Equestrian Life Magazine September Issue 220 | Page 67

would try something different
so we had a go at some ridden
warmblood and working hunter
type show classes. We were a
last minute entry and qualifying
for HOYS didn’t even cross my
mind!” said a delighted Sam.

Riding Horse/Hack
A large class saw the lovely hack,
Touch Ov Hawkesbury take the
top spot for owner/rider Melissa
Barnett, 22, from Manchester.
Known as ‘Mikey’ at home,
Melissa has owned the 5-year-old
bay gelding since he was 3. “I
bought him from his breeder,
Sue Chappell, with a view to
showing. He is by Comberton
Cadet out of a Thoroughbred
cross mare”, explained Melissa,
who backed him and brought
him on herself. This is their first
year doing affiliated showing and
they have competed mainly in
novice intermediate show riding
type classes, winning the novice
show riding type at Cheshire
County Show and the Open
Show Riding Type and standing
champion at the Derbyshire
Festival, earning a place in
the Sporting Sam Supreme
championship. “It is good
grounding for him. We have
been taking our time. This is
his first time in a hack class and
I hope that he will progress to
open hack classes eventually”,
said Melissa, who plans to do
the British Show Pony Society
Summer Championships and
“plenty of preparation before

Poppy & Rebecca Jones RHH 2nd
Ruthven
& Natasha
Smith
1st show
hunter

HOYS”. “This was the first time
he has had a ride judge, and
I am ecstatic at the result. As
long as he behaves – he is very
mannerly and so good to do at
home. I can clip him without
a headcollar, he really has no
quirks”, said Melissa’s mum,
Sarah. Melissa has 3 horses at
home, including a coloured riding
horse and a small hunter and
she works hard with the support
of her family to fit everything
in around her full time job as a
sales and marketing manager at
a national security firm. Melissa
and her dad, Andy, muck out
before going to work, and then
her mum, Sarah, who works
shifts, rides the horses when
Melissa is at work. “Everyone
gets involved. Melissa’s sister,
Vicky, was roped in to get Mikey
used to having a ride judge and
Andy did the quarter marks”,
said Sarah.
Second place went to Rebecca
Jones, 36, from Wrexham,
riding her own Poppy. Rebecca
has owned the 7-year-old
Thoroughbred chestnut mare
for 15 months and bought her
with the intention of doing
show classes. “I wanted to get
to HOYS before I was 40”,
said a delighted Rebecca after
the class. Before the Vale View
qualifier, the pair had competed
at mainly local shows, doing well
at this level. “I bought him from
Emma Jane Dujardin and he
had been turned away, so we
needed to get out and about”,
explained Rebecca. “We did
some dressage over the winter,
and generally just mooched
about! Then we did SFAS at
Osbaldeston in the spring and
came 5th, so we came here to
try again”. Next year she plans to
move up a gear and start showing
at county level. Rebecca works as
a full time beautician but as her
work is mobile or from home, she
is able to fit in riding with work.
“Poppy is the most laid-back
thing you have ever met. She
takes everything in her stride. I
was lucky enough to be able to
have her on 6 months trial and
she was fab. She has come on

Brookport
Sovereign
& Tanya
Norlander
show
hunter 2nd

Astro Brava & Katie Jerram
Racehorse 2nd

Touch Ov Hawkesbury &

Melissa Barnett RHHwinner
in leaps and bounds and I am
really looking forward to taking
her to HOYS. This was my
dream”, she said.

Racehorses
The largest class of the day with
44 entries gave the judges, Liz
Morley (conformation) and
Faye Hesketh (ride) a tough job
to sort them out. After three
sections of preliminary judging,
the top horses came back into
the arena for the final placings
and Purple Moon took the top
honours, owned by Sara Cumani
and ridden by Chantal Wootten.
Purple Moon had a highly
successful racing career, winning
over £1m while in training with
Luca Cumani. He came out of
training 2 years ago and Chantal,
29, who works for the Cumanis
at Fittock s Stud, took him to the
Newmarket in-hand show for
horses that have retired from
racing. He won three classes
and the championship but was
soon back in the racing yard
helping with the youngsters and
as lead horse on the gallops.
Last year Chantal took him to
the Newmarket in-hand show
again, and he won the same
three classes and was champion
for the second year running.
“It was then that I thought he
should have a go at showing
under saddle and he started
his retraining in September”,
explained Chantal. “We did
the local riding club show and
qualified for the ex-racers
championship”. This year the
pair started doing Retraining of
Racehorses (ROR) qualifiers and
achieved wins at Royal Windsor
in the flat section, and at Suffolk,
South Suffolk and Norfolk shows
before heading to Hickstead for
the ROR final where they finished
second. “He was not straight
forward to retrain, I needed lots
of patience”, said Chantal.
Second place went to Katie
Jerram with Becky Lowe’s
Astro Brava. Becky, a farrier in
Newmarket, was placed in the
Search For A Star class earlier

Purple
Moon &
Chantal
Wootten
Racehorse
1st
this year and was 4th at the ROR
Hickstead final, but needed help
with his education and after
attending a lecture given by
Katie in Newmarket, she decided
to forego her place in the SFAS
final and put him with Katie. “I
like him, he is a lovely moving
straight forward horse. Becky
is really hooked on showing,
which is great as it brings new
blood into the sport and she
is already looking for her next
ROR horse”, said Katie. “Becky
will do Burghley next and he will
go on to do more hack classes
and continue to further his
education”, said Katie.

Hunters
A strong field of 16 was headed
by Natasha Smith’s Ruthven,
known as ‘Molly’ at home.
Natasha, 25, from Retford, has
owned the 9-year-old bay mare
for 4 years, having bought
her from a friend. Molly is a
warmblood x Thoroughbred by
the stallion, Rabinowitz and her
dam was Newton Folly. The mare
had been turned out in a field and
had done very little, so Natasha
started working on her and now
they do everything. They were
members of the East Midlands
team at the Riding Clubs National
Horse Trials Championships,
finishing 16th as a team and
Natasha and Molly finished 12th
individual. Next year they plan
to start eventing at BE level. “We
will do more local shows and

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