Winning the Speedi-Beet HOYS Grade C Qualifier at the British Showjumping National Championships and heading to HOYS is Abigail Walters with the striking bay gelding Master Milligan II.
The pair stormed round the jump off in a time of 42.97 seconds to take the lead ahead of 73 other riders in the class – a huge field of great talent. With a challenging 1.25m course there were only 10 combinations through to the jump off phase, but no one could quite catch the time set by Abigail.
Having never competed at HOYS before Abigail was really excited about the prospect, she says: “I’ve always evented and have only recently started showjumping. I can’t wait for HOYS.”
Abigail has competed at Burghley International Horse Trials in the past but is now moving more towards showjumping. Eight year old Master Milligan II is owned by Marion Stewart who has had him since he was a yearling. He himself has evented up to 2* level and has been showjumping for the past eight months. “He has a lovely long stride which covers the ground well and he is very careful over the jumps so I just felt he suited showjumping over eventing. He has a great presence in the ring and always aims to please,” concluded Abigail.
NB: Qualifications will be updated pending official grading of results.
The Horse of the Year Show 2016 will take place from the 5th – 9th October 2016 at Birmingham’s NEC.
Image courtesy of 1st Class Images.
