Western Calendar Girl qualified in her first season of driving for the two wheeled carts along with her stable mates, Bordley House Norman and ridden stable mate High View Charlie. All in their novice seasons in their respective disciplines. Callie & Norman only started driving at the beginning of the year and have only attended a few shows, and Charlie has given so much joy in his first season of ridden with a very unexpected win and to qualify for hoys. Westfield Calendar girl is the first heavy horse to have ever qualified in all three disciplines of in hand, ridden (champion ridden 2022) and driven. It has bought me so much joy to hear they have qualified as I’ve

I bought my first horse 2.5 years ago now we are both the same age of 12.She was abused but someone got her and trained her. As soon as I saw her I new she was the one as I went to hug her and she pulled me in tight. My horses name is dancer and I love her to bits. When we first got her she would buck and rear when in trot or canter. Then I had my first fall ever which was on her. The saddle slipped and I came off. I knew it wassnt dancers fault but I couldn’t bring myself to ride her. I didn’t ride for over 18 months. But recently I have got

I’m Holly Jones 13 years old from West Malling in Kent. My very special pony Pearl (Trevadlock Golden Pearl) and I qualified for the 148 Foxhunter Championship last weekend at The Welsh Home Pony show in Chepstow. Pearl belonged to friends of ours in North Devon, since the age of 9 I wished to own her there was something very special about her. We were on holiday in Spain 2 years later and had a call from my auntie to advise she was going to be sold. We landed in the UK the following day, got up at 4am to drive 5 hours to view Pearl. I couldn’t rider Pearl infact she bolted with me, I was terrified. My mum

I broke miracle our homebred clydesdale mare to ride in December 2023,at only 14yrs old i produced her all myself, We were hoping to do some ridden shows but had no intention of qualifying for hoys, We went out to fife show for some experience in the ring and we happened to pick up our hoys ticket on our first ever qualifier! Miracle truly is the horse of a lifetime!  

Qualifying for me is my absolute dream come true, as I child I would visit hoys most years telling my family one day I will ride in that arena. Fast forward twenty years and here I am finally getting my wish. I bought Walter as a freshly cut unbroken three year old, I broke him and produced him myself with that dream in the back of my mind. The first year we set out showing he contracted a mystery field lameness writing him off for the year ahead. We came back a year later with a very successful low level year with the aim being hoys the year after. At the start of this year I had a few cancer

Double whammy! Feeling like the luckiest family alive as we drove off the Stoneleigh show ground on cloud 9 after competing at the TSR amateur show with our 3 fantastic ponies and leaving with not one but 2 HOYS tickets! A day that we will remember for a very long time as it was just so special! Last year we were unlucky with a few things, mainly due to bad luck and novice errors (on my part) we did manage to qualify but it was at times an uphill battle! Fast forward 12 months and what a difference, we have had, what we can only describe as a fantastic season, and double whammy is becoming our phrase of choice for

My story begins whilst sitting in macmillan Renton unit in Hereford hospital hooked up to my regular dose of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. I wasn’t really looking to buy a horse but my very close friend sent me a picture of a beautiful skewbald young horse called Bombay Regal Heir. She sent him to me to cheer me up and thought I’d like him and knew I needed a boost as I was struggling with the chemo at the time and felt I needed something to aim for. I fell in love at first sight, got on the phone and knew he’d be a popular one so offered to put down money to secure first viewing. I travelled to see him

Born into a very non horsey family at 4 yrs old I watched an episode of Black Beauty. That was it I was hooked on all things equine.With 4 siblings money was tight but I begged for a pony.Unfortunately when I wss 7 years old we lost our dad and his twin in a car accident life suddenly became a lot harder.I never once gave up on my dream of owning a pony. Mum would watch HOYS on tv with myself and my sister my dream turned to not just owning a pony but to compete and look after one to the exceptional standards that I had watched in awe.Mum eventually applied to the courts to release some of my

