{"piano":{"sandbox":"false","aid":"u28R38WdMo","rid":"R7EKS5F","offerId":"OF3HQTHR122A","offerTemplateId":"OTQ347EHGCHM"}}
Trending:

‘I couldn’t have asked more’: cob bought for £85 to hack wins Search for a Star title at HOYS

Eleanor Jones Eleanor Jones

    • An amateur rider and a cob bought for £85 to be a “happy hacker” made their two-day journey to Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) worth every minute by winning the SEIB Insurance Brokers Search for a Star traditional gypsy cob championship.

    Zoe Clarke and Marley VI saw off strong competition yesterday (8 October) to win the title on their HOYS debut.

    “I couldn’t have asked more of Marley; he thrived on the magical HOYS atmosphere and I am delighted,” Zoe said. “My mum, Nicola Clarke bought Marley 12 years ago when he was six months old for just £85 at a dispersal sale, in a cattle shed. She wanted him as a happy hacker but has never ridden him herself!”

    Zoe said the trip was two days overall from her home in Inverness to the NEC Birmingham, including an overnight stop in Carlisle.

    “Marley just takes it all in his stride,” she said. “We’ve enjoyed the build-up to HOYS and I would love one day to come back in the open classes. I work as a veterinary physio and am very lucky to be self-employed and control my diary so we can come to these shows.”

    The Search for a Star classes have run at HOYS every year since 1998, giving amateurs the chance to ride in the arena of dreams.

    Series organiser Nicolina MacKenzie said: “We are thrilled to be providing these opportunities for amateur riders. The HOYS Search for a Star championships are the culmination of months, and in some cases years, of preparation and training for the riders and their horses and ponies.”

    You may also be interested in:

    Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2025 with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

    Eleanor Jones
    Eleanor Jones

    H&H news editor
    Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
    Eleanor Jones

    You may like...