The four-year-old mare, who was recently crowned novice supreme at the BSPS Summer Championships, has all the components to go to the very top. Alex Robinson meets her connections to find out more...
Ballinclare
Age: four
Classes: small hack and large intermediate show riding type
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Greatest achievements: 2019, in-hand hack breeding champion BSHA National Championships; 2020, 2nd RIHS qualifier Onley EC, first novice hack and first novice intermediate Lands Freestep Novice Show Horse Championship, BSPS Summer Championships, novice intermediate champion and overall novice supreme.
Rider Alice Homer
“We’ve known Ballinclare’s breeder Jane Bradbury of the Bloomfield stud for years; my granddad, David Tatlow, sources a lot of their horses and I often go over to their base in Ireland to ride and help out.
“We’d seen ‘Annie’ as a yearling and she’d always caught the eye. We bought her as a three-year-old and she came over to us last year. She has been really gorgeous in every way.
“We have allowed Annie to develop at her own pace, and the British Show Pony Society [BSPS] Championships was the first time that we asked her to step up a little.
“She delivered and proved how much she’s come on in her movement and brain; she’s never experienced anything like the supreme and she coped so well.
“She is a beautiful model of a hack and couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. She’ll do a few qualifiers next season; my ultimate aim is for her to stand hack of the year in a few years’ time.”
Breeder Jane Bradbury
“Ballinclare is a fourth-generation home-bred. I bred both Annie’s dam, Katodo, and granddam, Toda, who is from good hurdling lines. Annie’s sire, the late Sylvano, has produced some event types.
“As Sylvano is not that big, I decided to use him in the hope I would breed a small, quality horse for the show ring; Katodo is also small in stature, standing at around 16hh.
“From day one, Annie has had that extra bit of something special. She’s always had personality and presence and she is extremely athletic. Her attributes make her the perfect hack, but as Ireland doesn’t host these classes, it was decided she’d go over to England to be produced. It’s exciting as a breeder to watch her go on and be successful already.”
Judge Paul Cook
“When I judged this young mare in the novice supreme at the BSPS Summer Championships, I thought she had lots of scope. Intermediates in the show riding type category are riding pony, hack or small riding horse in type. I personally like an intermediate that will take the rider into the adult classes and I’m sure she will go on to be a good hack.
“She had very good depth, quality bone and ground-covering action that came from the shoulder. As she is a young horse, she will make up and strengthen, particularly behind, over time. She wasn’t over-topped or manufactured and was ridden in a forward, relaxed way, going softly over her back, and was very well schooled.”
Former H&H showing editor and deputy features editor
Born and raised in the Lake District, Alex has grown up on the showing scene. She has qualified and competed ponies at the Royal International, Horse of the Year Show and Olympia and has first-hand knowledge of the current issues in the showing world as well as the horses, ponies and riders who compete in the sport. Alex joined H&H in January 2018 as showing editor, cementing its place as the leading equestrian publication for both showing reports and current showing news in the UK. She moved on in October 2024 to pursue other opportunities, but continues to write for us on a freelance basis.
