Under the spotlights of a full house on the penultimate evening of Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), judges JJ Kemp (South Africa) and Gregory Gerry (Australia) welcomed back their first and second placed Cobs from this morning’s Lightweight and Heavyweight classes to select The Harrod and Coles Family Cob of the Year Champion. Cobs being few and far between in South Africa, ride judge JJ Kemp commented on how light these horses are to ride, which is of course the epitome of a good show cob; good manners and a comfortable ride.  The Heavyweight winner was crowned Champion; 11-year-old Taylors Hero ridden by Richard Telford and jointly owned by

History repeated itself on the penultimate evening of Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) as Alison Osborne was crowned Osborne Refrigerators Double Harness Scurry of the Year Championship with her formidable pair of ponies Osborne Refrigerators Woody & Buzz.  Ten pairs of ponies across the large and small sections of the Osborne Refrigerators Double Harness Scurry qualified over three days at HOYS to battle it out in the ‘World Cup final’ of Scurry driving on Saturday night.  Alison has dominated the leader board all week, winning both Small rounds with Osborne Refrigerators Woody & Buzz and both Large rounds with Osborne Refrigerators Chip & Dale. Hot on her heels all

Joe Trunkfield and Locomotion stayed on track through five rounds of power-jumping to win the Ripon Select Foods Puissance in thrilling fashion at the Horse of the Year Show. Oakham-based Joe kept the famous red wall intact to claim a clear win after he and Paul Sims aboard Kingfisher were the only two combinations to make the final round. With the wall built at two metres fifteen centimetres (seven feet, one inch), Joe went clear before Paul collected four faults and the HOYS Puissance for 2024 was signed, sealed and settled. Irish rider Commandant Geoff Curran had been biding for a hat-trick of HOYS Puissance titles with Bishops Quarter, but

The Equestrian Index HOYS Trade Stand of the Year Awards (TOTY) are designed to recognise exhibitor talents in trade stand dressing and etiquette throughout the show week. All trade stands by way of exhibiting are automatically entered into the awards which have two sections; Best Display 20sqm and under and Best Display over 20sqm. Judging for the awards took place anonymously over Wednesday and Thursday of the show during trading hours. Every trade stand (and team) were observed and assessed across four categories; best overall impression, warmest welcome, best use of space and best interaction with customers. The winner of the 20sqm and under category in 2024 was Chic Cheval

Miranda Wallace’s eight-year-old bay gelding A Red Knight stole the show in The Leeman Family Maxi Cob of the Year Championship in his first season with Vicky Smith. Judges JJ Kemp (South Africa) and Gregory Gerry (Australia) chose their winner from 15 Maxi Cobs to come forward for the 14th running of this prestigious Championship. “I didn’t know what the judges would like, so we just had to hope that he was their favourite,” said a delighted Vicky. “He’s like a Ferrari to ride – and he’s so easy, you just know he’s going to deliver the goods.” Reserve was the striking Skewbald gelding Indigo Jones owned by Auriel Wilson and ridden

The Widdowson family had another showjumping occasion to savour as nine-year-old Annabel Widdowson won the Enablelink Ltd 128cm Championship at Horse of the Year Show. Annabel’s grandparents Gary and Beverley reached the sport’s pinnacle as owners of Big Star, the superstar stallion that Nick Skelton rode to Olympic individual gold medal glory at Rio 2016 after also helping Great Britain win the Olympic team title in London four years previously. This time, it was Annabel’s turn in the spotlight with 23-year-old pony Bunbury Conquest as they produced a jump-off performance to live long in the memory. Anya Dewey Clarke, riding Jim, looked to have done enough for victory in a