A mum substituted for her daughter with a critically endangered breed to win at Royal Windsor Horse Show. Nine-year-old Braithwaite Countryman (Disco) was ridden by Denise Morton to land the 2026 Windsor ridden Cleveland Bay class.
Denise’s daughter and joint-owner of the gelding, Kimberly Morton, usually takes the reins, but was unable to make it to Windsor owing to work commitments.
“I was the substitute,” said Denise. “It’s her that usually does the riding. I was just hoping to get the right legs. I’ve probably ridden about 10 times this year, and that was trying to practise on him to get here. He’s down to all her hard work that she’s put into him. I’m really pleased.”
Disco, by Oaten Tops’l, was bought from the Braithwaite stud by the Mortons as a six-year-old, with hopes of competing in the hunter classes.
“He just got a little bit bigger than we expected,” Denise said. “He’s been very slow maturing. We’ve just let him grow up.
“It’s only last year he really started to click into everything. So we’re really pleased with him.”
The 2026 Windsor ridden Cleveland Bay part-bred class was won by Bronte Thompson and her successful home-produced 10-year-old hunter Aredis Little Ben, by Aredis Big Ben.
In the pure-bred in-hand ranks, Tina Billingsley’s Knocksaul Dream Maker – a four-year-old by Wyevale Boomerang – topped the class for horses over four years old, and Kelly Phillips showed Carol Lines’ three-year-old Inveravon Galadriel to top the youngstock class.
The Cleveland Bay
Cleveland Bays have long been a favourite of the royal family, and were traditionally loved as an all-round horse that could hunt, jump and pull. The King is still breeding Cleveland Bays, and one of his horses, Wyevale Harry, won at Windsor last year.
The breed is still considered critically endangered, but a breeding programme was able to stop the versatile horse from going extinct.
Cleveland Bay Horse Society representatives Pippa Morgan of the Thomsonbrook stud and Cecilia Lindsay of the Denson stud were at Royal Windsor to award prizes. Both of them inherited a love of the breed from their mothers.
Cecilia said: “In my opinion, it’s a horse that is built for anything.
“In days gone by, they were used to plough fields, but you could also hitch a governess cart up to them and take your children to school, you could hunt them on Saturday, and then Sunday, take the whole family to church with your Cleveland.”
She says having classes at Windsor is vitally important for the breed, adding: “We need to raise the profile of the breed. We’re on the critical list.”
Pippa added: “The number of foals has fallen this year. I’ve got some part-breds, and they’ve got steady minds, so they’re reliable in a crisis, and I really like that.
“And you need good purebreds to breed good part-breds, right?”
Cecilia said: “We’re both very proud to be part of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society and carry on from our mothers.”
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