‘Horses are a way to enjoy my sometimes terrifying life’: police officer’s mare leads strong Royal Windsor championship
(Image credit: Andrew Sydenham)
Police officer Megan Rose took a break from her fast-paced career to lead her home-produced coloured mare to the Royal Windsor coloured in-hand championship.
The CHAPS (UK) coloured horse and pony championship was particularly strong, with all five winners and seconds being presented for judging and The Queen’s home-bred plaited horse Sunbeam, a five-year-old by Solaris Buerno out of Tiger Lilly, posting reserve, for Chris Hunnable.
Megan couldn’t believe the result achieved by “Portia”, a five-year-old Dutch Warmblood by Copilot out of Daria.
“We’ve owned Portia for a year and a half,” said Megan, who travelled from the Isle of Wight to compete at Windsor. “We’ve backed her lightly and she’s my fun pony at home.
“Portia makes showing such a pleasure and she’s such an easy mare to handle. She’s a bit of a princess. We call ourselves the peasants around her; it’s her way or no way, but she rewards us by going round the ring and looking beautiful. You can’t really be called Portia and not be a princess.”
Megan showed Portia lightly during 2021, her highlight was winning the sports pony final at CHAPS championships.
“We’re sponsored by Red Funnel Ferries who help us out with our transport over here,” continued Megan. “We left home at 3.30am this morning to get to Windsor on time.”
Megan joined the police force once she’d left university and is based full-time on the Isle of Wight.
“I work the horses around shifts. I finish night shifts and go to shows, and go from shows to do another night shift. Horses are a way to enjoy my hectic, sometimes terrifying life and provide some distraction from some of the things I see on a day to day basis.”
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