‘He loves the job’: Dales captures ridden M&M supreme title at Royal International

A Dales gelding triumphed amongst the best native ponies in the country to scoop the 2024 RIHS Roger’s Truck Services Ltd BSPS Heritage M&M supreme ridden championship at the 2024 Agria Royal International Horse Show (RIHS).

Amanda Jones and her daughter Leah May’s nine-year-old Nipna Mighty Oak and his producer Sarah Parker impressed judges Ruth Newman (ride) and Mark Northam (conformation) throughout. The pair had huge classes of ponies to assess in the Roger Stack Arena, and time was of the essence.

“We had lots of ponies to get through under tight time pressure, and the standard was very high,” said Ruth. “Our champion was so true to his stamp. He did everything he needed to do in the ring, too.”

“Oak” is in his second season with Team Parker. He was bought unseen from Katie Common.

“We bought him over the phone,” Sarah confirmed. “Amanda was on holiday and I rang her with a very random request; I said: ‘I think we need to buy this pony without seeing him’. So, that was it; we sent a transporter to pick him up.”

Leah and Oak were fourth at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) last term. This season, he qualified for HOYS, London International Horse Show and the RIHS on his first attempts.

“He goes back to Leah to hack out for a few weeks, and then he’ll come back to me,” Sarah added. “He went home after he won Windsor in May and only returned to me last week to get ready for this show. You do have to wind him up a bit, but he really loves the job.”

Sarah last won this title back in 2011 on her prolific Dartmoor pony Pumphill Buckthorn, also worker champion here, so the native specialist was more than ready to reclaim the supreme sash. Yesterday, Sarah led her son, Thomas, to win the lead-rein M&M final on Dartmoor Langfield Billy Costa.

Sarah has flown the flag for Nipna-bred ponies over the years. She has enjoyed many victories for stud owners Anna and Julie Pennell, including on Nipna Midnight Rambler (Rambo), who she was supreme with in London last December.

“Rambo really won everything there was to win for me, but he didn’t win this title, so it’s nice to have it on a Nipna pony,” said Sarah.

Reserve for the 2024 RIHS M&M supreme ridden championship title was Amanda Sharman’s Connemara Castle Kestrel, ridden by his producer Lucy Glover. The stallion’s CV includes two Royal Windsor championships, a HOYS victory and the London International supreme M&M accolade.

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