male – when we need to increase the female population.”

Princess Anne points out that the fact that Suffolks are so versatile means they make a great cross on a lighter breed – which has possibly exacerbated their rarity.

“Arguably the reason they’ve become so rare is that they make such good outcrosses,” she says, introducing Tullis to a 22-year-old mare who’s had three foals, one of which was half thoroughbred.

“They have relatively clean legs, so a lot of them were bred as good heavy or middleweight hunters, straight crosses, but they didn’t really go back to the pedigree enough so they kind of disappeared. Her crossbred is dark brown, so looking at him you wouldn’t think that’s a Suffolk, but there are others you look at and you can tell they have Suffolk in their history.”

Princess Anne asks what else could be done to perpetuate the breed. The Suffolk has always been exclusively chestnut (traditionally without the T) but could the gene pool be widened?

“It’s often about colour,” she says. “In the States, the native population learnt to breed coloured animals. If that’s the only difference, what does it matter?

“So I think there is scope to progress. I think sometimes we quibble about technology but with rare breeds it’s a really useful addition. It gives you scope you didn’t have before.”

Tullis agrees that all options need to be considered. “We’re going down a funnel and they call it the extinction vortex, which is very difficult to climb out of. We have to look at what’s out there and not have tunnel vision.”

But he remains optimistic: “We have the technology we are already using, freezing sperm and eggs, then tissue is the future as it contains the whole DNA,” he says.

“We have to look at all technologies – they’re all tools in conservation – if we want to save these species. We owe it to the next generation.”

He pats one of the mares.

“These horses, the female line, are the future,” he says. “These are the horses that helped save the elephants and the rhinos.”

Facts about the Suffolk horse

• The Suffolk is one of four British heavy horse breeds, alongside the Shire, Clydesdale and Percheron – all of which are among the biggest horse breeds in the world
• The breed is often known colloquially as Suffolk Punch, but just Suffolk is correct.
• They are always chestnut – spelt the traditional Suffolk way with no “t”.
• Listed as a priority by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, the highest level of endangerment. The data is showing improvement, but prognosis is guarded as the number of breeding animals is still very low.
• All studbook horses can trace their male lines back to a single stallion, “Crisp’s Horse of Ufford”, foaled in 1768.
• Unlike other heavy horse breeds, they have minimal feather, preventing them from being weighed down by heavy East Anglian clay.
• According to the Suffolk Horse Society’s secretary Belinda Rudderham: “On average, 85 mares go to stud each year; the society registers 40 foals”.

Do you have experience with Suffolk horses? Let us know at hhletters@futurenet.com

With thanks to D&H, who facilitated ambassador Tullis Matson’s interview at Gatcombe Park

If you were to design an elite event horse, Kananaskis probably wouldn’t be the prototype. Now 18 years old, he stands just 15.1hh, with legs made of proverbial glass and is – according to his rider Cerys Macaulay – only “18% thoroughbred”. He’s had the best part of three years out of the game, due to Covid and injuries, and requires an unconventional work routine.

Yet, this brilliant little horse has jumped clear round two junior and a young rider Europeans, several Nations Cups and a five-star. This year, well into veteran status, he was crowned runner-up at the under-25 World Championships at Millstreet and the equivalent national class at Bramham.

“The horse’s record is ridiculous,” says Cerys. “He’s been abroad more times than most people have been on holiday.”

Cerys started riding “Ru” only two years ago, when he was rehabbing from an operation. Up until then he’d been campaigned by her boyfriend Richard Coney. But he was in the last-chance saloon in terms of his competitive future.

“He had an injury to his right leg in 2021; the following spring he did his left leg – then had surgery on the right one,” Cerys explains.

“Richard said, ‘I’m a bit big for him anyway – why don’t you rehab him and see if you can keep him in any sort of work?’ I’m so grateful to Richard and his mother Wendy for giving me this opportunity.”

Cerys spent the winter hacking, “mooching about” (though he’s cheeky to hack), played around at a few novices and by the end of the season they finished fourth at Cornbury three-star.

Cerys, who runs a rehab business, Honington Grange Equine Rehabilitation, manages Ru very carefully. Most of his daily work is on the water treadmill and trotting up hills. He rarely goes in the school, and has regular Hofmag sessions (pulsed electromagnetic therapy) plus time in the salt and oxygen room to boost his respiration and coat.

Cerys says it’s a combination of this nurture and his zest for the game that makes him so successful.

