18/07/2024
165th Great Yorkshire Show
Tuesday 9 – Friday 12th July 2024
What a show! There were so many highlights to the event we just don’t have enough space to report on them all. So we hope our Highlights from the Show will give you some kind of idea of what took place. Over 140,000 visitors visited the show over the four days
Local show producers dominated the main ring on the first day, when the heavens opened with torrential rain and no one escaped getting wet through. The horses were definitely the stars as they all stood there patiently waiting in line whilst they were in the ring. Commencing the ridden classes in the main ring was the Novice ridden hunters where Cheshire based show producer, trainer and judge Danielle Heath rode Lauren Falcus-Wright’s light weight seven year old bay gelding Diptford Above Suspicion into third place followed by producer Robert Walker, also based in Cheshire, who rode Jill Day’s five year old bay gelding Flash Point. The winner of the class was won by Peter Bowdler’s five year old Plas Pennant Sir Sydney Judged by Mr Craig McClelland (Conformation) and Miss Faye Ludlow (ride) we have mentioned the horses being stars in the weather, but one mustn’t forget that the ride judge has to ride all the horses in front of her and with the numbers forward this was no easy task in that rain.
Robert Walker went on to dominate the main ring Tuesday morning with a win in the Heavy weight Novice ridden hunters, again riding for Jill Day on the five year old grey gelding IJ Countryman who went on to stand champion Novice. There was no rest for Robert who went on to win the HOYS qualifier Lightweight ridden hunter riding the prolific bay gelding MHS Morning Master who went on to stand champion. A quick change of horse for the Middleweight ridden hunter saw Robert stand in pole position again riding the grey, seven times RI championship winner, Crystal Cove who wife Sarah Walker rode in the championship. Jayne Ross won the Heavyweights on Rose Bailey’s 12 year old bay gelding Twinstock Warrior who stood reserve champion Judged by Tony Wareham from Dorset (conf) and Michelle Burgess from Cornwall (ride).
Eventually there was a gap in the rain, but not the mist, while the Heavy Horses that featured every day in the main arena, came forward for the judging of the driven singles. John Goodwin from Kent won the trade turnout that saw Thwaites Brewery from Blackburn showcase their bow fronted dray, being the only one in the world and always pulled by Black Shires. The Ramsey family showed their dominance in the HOYS 2 wheel qualifier class by taking a 1,2,3 where Elaine won with Landcliffe Glassia, her sister Annette Noble was second with Shatton Prince Louis and Annette’s daughter Ailsa finished third with Doura Lizzy. As the top three had already qualified for HOYS the golden ticket went down to fourth won by Freezlund Ginny driven by Ron Brewster and owned by John McIntrye all four traveling from Scotland to compete with Ron taking part in the ring for the first time. The amount of entries forward was unprecedented with 16 turnouts all magnificently turned out. Adam Young, again from Scotland brought his, one of kind, hay stacker agricultural implement built in 1930 and bought five years ago by Adam who renovated it superbly.
The HOYS ridden coloured championship went to Isabella Kirby from North Yorkshire with Monivea Black Magic winner of the Pony Native cob traditional class with reserve going to Vicky Smith from Cheshire with Mysterie van de Heuval who won the Non Native Horse qualifier in the White Rose ring judged by Jim McTiffin (conf) and Nicola Turner (ride) Also in the White Rose ring the HOYS Open Working Hunters took place won by Mulberry Lane ridden by Craig Kiddier who took the championship over the Novice winner Spelland Tally Ho ridden by Scarlett Frank both local riders to living in Yorkshire. Over in the Ridings ring the Shire HOYS qualifying class saw a win for LM Fountain from Ashbourne in Derbyshire with the 3 year old filly Woodhouse Sensational Ruby who went on to stand overall champion In Hand Shire.
Vicky Smith from Cheshire featured in the ribbons again on day 2 taking second place in the ridden Lightweight cob on Foxtrot and second in the HOYS Maxi class riding A Red Knight and a third in the HOYS Riding Horse class on Broadway Conquest with Danielle Heath taking fourth on Stanley Grange Skylark.
Day 2 saw Robert Walker stand top of the line again winning the three year old Hunter Youngstock class and going on to stand champion with Jill Day’s Shanaghan Richochet booking his ticket in the Price Family Supreme along with Cheshire based Hayley Reynolds who won the New Forest In Hand championship with Peronne the Navigator. Sandra Burton from Lancashire saw her stallion Connemara Aniar Cashel qualify for the Price family championship being pulled forward in the top six in one of the toughest HOYS tickets there is to get. Kay Hardy from Huddersfield with her own 3 year old Fell c**t Castle Hill Glenfidditch won the championship spot but, it was Catherine Taylor from Copull in Lancashire who took the ultimate prize in winning the HOYS Price Family ticket with her seven year old dun Highland mare champion Perburn Annabella, the number of mares who were competing in the championship was huge, many with foals at foot, pleasing the crowds that packed around the ringside, especially the Shetland foal who was only 8 weeks old and was full of like bucking, cantering around their handles and eating grass when the mood took it.
