John Harvey could scarcely hold back tears as he led the Supreme Products Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) 2025 supreme champion pony from the Andrews Bowen International Arena under the lights before a packed crowd.
At the other end of the lead was Brogan West’s Elmswood Spring Parade (Simba), bred by John and Brogan, with six-year-old Florence Rendall in the saddle, a combination John had led to top the lead-rein final and the mini championship 24 hours before they stood 2025 supreme champion pony.
“Absolutely unbelievable,” said John. “As I was trotting out I was thinking, ‘Am I dreaming this?’”
John, who last led mountain and moorland champion Nynwood Fantasia to the supreme spot in 2013, explained that this victory was especially sweet.
“This is my first home-bred winner,” he said. “So this is just the icing on the cake.”
And it almost never happened. It became clear that Simba could be seriously ill when he suffered a second nosebleed in a week as a two-year-old. John’s own vet advised that Simba be rushed to the Royal Veterinary College for treatment, where they found that Simba had the potentially lethal condition guttural pouch mycosis; an infection erodes the arterial walls in the guttural pouches, where there are many important nerves and major blood vessels.
Two dangerous operations ensued and a small balloon was used to block the bleed. Simba spent a month in hospital, and thankfully survived his ordeal.
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“It was such a worrying time,” said John. “To think we almost lost him makes days like today all the better.”
Although John owns and leads Simba with Florence, the five-year-old is produced by Florence’s mother, Rachael Helliwell, who has leased him for this season.
“We saw him last year at Hickstead and we basically begged John to have him,” said Rachael, whose first HOYS pony supreme was in 2011 with Crystal Vision, ridden by Team Helliwell stalwart Harriet Dennison.
“We were quite lucky; we gelled and bonded with him. Florence and Simba are a lovely partnership. He’s a beautiful little pony to produce. She rides him mainly off the lead at home. They hack out and do everything.”
The pair were second at the Royal International Horse Show (RIHS), but he remains lightly shown, and John explained that he’ll come home with a view to contending first riddens next year.
While John and Rachael had planned Simba and Florence’s supreme show, Florence — who described standing supreme as “amazing” — had other ideas. She insisted that she would perform at least some of her indie performance with only one rein.
”It wasn’t planned. She decided she was going one-handed and that was it – so we just went with it and luckily it paid off,” said John.
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Bethan joined Horse & Hound as showing editor in January 2025, after spending two years as Editor for Showing World. Having adored ponies since childhood, she started showing as a teenager and has enjoyed wins at major shows up and down the country, including Royal Highland, New Forest, and the Royal Welsh, as well as HOYS, RIHS and London. She is particularly passionate about Welsh breeds and is also a Welsh language commentator.