“He tries very hard and he’s also really athletic in his body,” she adds. “He doesn’t do any galloping and we hardly jump him; he just does as much low-intensity work as he needs. He’s probably not as fast or fit as he could be, but he’s sound and in one piece.

“At Millstreet, he was jumping to the top of the wings. He loves going to a party. He shouts his head off when he arrives at a show and then drags my groom Liv Smith around like he’s saying, ‘I’m the man, look at me!’ You can tell it’s his thing.”

Cerys doesn’t seem one to shout about her ambitions, but this year’s were very modest when you consider what she’s achieved.

“I thought we might as well give the under-25 trials a crack seeing as he’s such a good horse and it’s my last year,” she says. “And he ended up at the World Championships.”

The pair stole through the field from their 12th-placed dressage mark – then after a fast cross-country round leapfrogged from seventh to silver with a clear showjumping.

“I didn’t think I could ride well under pressure but when you have to get it done, I seem to be able to think, ‘Come on, let’s do it,’” she says. “I was surprised by how well I rode in the showjumping because I was really nervous. My team was winding me up because my heart rate was over 200 beats per minute during my round!

“And then, when everyone was waiting to go into prize-giving, they all had to wait while Ru decided he needed to wee,” she laughs. “Every time he goes into an arena, whether it’s at home or a show, he’ll pretend he needs to wee, standing with his legs really far apart for ages.”

While Kananaskis is a gloriously eccentric star of eventing, Cerys has taken an equally unconventional route into the sport. Her professionalism is impressive by any stretch, even more when you consider how relatively new she is to the sport.

She grew up in the suburbs of Manchester in a non-equestrian family, and got her horsey fix in a riding school until the age of 14. Call it chance or destiny, but the fork in her life that led down the eventing path has a serendipitous ring to it.

“My stepdad sold a car to a man whose daughter did a bit of eventing,” she explains. “He said, ‘My daughter would like to get into eventing but we don’t have a clue what we’re doing.’

Cerys ended up moving her ex-riding school pony to the daughter of the buyer’s yard and entering the eventing world.

“I only did a couple of events – it was my birthday treat – and got eliminated,” Cerys smiles.

Her first two ponies were both riding school rejects.

“The first one was a four-year-old that a lot of people fell off and the riding school was closing down,” says Cerys. “The manager asked mum if we’d have him and although she said no, they persuaded us it wouldn’t be that expensive on working livery. That was my mum’s worst financial mistake ever!”

During Covid, Cerys found she had extra time on her hands while studying for a degree in rehab and exercise science, and started working for Tyler Cassells, where her horse was on livery. She had a four-year-old she couldn’t get on with; Tyler had a novice schoolmaster, Dooney Rock, he was happy to let her ride – and so they swapped.

“I loved Dooney Rock,” Cerys says. “He was fantastic across country and took me to intermediate, but not in a particularly stylish fashion. I was always last.”

By now she was going out with Richard, who let her compete his 17.1hh three-star horse Drumconnick Cavalier (George), “the one that set me up”.

“George was my first proper horse; he made me think I could do this seriously,” she says. “We didn’t think he’d do as well as he did but in less than 18 months we went from novice to four-star. It wasn’t really planned, but he was a kind horse who didn’t mind if I got it wrong.”

She’s now based at Richard’s yard in Lincolnshire, renting a barn from the Coneys alongside fellow eventers Holly Woodhead and James Avery. It looks like a typical eventing set-up – a mix of competition horses, schooling liveries and breakers – but Cerys’ grind behind the scenes is extraordinary.

She also runs her rehab barn with the water treadmill, salt room, combi floor and Hofmag machine. In her dwindling spare time, she’s also a professional equestrian and pet photographer. In Covid she even worked as an HGV driver.

Her family has instilled a serious work ethic. As we speak on a Friday lunchtime, she’s already ridden 10 horses and an afternoon of admin lies ahead before another day on the road visiting yards with the Hofmag machine.

“My grandparents and my mum were always really supportive, but they said ‘Riding’s not a career, you can’t play ponies all day – you need a job and then you can play ponies,’” Cerys says. “The rehab barn pays the bills, that’s what funds the eventing yard. It’s that age-old thing of trying to get more owners.

“I can’t have a day off because I’m always on my phone – booking the farrier or organising water treadmill sessions. If not I’ll miss out on business opportunities.”

The work is endless, but the results are coming. She ticked off this year’s goals by the summer, yet there’s no sense of complacency or assumption that she’s made it. Kananaskis will be 19 next year, and Cerys is building from the bottom up.

