Two Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) debutantes took the top spot in the National Pony Society/Baileys Horse Feeds M&M ridden Exmoor/Shetland pony of the year final. The 15-year-old Shetland stallion Somahouse GT (Teddy) and his 14-year-old rider Aaliyah Watson topped the class on their first appearance at the NEC.
Teddy, who juggles showing around stud duties, booked his HOYS pass at the Shetland breed show on what was his second attempt at a qualifier.
“He’s done seven ridden shows in his lifetime, and just five this year, covering mares in between,” said his over-joyed owner, North Aberdeenshire-based Nicki Richards, who has owned the Birchmoor Mulberry son, who was bred by Barry Joyner, since 2020. “We have basically dragged him out of the field and said ‘Teddy, do you want to go showing’. He’s an utter gentleman, most of the time!”
Up until 2019, Teddy had been a working stallion, but Nicki had always admired him from afar.
“After siring many champion ponies I felt it was now his time to shine,” said Nicki, who showed Teddy in-hand before Aaliyah was given the ride on him in 2022. “I snapped up the opportunity to buy him three years ago. He was already broken in, and we restarted him this time last year, so he’s still a novice.
“After a few hiccups the switch flicked and the combination started to come together, in time to squeeze in a couple of local shows at the end of last year,” continued Nicki. “We’ve been lucky to have Erik Mackechnie-Guire as our coach and Aaliyah has put in a lot of hard work. We’ve only managed a few shows this year due to various incidents, including both Aaliyah and I breaking our ankles at either end of the season!”
Aaliyah was still in possession of a fracture at the breed show. It took Teddy and his connections 11 hours to travel from Aberdeenshire to Birmingham.
“This will be it for him,” Nicki added. “He’s 15 and he’ll go back to being a working stallion, probably wondering what the hell happened in between! We can’t beat this result and he owes me nothing.”
“I was so excited to just be riding here,” added fellow HOYS first-timer Aaliyah. “When I first met Teddy he was quite shy, but he soon got to know me. Trust is a really big thing for him. He always tries really hard for me in the ring.”
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