The show circuit’s most prolific heavyweight was the worthy winner of the 2024 RIHS Sport Horse Breeding of Great Britain supreme hunter championship at the Agria Royal International Horse Show (RIHS).
Rose Bailey’s Twinshock Warrior (Bernard) and his long-term producer and rider Jayne Ross, former supreme champions at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), initially impressed ride judge Lesley Whitehall and conformation judge Jane Holderness-Roddam in the morning’s heavyweight final.
“He was my first horse of the day,” Lesley said. “For a big horse he is open though his shoulder, and he’s so loose and light; you could ride him on cotton. I could have sat on him all day. He’s also of such quality and oozes class.”
Bernard, a Ricardo Z 12-year-old out of Chillrea, was as on-form and fresh as ever in the main ring championship. His party-piece — a blistering gallop down the grandstand — was offered on the touch of a button to Jayne and respective lightweight and middleweight ride judges, Simon Grieve and Jolley Smith.
Bernard last took this title in 2019, when stand-in rider Vicky Smith took his reins in the championship as Jayne had another ride. He was section reserve in both 2022 and 2023. His other accolades include the 2019 HOYS supreme and multiple other county and national championship show titles.
“I get emotional at the best of times, but that was out of this world; Bernard was just sublime today,” Jayne said. “He’s the most unbelievable horse to ride in a ring like that. It’s so exciting for him to win it again. You never stop wanting it, especially once you’ve won in this arena before; it’s just so special.”
Bernard has been one of the most consistent show hunters of recent times, having been based with Jayne since he was a six-year-old. In his debut season in 2018, he finished reserve hunter champion at HOYS, cementing his connection’s belief in him.
When asked how she keeps him so up for the game, Jayne said: “He hacks, he’s out in the field and he goes on the canter tracks. He knows what he’s doing so he doesn’t need schooling or drilling at all.”
Reserve in the 2024 RIHS supreme hunter championship fell to the winning middleweight, Liz Prowting’s Bloomfield Eloquence, ridden by Loraine Homer. The Watermill Swatch 10-year-old is another who has thrived on Hickstead soil for the duration of his career, having won the middleweight spoils on previous occasions. He is also an RIHS ladies’ hunter champion and a multi-HOYS winner.
The second placed heavyweight was Jill Day’s first-season five-year-old IJ Countryman (Robert Walker) who was heading to the final after clinching the novice title at the Great Yorkshire.
Craig Kiddier and Sue and Vicky Tennant’s reigning RIHS worker champion and reserve supreme horse Mulberry Lane, another 2024 Great Yorkshire champion, finished second in the middleweights.
The winning lightweight was Liz Trembath and her daughter Charlotte Clarke’s Harbour Master, who Jayne piloted in the class but handed over to Charlotte for the championship. Charlotte and her eight-year-old returned to the ring later on in the day to score the ladies’ show hunter crown.
Second in the lightweight field was amateur home-producer Jane Collins and her own San Miguel.
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