An exciting new Championship has been given the green light to run at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) 2014, which will take place at Birmingham’s NEC from 8th – 12th October. The Ridden Partbred Pony of the Year Championship opens up the chance to compete at “The World’s Most Famous Horse Show” to a much wider audience.
The Championship aims to recognise and promote quality ridden ponies, whose breeding, in part, is Arab or Welsh, or a combination of the two. Exhibits will show true pony characteristics, while possessing excellent conformation and free-flowing movement.
All eyes will be on the Ridden Partbred Pony of the Year Championship qualifiers during the 2014 season, as hundreds of combinations begin to benefit from this new opportunity and previously unseen talent starts to emerge. The exciting addition not only supports quality partbred animals, it also offers a number of existing HOYS competitors another class to aim for.
Qualifiers will be split between classes for partbred Arab ponies, partbred Welsh ponies and a combination of the two. At the final, there will be one class for all qualified ponies. Subject to its success in this exciting pilot year, there is scope for the Championship to expand in the future.
Furthermore, the Ridden Partbred Pony of the Year Championship will be included into the prestigious HOYS Awards series, providing yet more scope for recognition of partbred ponies, their sires and breeders.
Helena Pettit of Grandstand Media, organiser of HOYS, commented: “As host of the most prestigious national showing Championships, we have listened to feedback and are delighted to have responded to such popular demand with this new addition. I’m very excited to see the Championship evolve throughout the qualifying season and wish all potential competitors the best of luck.”