“With Ru, my goal is just to keep him sound and happy,” she says. “If he looks like he wants to keep going, great, but he doesn’t have to do four-star. He needs a job, but he could also do prix st georges dressage or jumping, and just have a nice time.

“My ultimate aim is to do a five-star, particularly Badminton as I grew up going there every year. To do that well would give me a lot of satisfaction.”

Next season she’ll be out of the under-25 category, and finds the idea of “aiming for senior teams, being British, quite scary”.

“If I had a horse that was good enough, of course I’d think about that, but for now I want to keep producing nice young horses well and maybe doing some Nations Cups – that’s a great way of getting team experience without so much pressure.”

The wonderful Ru may be coming to the end of his remarkable story, but for Cerys, this is just the beginning.

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Helen Starkie is one of the judges who has the enviable task of judging at the 2026 Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).

This year, what each judge is assessing will be revealed just the night before the class. Trialled in 2024, this format is back by popular demand. So, while we won't know what Helen is judging for the time being, we can learn a little more about her, her background in showing, and what she will be looking for in the ring.

Helen Starkie’s background in horses

Lancashire-based Helen has been involved with horses since a child.

“Being a pony-mad child, my parents bought me my first pony when I was 12 years old,” says Helen. “He was a great all-rounder that I enjoyed competing at local shows. In the 80s we hacked to shows, did three or four classes and then hacked home. How things have changed!”

Both of Helen’s sons – Jack and Morgan – rode and showed ponies, predominantly natives. Both sons were successful, too, winning the mountain and moorland (M&M) first ridden class at HOYS; Jack won aboard the multigarlanded Waxwing Paintbox in 2006 before going on to take the mini M&M championship, and Morgan steered Wendon Choice to the title in 2013.

“The photos take pride of place on my living room wall,” says Helen. “Competing with their ponies gave them a strong work ethics and made them competitive. They are 24 and 30 now and are both doctors.”

Jack and Morgan also rode a pony that Helen considers has had a significant impact on her: Pumphill Bennet.

“Both my sons rode him with great success and many wins at HOYS, Royal International, Olympia and county shows. He never stopped giving his all and the partnership that he had with the boys was a pleasure to watch. He’s 25 now and enjoying his well deserved retirement at home on our farm.”

Helen says, reflecting on her time in showing: “Showing has also taught me good sportsmanship, accepting wins modestly and to act professionally when results were not always in my favour.”

Helen’s judging experience

“I started judging and stewarding when my sons got older and I had time to put something back into the system, and hopefully encourage and advise people coming into showing,” she says.

Since then, Helen has judged a host of shows up and down the country, including judging the M&M final at London International, an appointment she considers a highlight.

“I also judged in New Zealand this year, which was a fantastic experience and I would love to go back there.”

What will Helen be looking for when judging?

“At HOYS this year I am hoping to see forward moving ponies with good limb and where applicable, true to type movement and conformation.

“I am a big fan of tradition in showing regarding dress, performance, manners and sportsmanship,” she says.

“One of my pet hates is ponies going over-bent and ponies not being true to type and lacking good limb.

“My advice to HOYS first-timers is to plan your working in times, and enjoy every moment and enjoy all the show.”

To stay up to date with the latest equestrian news in the run-up to Horse of the Year Show, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

There’s no better way to inspire a child than for them to see their heroes encouraging them. And for 100-odd budding jockeys competing on a landmark day of Pony Club racing at Newbury, some of the very biggest names in the sport were cheering them home.

“A fantastic initiative and a brilliant way to encourage young people into the sport,” summed up 20-time champion jump jockey Sir AP McCoy, after attending the Pony Club meeting staged at Newbury Racecourse for the first time.

The Vine branch of the Pony Club organised the raceday, on the Bank Holiday weekend, with nearly 100 children between the ages of nine and 16 competing. There were six Pony Club races, an a further three Pony Racing Authority races.

Besides AP, several other top jockeys and trainers were at Newbury to support this landmark event at the Group One track, as well as event rider William Fox-Pitt, whose daughter Chloe has enjoyed a great deal of success in pony races this year.

“Competing in such a professional environment helps children learn, improve and develop the desire to succeed,” added AP. “It was wonderful to see so many leading figures from racing supporting the day, and I thoroughly enjoyed being there.”

Nicky Henderson, six-time champion jumps trainer, was involved on a personal basis, with members of his family competing – on different levels.

“We had a fantastic family day out, my grandson competing in one of the races and my granddaughter sporting one of her mother’s best hats and winning a prize in the ‘best turned out’ awards,” Nicky said.

