Ballinclare
The four-year-old mare, who was recently crowned novice supreme at the BSPS Summer Championships, has all the components to go to the very top. Alex Robinson meets her connections
“She’s a beautiful model of a hack and couldn’t be mistaken for anything else”
ALICE HOMER
RIDER ALICE HOMER
“WE’VE known Ballinclare’s breeder Jane Bradbury of the Bloomfield stud for years; my granddad, David Tatlow, sources a lot of their horses and I often go over to their base in Ireland to ride and help out.
“We’d seen ‘Annie’ as a yearling and she’d always caught the eye. We bought her as a three-year-old and she came over to us last year. She has been really gorgeous in every way.
“We have allowed Annie to develop at her own pace, and the British Show Pony Society [BSPS] Championships was the first time that we asked her to step up a little.
“She delivered and proved how much she’s come on in her movement and brain; she’s never experienced anything like the supreme and she coped so well.
“She is a beautiful model of a hack and couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. She’ll do a few qualifiers next season; my ultimate aim is for her to stand hack of the year in a few years’ time.”
JUDGE PAUL COOK
“WHEN I judged this young mare in the novice supreme at the BSPS Summer Championships, I thought she had lots of scope. Intermediates in the show riding type category are riding pony, hack or small riding horse in type. I personally like an intermediate that will take the rider into the adult classes and I’m sure she will go on to be a good hack.
“She had very good depth, quality bone and ground-covering action that came from the shoulder. As she is a young horse, she will make up and strengthen, particularly behind, over time. She wasn’t over-topped or manufactured and was ridden in a forward, relaxed way, going softly over her back, and was very well schooled.”