While many show ponies retire in their teens, one golden oldie is certainly proving that age is definitely just a number.
Harry, a 36-year-old grey coloured pony, was recently seen at the Coloured Horse and Pony Society (CHAPS) championship show, where he not only landed the supreme veteran title, but galloped away with the Lostock Blue Challenge award and also scooped an £1,000 prize when he won the Dan Birch Memorial performance accumulator.
H&H reporter Tricia Johnson, who was at the show said the little grey “looked as exuberant as ever, producing storming gallops which put many of his much-younger rivals to shame.”
Harry is ridden by criminology student Megan Champney who has had him on loan from Cassie Hartley for 16 years. She still hunts him regularly with the Wilton.
“He hasn’t been here since 2013 as we tried to retire him,” said Megan. “He wasn’t having any of it though, so he came back into work and has just hunted for a couple of years before making a show ring comeback this year.
“The day he doesn’t want to do it will be when I stop riding him — he owes me nothing and I owe him the absolute world. I wouldn’t be half the rider I am today if it hadn’t been for the little fat ‘pig pony’ I was given when I was five; he bolted with me countless times and taught me that sitting up and kicking on for the stride is often the way forward.”
Megan also won the non-native yearling final and stood reserve yearling overall with her own Owston Special Edition, who was given to her as a 21st birthday present.