However, the buzz around the showground on Thursday came from the TopSpec White Rose Arena where the ridden Mountain and Moorland HOYS qualifiers took place with excellent numbers forward. The Connemara ponies alone saw 44 in total with over 20 in all classes, such a fantastic sight. The Welsh Section C class is where all the buzz came from, as the ponies were called in to line the top 3 ponies provisionally placed had already qualified for HOYS and as the rules of the competition state the HOYS ticket can only be awarded to the highest placed pony not qualified from the top 3 Terry Clynes from Frodsham in Cheshire riding his mother Lorraine’s Chesmere Flash Bang Wallop was called in to place. Before the rosettes were awarded Terry dismounted and retired from the class, handing the HOYS ticket to Bryncarreg The Bandit ridden by Katie Marriot-Payne who had been called in fourth owned by J Baybutt from Preston Lancashire. Exhibitors from Preston did well in the class with April Gillmartin’s Gems Malt Whiskey taking top spot and Hannah Turnock from Buxton in Derbyshire taking second with Menai George booking their place in the supreme ridden M&M championship.
Huge numbers of mini M&M ponies were ridden by the youngest of competitors at the show who attracted vast crowds to watch the 54 ponies all vying for a HOYS ticket in the Leading rein class where Thistledown Silver Bullet ridden by Gracie-May Whitaker for the Wood family from North Yorkshire took top spot and former Northern Horse Magazine front cover star seven year old Alice Bowling-Hartenfeld from Thornton Cleveleys in Lancashire riding Thistledown Special VIP won the HOYS First ridden and go on to take the Mini Championship title.
The hugely popular Ripon Select Foods C**k O’ the North showjumping took centre stage on Thursday evening as the crowd stayed to watch their local hero and 2019 winner Richard Howley from Wetherby win the £8,000 first prize and the famous silver C**krell trophy riding HK Horses Zodiac Du Buisson who jumped a treble clear.
Friday saw another great showing entry forward and a local win in the intermediate show riding type for Bryony Gibbon riding her own Earnshaw Kiss Me Quick from Yorkshire who went on the stand Intermediate Champion. The reserve went to the winner of the Show Hunter Type Mia Donaldson also from Yorkshire riding CSF Chantilly Galway Girl. New this year to the Great Yorkshire show was the Rescue Equine Showing Society (RESS) classes which saw entries from ex racehorses, cobs to ponies on the lead rein. In 8th place in the ridden section was the 15 year old roan pony Pepper Pig ridden on the lead rein, 7th went to the 14 year old small cob Robert, 6th to the 12 year old bay gelding Romeo, 5th to Laura Hartleys 6 year old chestnut mare Olivia, 4th went to the piebald gelding FSH Dougie for J Wilson, 3rd to RSPCA Billy a 16 year old piebald gelding, 2nd to RSPCA Colin an 8 year old Dartmoor pony ridden on the lead and first to the 10 year old bay gelding Jaguar Beauty owned by the Morrill family from Halifax. The class is judged on the performance of the pony as well as the back story to their rescue and with photographic evidence of their transformation. Beauty was found being ridden around the streets of Bradford by teenagers when he was far too young to be ridden, full of worms and underweight. He was signed over to the Roleystone Horse Sanctuary who found him a home with the Morrill family who have nurtured him to the pony he is today. The ethos behind RESS is to encourage people to consider taking on a rescued equine and to showcase that even those horses and ponies that have been subjected to the worst cruelty and neglect can go on to lead happy, healthy and active lives and excel in many equine disciplines. They have their official launch at Equifest on 3rd August where their championships are also due to take place.
Away from the Horses Adam Henson, one of the country’s best-known farmers and a presenter on BBC1’s Countryfile featured in a meet and greet, while Helen Skelton and Peter Wright of the Yorkshire Vet were in conversation with Christine Talbot as well as Youtube sensations Rob and Dave Nicholson of Cannon Hall Farm. The Great Yorkshire Fashion show took place on the sheep shearing stage and around the showground there were lots of competitive classes for cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry, sheep dog trials, a Hound show, demonstrations and displays, the forever tenors performed twice each day as did the Yorkshire Volunteers band, there was a countryside area, you name it, everything you would expect of a great county show. If you haven’t visited before make a date in your diary for the same week in 2025 or better still pick up a schedule and enter, there is bound to be a class suitable for you to take part in.
Here we feature a selection of images courtesy of Alan Jackson and the Great Yorkshire Show