As I write this blog we are right in the middle of probably the busiest few weeks of the showing season, county shows are now coming thick and fast, not just at the weekends but through the week too, and a lot of them are host to the special Horse of the year show (HOYS) qualifiers that lots of showing people aim to win. We also try t

I am thrilled that 2 of our ponies have picked up their tickets to HOYS already, it takes some of the pressure off and means we can concentrate on some of the others while they enjoy a break. Danwood Llewellyn (Lewi) is our homebred Welsh Section C and was the first of ours to qualify, doing so back in May at The Showing Register Spring show. I was so proud of him as this was only the 2nd qualifier of the season, and he was 2nd at the first one, so we cant say he isn’t consistent! He has had some chill time since qualifying but also went Reserve supreme at the 2018 Native Pony Festival at Newcastle.

Once Lewi got his ticket I thought this would allow me plenty of time to reintroduce my welsh Section C stallion Rivervalley Reaction back into ridden showing. He has had a bit of a break from it all, and spent last year running out with a couple of mares. His last show was HOYS 2016, so I thought it may take him some time to get back into the swing of things! We were undecided about taking him to Northleach show to contest the HOYS qualifier there, as it was such a long way and I was worried he wasn’t quite ready to be back doing qualifiers just yet as the standard is so high, especially early on in the season. However I needn’t have worried, Rambo pulled out all the stops and went onto win his class, gaining top marks from both the performance and conformation judges, it definitely made the long drive home worth it!

The next few weeks bring some of our favourite shows of the year including the Great Yorkshire show and the Royal Welsh show, which is the most amazing show to compete at; no matter what your results are its just a brilliant experience to be riding welsh ponies & cobs on their home turf!

-Hannah Atkinson

The post Supported Rider Hannah Atkinson is going to HOYS! appeared first on The Millbry Hill Blog: Life in the Country.