Some jumping ponies have made the Agria Royal International Horse Show (23-27 July) their own, returning time and again for repeat successes.
Ahead of this year’s Pro Ponies UK BS winter 128cm championship and Coldstream Equestrian BS winter 138cm final which take place on the morning of Wednesday 23 July, we meet some of the diminutive equine superstars we can’t wait to see flying round Hickstead’s international arena once again, giving their young jockeys the time of their lives.
Bunbury Conquest at Royal International Horse Show: “All he wants to do is look after the little child on top”
Still flying round Hickstead well into his 20s is the distinctive Bunbury Conquest, who has earned legendary status as one of the greatest all-time jumping ponies.
Alison Irvine’s 128cm pony, now 24, has been leased to the Widdowson family since 2021 and is one of three ponies 10-year-old Annabel qualified for this year’s 128cm final.
In 2023, Annabel became the youngest-ever rider to claim the title at the age of eight on “Questy”, who was also placed in the RIHS final in 2021 and 2019 with Emily Irvine, and finished runner-up in 2017 with Charlie Atkinson.
“As a mum, knowing you can trust a pony is so important and when Questy canters up the funnel at Hickstead or through the curtain at HOYS he just grows – he knows the job, nothing fazes him,” says Kathleen Widdowson, Annabel’s mother. “He has one thing on his mind and that is to look after the little child on top.”
Can Playboy Van De Zoetewei do the Royal International Horse Show six-timer?
Playboy Van De Zoetewei
Hickstead’s most successful jumping pony of all time with an incredible five wins in the 138cm final is the all-conquering Playboy Van De Zoetewei.
Now 14 and part of the Scotland-based Capper family, he’ll be bidding for a record-extending six-timer in this year’s class with Amy in the saddle, the pair hoping to defend their title from 2024. Amy’s older sister Lucy triumphed with “Bugsy” in 2023 and Tilly Bamford the year before that. It was Tabitha Kyle who set the ball rolling, racking up a double in 2019 and 2020.
“He just goes into a different mode at Hickstead, he loves it,” says Lucy and Amy’s mother Nicola Capper. “He loves the big grass arena and you just can’t catch him there. He’s very sensitive though – he’s not super-easy to ride. But we’ll never sell him, these ponies are worth their weight in gold.”
A “dream” achievement with Jim
Anya Dewey Clarke riding Jim in The Pro Ponies UK BS Winter 128cms Championship at the 2024 Royal International Horse Show.
Anna Clarke describes watching her daughter Anya Dewey Clarke winning last year’s winter 128cm championship with the polo-loving 17-year-old Jim (Cobid) as “just incredible” but “totally unexpected”.
“It was a dream really,” she says.
Anya, now 10, returns to defend her title with her beloved “Jim-Bob”, the pair having lit up the International Arena with a daring but beautifully executed jump-off performance in last year’s final.
“It was heart-in-mouth but brilliant,” says her mother. “He is Anya’s world and like a best friend to her – he’s been a legend, a real character and a one-in-a-million pony.”
Whinney Lass: “The gold dust unicorn”
Whinney Lass is the show’s most successful 128cm pony, having won the final four times in succession between 2018 and 2021, first with Izabella Rogers, followed by her younger sister Sophia. The mare, now 22 and still owned by the Rogers family, has added several other placings, including third last year under current jockey Annabel Widdowson.
“Whinney has always been so easy and is such a sweet pony in general, but she loves Hickstead,” says Nicola Rogers.
Whinney – who loves her home comforts and porridge for breakfast, as long as it’s warm – has carried a string of young jockeys to the winner’s enclosure who, in turn have “treated her like a princess”.
“These ponies are the foundations that start these young riders off and what Whinney did in a short space of time was amazing,” says Nicola.
Kathleen Widdowson adds: “They are like gold dust, but Whinney is a unicorn.”
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