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 have to go up for sale for an easier life and within hours of his advert one of his previous owners wanted him to go back to there daughter who was now old enough to ride him.
The day Bryn’s sale was agreed my sister said to me I’ve just seen the pony you’ll want next on Facebook. I opened my Facebook and straight away the first post on my news feed there he was… Moelview Prince Harry a 3 year old Section B unbroken Stallion.
After many many years competing against Harry’s dad (Moelview Chieftain) with Rocky and always admiring him (he was my favourite B on the circuit) I new I needed to buy Harry!! Mum didn’t want to have a stallion but I managed to convince her to go see him. It was fait waiting to happen. Harry was coming home to England.
When it came to starting breaking Harry I had unfortunately broken my hand but he was such a gentle easy pony to be around that I carried on to start long reining and lunging him. He has always been very willing and happy pony learning new things.
Fast forward 7 years to 2024 in May we qualified for the Royal International. I was over the moon to qualify with a pony I had started from scratch. Which he was also 7th place in the final.
Then July 2024 it’s Royal Welsh week!! The best show of the year and this year was something I never imagined to happen!!
Harry was feeling on form and we were just ready to have a great show as this was our RI warm up show. He did a lovely go round and shock to me we got pulled in first (I’ve never been pulled top in a HOYS qualifier). I was shaking and thinking I can’t screw this up!! We had a testing set show where the judge said a lot of the As in the class before haven’t managed it. We went off and I held my breath for most of it. I was so relieved to finish and nothing went wrong. He did a lovely trot up for the conformation so now we just had to wait. The judges came forward and my number was called forward in first place and of course I cried. And to then top it off he was small breed Champion at the one and only Royal Welsh. I still don’t fully believe that day happened. For a home produced family these days don’t and won’t come often.
I can’t wait to ride my pride and joy Harry at HOYS. To finally get a go in that ring is going to be a real dream come true!!!
