Loraine Homer’s showing blog: where is this season going to?

I don’t know where this season is going to. We are now well into Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) qualifiers while Royal International chat is quiet for a few weeks until the show (30 July) gets a bit nearer.

Since collecting early HOYS pony tickets, we have been able to concentrate on other novices on the yard and some showjumping for my son Harry.

I took three young horses to Royal Three Counties and was delighted with all of them. The four-year-old hunter McNamara is such a fabulous horse and he excites me greatly for the future. He received lots of lovely comments from my fellow competitors, which is always encouraging. When you see them at home and think they are lovely, it’s nice to have it confirmed on a showground. I have to admit the result slightly baffled me, but showing is showing and judges sometimes see things in a different light.

Union Hall continued his winning four-year-old ways, taking the novice class with a mature performance that stepped up a level in the championship.

Pink Floyd was also a delight, finishing second in his first open HOYS hack class. Having been so successful in novice classes, timing when to put your toe in the water with an open class is never easy. He is also a popular horse who receives many compliments.

Weather wise the show was much more pleasurable than last year, although I did feel sorry for all the ladies hunter competitors who had a proper soaking. I know, because I was caught in it preparing the four-year-old. A sprint back to the lorry for a change of coat and the loan of rubber reins from another rider made it much more comfortable.

My son Harry finds it hard to fit in riding between cricket and school, so he never ceases to amaze me when he does get on. I can’t get him interested in showing (probably just as well), so when there is some local showjumping on I try to fit it in the diary. He amazed me again the other day with three double clears, places in every class and some fantastic stickability when going too fast in the jump-off and missing a fence!

Alice too has been concentrating on novices and had a win first time out on her new pony Lemington Nougat. We are so excited about this pony, who has been bought to move her on from her wonderful 122cm cradle stakes pony into nursery stakes and 133cm classes. She also clocked up another win on her novice 12.2hh show pony. Both of these ponies will now go to Staffordshire Country Festival on Sunday.

I have had a super time at home with great friends who are over from Australia. They need to understand the unique British pub culture and cuisine they sadly lack Down Under, so I am doing my level best to make sure they don’t miss out!

The end of term is nearing and we have sports day, prize day, music concerts and discos to fit in. It all started well with a win for Alice in the indoor javelin competition. I will leave it to your imagination! But as they say, “a win is a win”!

Loraine

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now