Walk the 2022 Royal Windsor working hunter course

The Royal Windsor Horse Show is one of the ultimate fixtures in the diary for working hunter competitors, with the glorious Castle Arena providing the perfect stage for seasoned horses to show their scope, talent and ability. Top course designer Lisa Kelly’s meaty yet flowing rustic track required good pace and bravery as well as agility, but could your horse take on the challenge?

Six clears were produced across both the lightweight and heavyweight NAF Five Star working hunter classes.

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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.

Could your horse tackle the 12-fence working hunter course at the Royal Windsor Horse Show?

Walk the course taken on by those competing in the 2022 Royal Windsor working hunter classes, and see if you’ll be posting an entry form next year:

1.

Providing horses with a warm welcome to the course was the first fence, an upright dressed with two bush fillers in front. The greenery at the side provided a nice guide to the middle.

2.

A sizeable oxer with stacked barrels at the wings. Heading home, but passing a packed grandstand, so would your horse cope with the crowds?

3.

A dressed stile with rabbit fillers was the first fence to blot two competitor’s score sheets in the heavyweight class.

4. A & B

The first of two doubles required one stride in between.

5.

A nice upright built using three marbled poles and matching wings. While on first inspection it appeared an easy fence, the water tray beneath caused issues, with seven horses scoring penalties here.

6. A & B

The second, and final, double of the track. The spotty combination asked for two strides, and three combinations tapped one of the rails here.

7.

A solid filler with giant wooden wings made from tree stumps certainly looks spectacular, and seven combinations had faults here.

8.

A neat, tidy pop was required over this ascending spread with a bridge underneath.

9.

This upright was decorated in bushes with an imposing duck-themed filler. Arguably the ‘spookiest’ fence on the course which required a bold horse, and bold riding. Interestingly, all combinations cleared this fence.

10.

A chunky rustic oxer with a wooden gate filler.

11.

The course bogey fence. A blue and white upright with striking swan wings complemented by a water tray placed behind, caught some combinations out.

12.

The final fence of the course was an oxer with three-planks in front, which produced seven problems across the board.

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