WHY NO SHETLANDS?

Sir — At Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in the mountain and moorland (M&M) ridden pony of the year championship — when nine breeds compete in classes in which the ponies placed first and second go through to the final — the Shetland was absent.

This happens to at least one breed every year, due to the arrangement of classes. The four Welsh sections, plus the

New Forests, Connemaras and Highlands have their own class, but the Fells and Dales share, as do the Dartmoors, Exmoors and Shetlands. Surely all breeds should be represented in the championship? And if they cannot have their own classes, could those in a shared division be guaranteed that the highest-placed of the breed (when not finishing first and second) will go through?

Barbara Hartley Salisbury, Wilts

A spokesperson from HOYS replies: “HOYS continually analyses the numbers of each breed coming forward to M&M classes. For the 2017 season, we applied changes across both the qualifying places available and the championships at HOYS to better reflect the numbers contesting the qualifiers. However, no changes were made to the Dartmoor/Exmoor/ Shetland class.

“As a show, we support the native breeds and in 2016, we introduced the junior M&M classes to provide further opportunity for the small breeds and extended this to the large breeds for 2017. In line with the other HOYS championships,

the M&M pony of the year championship welcomed the first and second-placed animal from each corresponding class to contest the championship.

“As a company, we remain committed to listening to feedback and working hard to ensure the future success and integrity of the qualifiers, competitions and ultimately the championships held at HOYS, and we will be reviewing the 2017 season in preparation for 2018.”