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‘Focus and don’t give up’: meet the 21-year-old rider who is rapidly ticking items off her showing bucket list

Alex Robinson Alex Robinson

    • Kaitlyn Fairhurst is a 21-year-old showing rider who landed her second Royal Windsor title in May and her first Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) championship in July, and she’s only just getting started.

    At the RIHS, Kaitlyn was partnered with her own 10-year-old Welsh section D Thorneyside Royal Command. Rocky, as he’s known at home, won the M&M intermediate young riders’ class en route to scoring the section championship in the main arena showdown. It was a bucket list victory for Kaitlyn, whose previous best result at the RIHS final was second.

    Kaitlyn began riding Rocky for his former owners, Emma and Lynn Scott. She then had him on lease before her parents bought him for her as a surprise Christmas present when she was 18.

    “It all happened so fast at Hickstead that it’s hard to remember how I felt on the day, but it was very special,” Kaitlyn recalls.

    Earlier in the season, Kaitlyn also achieved glory at Royal Windsor aboard Hannah Miller-Burton’s traditional stallion SD Red Gambler. The big-moving pony was a catch ride for Kaitlyn, who took the reins at a few shows while Hannah was pregnant. Kaitlyn and Gambler had finished second in their class but impressed to beat the best in the coloured horse and pony business to win the overall championship.

    Kaitlyn Fairhurst: ‘Winning HOYS is my biggest dream’

    Kaitlyn currently runs her 12-strong team of animals from home in Tottington, Bury. She has a mix of show horses and ponies alongside some in for schooling.

    She picked up the equestrian bug from her parents, Shelley and Scott, before beginning her competitive career on the lead-rein, working her way up the ranks. She completed stints with regarded showing professionals Sue-Helen Shuttleworth and Vikki Smith, too.

    Kaitlyn was 17 when she first qualified for Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) and that year she qualified 13 different rides for the prestigious final. Prior, Kaitlyn had mainly focused on coloured ponies, aiming for the RIHS and Equifest.

    “The first one I qualified for HOYS was my 15hh hunter pony, About Time Curtis,” Kaitlyn says. “He is awesome; together, we were also champion at Windsor and Lincoln and stood second at the RIHS. He’s now shown by Gracie Mccaffrey.”

    Kaitlyn also enjoyed multiple successes on the plaited coloured mare Shybont Rise to Fame.

    Looking to 2025 and Kaitlyn is putting the work in at home ahead of the fast-approaching season. One prospect she’s particularly excited about is Sylvia Bruce’s non-native pony Hollyland Go For Gold.

    “Winning HOYS would be my biggest dream now,” Kaitlyn says. “If I were to give a young person advice it would be to just keep going. Focus on what you really want, and don’t give up.”

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    Alex Robinson
    Alex Robinson

    H&H showing editor
    Born and raised in the Lake District, Alex has grown up on the showing scene. She has qualified and competed ponies at the Royal International, Horse of the Year Show and Olympia and has first-hand knowledge of the current issues in the showing world as well as the horses, ponies and riders who compete in the sport. Alex joined H&H in January 2018 since when she has cemented its place as the leading equestrian publication for both showing reports and current showing news in the UK.
    Alex Robinson

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