CHN Reader 2021 Achievements

Natasha Rose: Steel Away J

“My biggest achievement of 2021 was managing to compete, and going on to win Tiffields Summer Dressage Series and our ex point to pointer being crowned ‘Champion’. ‘Steel Away J’ came to Chris Loggins yard in 2014 as a 7 year old to point-to-pointer, where he won his maiden. He was a nervy but friendly horse who would only work on one rein. I gained his trust and slowly he progressed to work on both reins. The fact he is now my ‘little dressage horse’ makes me so proud of the bond we now have. He last ran in 2017, and since then has been my fun horse. He’s still quirky but that keeps me on my toes! I hope this year we get to compete more, hopefully in few ROR classes. Fingers crossed, we manage to retain his crown from Tiffields Dressage Show!”

Caroline Horsley: Calaghy Hunting Bird (Dotty) >

“Dotty is my lovely seven year old Irish Draught mare whom I have owned for nearly three years. First time out eventing, we qualifed to National Championship at Aston le Walls. She has won several ridden Hunter classes and Working Hunter classes at the end of the season. She won Ridden Hunter Championship, then went on to win overall Showing Supreme Championship Great team effort with my mother acting as groom Dotty is always well behaved and we are looking forward to an interesting 2022. Hopefully we can carry on with fabulous training sessions with William Blane and Sofie Cox “

< Bombadera (Bonbon)

“Bonbon is my thirteen year old, ex-racehorse. He is a lovely well behaved hack and hunting horse. Unfortunately he is now blind in one eye, but still managed to jump a clear round indoors the other week at 90 cm. He was in training six years ago, retiring at the age of seven having won 28,000 pounds.”

Sandra Samuels: Patrick

“Patrick won the coloured Native Cob Traditional classes out of forty entries, and the Show Cob Traditional class out of forty-five! Patrick and Bonnie Follows have had a fantastic first season together winning and going ‘Champion’ in the majority of classes once the penny had dropped with them both. They narrowly missed their HOYS ticket on a few occasions but nevertheless had a fantastic season. I’m hoping to make my dream come true to get that golden ticket... I found Patrick in a field in the middle of cannock chase in a poor condition with no manners and very tricky. He has come on so well, making me very proud”

Leander Walton: Our journey to HOYS with a homebred filly

“Tim and I are based in Stourport and together we have a passion for breeding on a small scale. I wanted to share my recent experiences with local readers and hope to inspire some of you to reach for your dreams with your horses. For us as a small, amateur breeders 2021 was simply a year of dreams. We have a lovely brood mare ‘Sheepcote Compliment’ on loan from a friend and she has produced us some wonderful foals. They say that ‘fools bred for wise people’, and over the years we have leaned that there is a lot of truth in this! However, it is also a wonderful experience that can give a lot of joy. Our first foal Freddie was an amazing sports horse and together we took on the local and county showing world, with huge success. However, we tragically lost him aged nine in a freak field accident, leaving us were heartbroken. We also lost his two year old sister with a very rare untreatable tumour, and this is where our story with breeding horses nearly ended. However, we were offered the mare back and, with a deep breath, we decided to have one more foal. We went down a different line from previously, choosing an Irish draught stallion with the idea of producing a mix with the warmblood. In March 2018, we had a beautiful filly and the only name for her was ‘Hope'. Her show name was ‘Cosette’s Prospect’, a name picked as we viewed the stallion on our way back from a rare trip to a theatre in London. It was actually perfect as she lived up to the name, meaning warrior and fighter! By ‘Avanti Amorous Archie’, she was special from the minute she was born and has won countless championships. As with everyone her two year old career was very limited with the covid pandemic, and we went into her three year old career without all of the experience that we had hoped for. Our first county show of the year, ‘Herts County’ gave us a wonderful win in the Sports Horse class and then winning the Championship gave us our place in the Supreme and a chance of the Price Family HOYS ticket. We made the journey back the next day with no expectations. However, ‘Hope’ had different ideas and a foot perfect show gave us the ticket that we had been waiting for after fifteen years of breeding – our ticket to The Horse of the Year Show! Only the second ticket of the year, it was a huge honour and a truly emotional experience. Not to be outshone, Hope’s mother, the 21 year old warmblood (Cassander/ Rubeinstein) broodmare, won a huge virtual veteran class during lockdown to give us a place in the In hand ‘Search for a Star’ final at Your Horse Live. She then qualified with ssadl for the Royal International. We had achieved the tree most prestigious shows in one year! ‘Hope’ continued throughout the season to delight us. A wonderful moment was winning the Sports Horse Championship at The Royal Welsh Autumn Fair. She has won every year at Builth since she was a foal at the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter shows, so finishing on her third year as ‘Champion’ was very special. The year taught us to continue to work hard and never let go of our dreams! We look forward to 2022 introducing ‘Hope’ to ridden work, and continuing to show her rising three year old full brother ‘Tallow’s Prospect’. I achieved my dreams with my homebred and home produced horses. I have been so touched by the support that we have had from the horse world and so many people calling us an inspiration. I hope that I have proved that with hard work and determination, dreams really can become a reality.”

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