My name is Maddie Maher and my pony Jerry has qualified for the Pony Blue Chip Newcomer and the STX-UK Foxhunter finals at HOYS this year with his rider Aimee Paxton.   Jerry turned to showjumping after a brief and successful eventing season with me, when I realised that he was super careful and had an amazing showjumping ability!   I met Jerry’s rider, Aimee Paxon from Scotland, earlier this year and knew instantly that she loved riding Jerry and that their partnership would blossom.  Jerry moved to Scotland in March and quickly got his double clears in the Pony Discovery, Newcomer and Foxhunter classes for the second rounds. When I was riding ponies, I had always dreamed of qualifying for

A little about me to start. I’m 29 in September and have always dreamed about qualifying HOYS. In 2009 I was lucky enough to qualify for Royal International with my old B (unfortunately no longer with us) Abaty Monarch (Rocky). We went on to qualify another 3 years but never managed that HOYS ticket. Roll on a few years to 2017 where I was competing on my section D at the time Regal Prince (Bryn). Bryn and I qualified for the Royal International in the Open and Pretty Polly class however that HOYS ticket was in reaching distance but we managed to screw up our chances with some very near misses. At the end of August we decided Bryn would

We qualified at NCPA Staffs Festival. This is both mine and my Dales pony Ray’s first affiliated year at showing. Being in my mid 40’s and a true Amateur ( works full-time in a non horsey job ) I never thought I would qualify for HOYS. I purchased Ray ( Nipna Outrageous) as a foal from the Pennell family. He was backed by my friend Vicki Casey. All I wanted to do was enjoy my showing and have a go at Search for a Star. In his first season as a 6 year old he had to step up as my other Dales was lame. At his 3 rd ever ridden show he got 3rd at Vale View Search for

We’re just a normal little family living on our family farm. We’ve never had the world when it comes to horses and training facilities but by gosh don’t we feel like we have the world in our hands now. 3 and a half years ago, My Daughter Holley who is 11 years old was blessed with a pony on loan, who’s worth his weight in gold and has the heart of a lion. Bob came in and gave us the bug, the bug that has no return! This cheeky little exmoor has the biggest fan club to date. There’s not a competition that we attend where he’s not recognised. It was a risk popping Holley on board at 8yrs old

I have qualified with Moonpenny Delphinus in the 122cm mountain and moorland working hunter pony class. Finn came to me as a novice in 2019 and his journey through the working hunter pony ranks has been full of trials and tribulations. I dreamt of riding at hoys for many decades and have worked my socks off to get us both to this level. The anticipation and excitement, and the nerves are building as we approach October but there isn’t a pony in the world that I would rather jump. As a family we absolutely love the HOYS experience and we can’t wait for October!

Like mother like daughter’ We purchased our lead rein pony Dartmoor pony ‘Hisley caliph’ in March 2023 for my daughter Penelope Rae. Penelope has been riding since she was 17 months old starting out on a little Shetland pony called Kevin the carrot, and has been obsessed ever since. As her mum I competed at HOYS level from 15 years old, finishing my riding career in 2017 then shortly after becoming pregnant with Penelope in 2018. We sold anything and everything to do with horses prior to me being pregnant, we didn’t even own a hoof pick. Until Penelope was born, and she was born to ride! We managed to qualify ‘Hisley Caliph’ aka Sven for the HOYS M&M lead

Darrowby Ajax qualified for the SEIB search for a star Ridden show cob in Carlisle. Darrowby Ajax, known as ‘Murphy’ at home is my 6yr dapple grey lightweight cob. It’s been a journey in the 3 yrs I’ve owned him! Murphy came from Ireland as a 3yr old in October 2021, after a number of weeks he went to a professional to be backed… after 8 weeks they told me he was to dangerous/ sharp and they couldn’t do it. Being a manger of a care company holding its responsibilities within my role it was a difficult time having my dream horse who I’ve saved up for and then be told he couldn’t be backed! My heart sunk…I was heart

My name is Katie Parker and my pony is called Thistledown Sea Mariner. He is a 133cm SHP and we qualified at North Of England. After a nail biting 3 seconds in the qualifiers we did at Midland Counties, Derbyshire Festival and Cheshire we finally got our ticket! Can’t wait to go into the arena of dreams with my heart horse for our final show together, maybe even reclaiming our title?!

