Meet the talented ponies who always return to the popular show
Meet some of the talented ponies that come back to the Royal International Horse Show year after year
MISS NANCY, Get Ready Freddie, My Little Pumpkin, Flinor Songbird and
Bowes Springbok, the pony who started Ben Maher on his road to Olympic glory: these mini showjumping stars qualified for the Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) countless times with many different riders.
This year, the day before the international showjumping classes start, there will again be hot competition in Hickstead’s main arena.
It’s when riders contest British Showjumping’s winter finals and among the stars will be two classes of small ponies following in the hoofprints of those legendary names.
It’s unlikely any will equal the record of the incomparable 128cm Metric, who competed here for 17 consecutive years and was 28 years old when he came to Hickstead for the final time, but some great schoolmasters will carry some of the youngest riders in this year’s final.
Twenty-two-year-old Brookhall Glimpse is through for the 11th time, while the year-older Pussycat Doll arrived in Britain from her native Norway at the age of 13. She has taken four young riders to the 128cm championship and is through again with Henry Squibb, whose family qualified eight ponies this year.
The Welsh section B Brookhall Glimpse is an “Essex girl”, as she was bred near Colchester by the Greenleaf family. The former hunting and Pony Club pony now lives in North Wales and after partnering Iwan Carpenter in three consecutive finals, will give his 11-year-old brother Owen his first taste of the unique International arena this year. Sadly, this will be Owen’s only ride here on “Jazz”, as he is out of 128cm classes at the end of 2017.
“Owen was a late starter, so he’ll probably be the least experienced rider on the most experienced pony,” says their mother Amanda. “We manage Jazz carefully and she doesn’t compete every weekend anymore, but she’s still the best pony ever. She’s awesome.”
The extraordinary Mr Polo was another Hickstead regular who made seven appearances in the winter 138cm final. In
1992, when the JA final was also held at the Royal International, Mr Polo beat his bigger rivals to that title before going on to European team gold and individual silver under Stacey Willsone.
Plenty more 138cm ponies have made
it into the record books. Among them was Sandyhills Brigadier, a star of the 1980s and 1990s who jumped in 12 consecutive finals and won the championship in 1993. The famous trio of Forever Katie, Strawberry
Fair III and More Than Milton qualified 27 times and carried 16 different young jockeys between them.
At “only” 15, Thyme Flies may be a comparative youngster, but he is now due to compete in his sixth consecutive final.
His lucky jockey is last year’s winter 128cm champion Rosie Collins, while Rosie’s winning 128cm ride in 2016, 21-year-old Bradmore Mystique, is now showing her eight-year-old sister Gracie the ropes.
His black coat may contain a few grey hairs these days, but like a fine wine 25-year-old My Bugsy Malone gets better with age. The little Swedish warmblood came to Britain in 2001 and will contest his 12th 138cm final this year with 12-year-old Claudia Moore.
So what makes these pint-sized stars so special and why do they keep coming back with new riders again and again?
“No matter their age, these ponies are still the best,” says Claudia’s mother, former British pony team chef d’equipe Katrina Moore.
“My only worry is where new stars will come from because it’s very hard to produce small ponies. A 10-year-old child doesn’t really have enough experience to bring on a novice pony over two seasons. ‘Bugsy’ is incredibly sound, but if older ponies have an injury, it does take them longer to come back. But the old favourites teach children so much. In fact, they are all absolute superstars.” H&H
The Longines Royal International Horse Show takes place 25-30 July. For more information and to buy tickets, visit hickstead.co.uk. For dressage information, visit dressageathickstead.com