Isabelle Walker and Stoneleigh Showtime wowed the judges on the final day of the Royal Windsor Horse Show, with the 11-year-old continuing her family’s legacy of showing success.
Helen Davies’s reigning Horse of the Year Show victor earned Isabelle the Show Pony Championship for the second year running. Having headed their class in the Copper Horse Arena earlier in the day, the duo maintained their composure in the Castle Arena for the championship, showing no sign of nerves.
While the seven-year-old 128cm winner and his young jockey kept their cool, this was not the case for all those watching.
“It is much, much more nerve-wracking watching than it is competing,” said father Robert, himself Novice Hunter champion and Open Hunter reserve here earlier in the week.
“We were hopeful, but we are aware that things don’t always work out. The pony found the ground a bit tacky in the morning but really rose to the occasion in the Castle Arena — he’s a proper little showman.
“Izzy has been riding at this show since she was three and finished third in the lead rein class, but being on the sidelines doesn’t get any easier!”
The Novice Show Pony Championship title went to six-year-old 128cm campaigner Tandridge True Gold and Livie Smith, with Isabelle Walker again in the frame, finishing reserve with 138cm class winner Swan Lake.
Working Hunter Ponies occupied the Frogmore Arena all morning, and Alice Homer, who secured two Ridden Hunter Weight wins earlier in the week, brought her tally to a personal“Royal Windsor Best” of four when her Intermediate campaigner, Tidy Town — also the winner of the Ladies’ Hunter class on Friday — won his class.
The Intermediate Championship was won by Abbie Kirkbride on her Small Show Riding Type (SRT) winner, eight-year-old Shildons Royal Affair. The chestnut gelding is a half-sister — out of the same dam, Colbeach Regal Model — to Friday’s Hack Supreme Champion, Shildons Plan B.
Lead image of Isabella Walker and Stoneleigh Showtime, winners of the Show Pony Championship at Royal Windsor Horse Show. Credit: Royal Windsor Horse Show/Peter Nixon