“So beautifully organised, nice and local and so great to see so many young really getting involved in this wonderful sport at such a young age.”

Five-time champion Flat jockey Oisin Murphy was also watching on, and presented prizes to the winners alongside fellow Flat star Hollie Doyle.

“Pony racing at Newbury was brilliantly organised and gave young riders a wonderful opportunity to gain valuable racecourse experience,” Oisin said.

“Huge credit must go to Lady Warren, Newbury Racecourse and everyone involved. I hope the event continues to go from strength to strength.” ‎

Do you know someone who might be interested in the sport? Find out how to get started in pony racing.

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Next week’s Agria Blenheim Horse Trials (17-20 September) will showcase the work of a course-designer who is leading on a major track in the UK for the first time, with Jay Hambly responsible for the course.

Canadian Jay, 52, says he is “super thrilled” to have the job at the Oxfordshire event, which hosts a CCI4*-L and an eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S.

“I have many friends in the UK and they’re super excited about it. I wouldn’t never downplay it – to come to Blenheim, to design in the UK, doesn’t happens for a lot of people outside of the UK,” he says, referencing US designer Derek di Grazia at Defender Burghley Horse Trials as one of the few other instances.

Jay says he isn’t one who’s good at pushing himself forward. His involvement at Blenheim has grown out of longstanding friendships with British designers and course-builders who have been, and still are, associated with Blenheim.

Like most course-designers, Jay rode up to advanced level.

“I went through Pony Club, got my A test and then I lived at a place called Checkmate, which in North America was a famous eventing facility in the late 80s and early 90s – before we really had star levels, there was Checkmate, Kentucky and Fair Hill,” he says.

“As a kid, to pay for riding horses and being a working student, I would work for Checkmate and help David Evans build. The designer was Mark Phillips and the technical delegate was always Mike Etherington-Smith. So that’s the group who taught me – David, Mike, Mark, and then also Mike Tucker, and later, Ian Stark and Derek.”

Looking for ways to pay for “his hobby and habit of riding”, Jay became a course-builder and then a designer. These days, he still competes but not at the top-level – typically his business is in producing ex-racehorses through the lower levels and selling them ono.

On the course side, he was on the build team for the Olympics in 2008 and 2020. He is the designer at events such as Bromont, Rebecca Farm, the grand prix eventing showcase at Bruce’s Field and the American Eventing Championships at Kentucky, as well as assisting Derek at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.

Jay has been responsible for the track at several Central American and Caribbean Games and is lined up to do next year’s Pan American Games in Peru.

Blenheim cross-country course: a similar route to 2025

Jay assisted Mark Phillips in designing last year’s European Championships track at Blenheim and then – strongly encouraged by previous Blenheim designer David Evans, who is still the event’s course-builder – he went through the process of applying to take over as designer, with confirmation he had the job in the late spring of this year.

He says the permanent features of the site at Blenheim – the lake, the stabling, the arena and the tradestands – mean that the route is fairly constrained and for this year at least, people should not expect major changes to that, although he will look to make some more alterations in the future.

“In the four-star short for the eight- and nine-year-olds, you want to keep the jumps out in front of those horses so it’s not too complicated for them to pick up the lines – you’re trying to encourage those horses to get more confident, finish better than they started and become team horses in the future,” he says.

The Blenheim cross-country course for the CCI4*-L will be somewhat softened from the European Championships last year.

Jay explains: “I have added a combination earlier, because last year the Dew Pond was the first combination, so this year they have something to do before they get there. And I tried to spread the efforts out a little bit more, to have it feel a bit more balanced, as last year it was very intense from the ditch and wall at the start of the trade fair through to the rollercoaster piece of ground.”

Apart from the first and last fences, the two courses use pretty much completely different fences in order to ensure the best possible ground for the horses.

Jay says the organising team at Blenheim have been “amazing” and he’s actually done much of the work remotely rather than by being on-site.

He explains: “Because I know the venue and the fences, I did a lot of it on a computer. I would go back and forth with David – nobody knows the ground better or obstacles available better David.

“Yes, you have to go to the venues to finalise layouts, put the jumps in place, to see how the ground works and where the lumps and the bumps are. But you can get your distance, your track, your concept finished before you ever get there, when it’s a place you’ve been to before.”

When we spoke in late August, Jay had an onsite course walk with Mark Phillips planned, with enough time for tweaks to be made after that as necessary.

And what does Jay hope people will say about his Blenheim cross-country tracks?

