A home-producing family from South Wales had cause for celebration when their 133cm show hunter pony reigned above seven other animals in the Binks Family HOYS show hunter pony championship at the 2022 Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
The winning combination was 13-year-old Daisy May Allen at the helm of her mother Jodie Allen’s Warleigh Brushing Groom (Joey). The 10-year-old by Soudley Talismen was bred by Scott Arrowsmith. He was providing Daisy May with her first ever HOYS win, though earlier in the week she’d taken a strong second in the M&M small breeds junior ridden final with her Welsh section A Crumpwell Harry Potter.
“We home-produce him,” confirmed Daisy May, who has ridden Joey for two seasons and had him in production with Kevin Cousins and Christina Gillett during 2021. “It feels like I’ve just clicked with him this year.”
Joey qualified for HOYS at Staffordshire County and at the NPS summer championships he came out on top of the gold medal final.
“We’ve done lots of hacking ahead of HOYS,” said Daisy May. “This season still doesn’t feel real.”
Jodie said that the family didn’t expect their year could have improved after the RIHS:
“While we have enjoyed a great run Daisy has been really ill this year; she was diagnosed with anaemia,” she said. “We’ve had the best season pony wise, but her health has been so up and down. She’s been in and out of hospital so we’ve missed some shows. She’s worked so hard. This is the first time we’ve had the ponies at home, too, as last year we felt Daisy was a little bit young, but she had Joey back over the winter and got to know him doing dressage.”
The winning 122cm, Annandale Phoenix ridden by Maise Peter, took reserve in the HOYS show hunter pony of the year championship.
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