My superstar 11 year old Connemara pony Hollywood Princess Rosie and I have been trying to qualify for the Horse Of The Year Show this year in the Newcomers and Foxhunter second rounds from the very first qualifier. In her first competition season last year Rosie came very close to qualifying for HOYS in the Newcomers, and also missed out by one place in the 143 plaited working hunter pony. This summer has been her first trying the Foxhunter second rounds. She tried so hard in them all, giving her absolute best, jumping clears in both classes and ending up coming 5th twice and actually 4th, but with a pole in the Foxhunter so not quite enough to quality. We

A Brief History of me I began horse riding during Covid so I have now been riding for a total of four years and I got Lindeth Con- Artist (Artie) who is my current horse a year and a half ago. When I bought him he had very limited experience of showing and I had never tried to qualify for the Royal International or the Horse of the Year show before. We did a few shows last year but we were very restricted as I didn’t have a horse box or trailer, so I had to rely on friends to get us to a few shows. This said, we still managed to qualify for STARS at Aintree last year. Fulfilling

Charlotte knight Royalview Celebration & Thistle down Princess Leziza Team Linney We started our journey Un known to us as it was a huge surprise …. Charlottes dad pulled out all the stops and made this journey so special before we even got going. We ( Me and my daughter) didn’t know we were having another pony let along having one produced. Like every family we dream about a few goals of winning a few classes. We have all dreamt about one day watching our daughter in the arena of dreams. Unbeknown to me my partner decided he would put his everything in to finding a super star pony, He Rang sharn Linney back in November who we also have

Last year me and my lil pony club pony larry decided to have a go at the seib search for a star series so we popped to our local qualifier having no expectations of even placing let alone winning. Our qualifier was our 2nd ever showing class and HOYS was our 3rd. I absolutely loved the experience of horse of the year show it was simply the best.

The Triple Triumph!! Alexia Lilley and her patchy pony, black and white Shetland Briar Puzzle have not bagged one ticket together to perform in the arena dreams this October but three!! As a home produced family dreams are made!! They will compete in the M&M First Ridden, the Junior M&M Small Breeds and the Junior Coloureds!! Whilst Alexia is still just six years old, competing mostly with jockeys far advanced in years, this never fazes her! The youngest by a country mile to have qualified in the Junior sections for this year’s finals, you would never know, as she approaches every show with passion and expertise far beyond her years! We are ever so proud of them both and are

It was Easter last year when I broke both my elbows in an accident. I was totally devastated, missing most of the show season. Four weeks after surgery I was desperate to get back riding Mikey (Courtdown Kestrel). We bought Mikey back in 2018, he was very green and I was very novice possibly not the best match, I was 100% certain he was going to be mine when we tried him but mum wasn’t too sure, however I persuaded her and he came home. Recovery of my arms didn’t go to plan and I’ve been left with permanent damage to my right arm leaving riding very painful at times. Riding wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going

Neither Harrietts life nor qualifying journey have been easy, until 2 months ago, when something amazing happened. For 2 years Harriett has been trying to qualify for HOYS in the Junior working hunter class. Harriett’s beautiful young pony Lily has found the step up to this level quite difficult. Harriett has left the ring on two feet more often than four. Harriett’s biggest fans and friends, Oliver & Ant Gibney, stepped in to help. They picked up a pony club pony, that’s only done “bits & bobs” for £750. Shadow (Hayesbrook Double Trouble), who is absolutely stunning, has never competed at working hunter. He’s so honest we decided to give him a shot. Shadow has jumped 2 riding club classes,