He doesn’t want it to be a memory test, where riders end up eliminated by jumping the wrong fence because of the number of options, and he says he doesn’t have a particular trademark style.

“But I would hope that when it is all said and done, people feel it’s hard enough because it needs to be a competition,” he says.

“I think you can really reward people with time, so I hope the time is difficult and if you ride flawlessly, you get rewarded without time-penalties and then I hope that trickle down happens so people are appropriately rewarded with less time-penalties for riding well.

“And I would hope people feel like their horses are better for having done it at the end, that things were clear to them and their horse, and any mistake was what happens on cross-country.”

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When you say the name Michael Owen in the equestrian world, people are just as likely to think you mean the five-star event rider as the former England and Liverpool star striker.

But the footballing Michael Owen has, in fact, been obsessed with horses since he was a child.

“My mum used to ride horses, and every time I played football on Saturdays, my dad would stop by on the way home at the bookies and have a 50p bet,” Michael explains.

“So we would watch the horses that he bet on on Saturday afternoon, and I just got into it from watching it. The colours, the animals, everything about it.

“So it was obviously in my blood somewhere. That just grew and grew and, by the time I was 18, I was so into it – and I could afford it – that I bought my first racehorse. What followed over the next few years... I was addicted to it, loved it.”

At the age of 23 and at the peak of his playing career, Michael bought Manor House Stables, an old dairy farm in Cheshire where his racing outfit is still based today. It gave him security that when his short footballing era was over, his life would still have the thrill of following a passion.

“I thought I’m going into this business, and when I retire from football it gives me something I’ll have to get up for and enjoy and it couldn’t have gone any better,” he says. “It’s just perfect, it made retiring easy to stomach, it gives me a purpose in life.”

“That was 23 years ago, [starting with] 10 horses and two members of staff; now we’re 135 horses and 50 members of staff, winning races all over the world.”

But Michael’s interest in racing has metamorphosed over the years, sparked by betting and being enriched as he experienced the full prism of the sport. But the horse has always remained central.

“The horse underpins everything: the beauty of the horse, the athlete, the speed, everything about it, underpins it,” he says.

Twenty years ago, if you asked Michael, he’d have had a different focus to now.

“I’d say, ‘oh, I love having a bet’, trying to pick out a winner and work out the puzzle of the distance, the trip, the handicap system, all these different things.”

But as the years have ticked by, Michael has started to apply his own experience of sport science and training to his racehorses.

“This is my background, so I’m listening to all the science and thinking, ‘that will make our horses go faster, that will make our horses recover quicker, that will prepare them better’ – I’d be quizzing the trainer, quizzing the vets.

“And I’m fascinated by the business side: growing a business, surrounding yourself with really bright people in their specialist fields, I love it, Iove it. I love every stage, and could tell you another 10 things I love about the horses.”

One big pivot has been his social life.

“I used to be pretty quiet, pretty focused on football,” he says. “If I went racing I just wanted to sit in a quiet corner of a box and read my Racing Post and watch the racing. I didn’t really want to go into the crowds and mingle, and get beer spilt on me – it just wasn’t me at the time.

“But as I’ve developed, as I’ve got older, I’m the most sociable person there, always last at the bar – well hopefully first at the bar, because that’s more generous!”

One of the many aspects that brings him joy is naming his horses.

“That’s one of the lovely things about owning a horse, you get to choose the colours the jockey wears, you get to name it,” he says.

“I’ve named so many over the years. My first ever horse was Talk To Mojo. My brothers and sister are called Terry, Andrew, Leslie, Karen, so T-A-L-K, my dad’s Terry Owen, I’m Michael Owen and my mum’s Jeanette Owen. I thought I’d combine all the family.

“The second horse I owned was Etienne Lady because I scored my famous goal against Argentina aged 18 in St Etienne.”

He recalls the day he named the foal that would become arguably his greatest horse so far, Brown Panther.

“I owned the mother and when he was foaled, the stud manager phoned me and said ‘you’ve had the baby, it’s a colt, come and see it’. They bring him out the stables, he puts his head down and looks, and the way he walks, he sort of stalks, and I said ‘he’s like a panther, there it is, there’s the name, Brown Panther’.

This prowling foal ran in the Breeders’ Cup, the Melbourne Cup, won at the Dubai World Cup meeting and Royal Ascot as well as the Irish St Leger and Goodwood Cup.

“He went on to be one of the best horses about, the pride of my life, just an exceptional horse. He danced every dance on every corner of the globe. He was just amazing.”