Hambleton Show winner Mulberry Lane on the road to HOYS
Much decorated 11-year-old chestnut Mulberry Lane with renowned rider-producer Craig Kiddier once again proved their class at the biggest horse competiton in the North to qualify for the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
The combination appeared thrilled to have won the Working Hunter of the year Championship at Hambleton District Show, with in excess of 200 classes competing across six rings at Sutton Park, the 18th-century family home of former prime minister David Cameron’s wife, Samantha, near Easingwold.
When the judges’ extensive list of marks had been collated Craig and Obi were handed the winners’ rosette, qualifying for HOYS at the first attempt. While it represented the latest in a lengthy series of victories for the combination, Craig
Craig and Mulberry Lane, also known as Obi, were crowned Hunter Champions at the Royal Windsor Horse Show earlier this month.
Last July at Hickstead, Mulberry Lane was crowned Royal International Horse Show supreme horse for the second consecutive time, with Craig in the saddle, the pair already having taken the working hunter champion title for the third time in succession.
In 2024, the pair scooped the supreme champion title at the Horse of the Year Show.
Of 19 entries, 10 came forward on the day, with six going clear over a ten-jump course.
Ride judge Brian Storey said Mulberry Lane had been “very balanced”, while Halifax-based confirmation judge Sarah Ramsden added: “An exceptional horse with a very strong confirmation for a working hunter type.
"This is a working hunter class, so we want to see horses that can operate on undulating going as well, because they’ll be going across all terrains, so it’s perfect.”
When the judges’ extensive list of marks had been collated the winners’ rosette and qualifying for HOYS at the first attempt, Craig Kiddier and Mulberry Lane backed up having been crowned Hunter Champions at the Royal Windsor Horse Show earlier this month.
Owner Sue Tennant, whose family raise Limousin cattle at Fraisthorpe, near Bridlington, said the 11-year-old had been named after a lane near one of their East Yorkshire farms.
She said she had spotted Mulberry Lane at the Dublin Horse Show when he was three years old. Sue said: “He didn’t win, he was half-way down the line, but I just liked him, I liked his limbs and I took him home and he just started to grow. My lot said to me, because we’re farmers, he’s massive, what you doing to do with that? Craig got him and that’s what we’ve done. I didn’t know he was going to do what he has done. It has been amazing!”
Nottingham-based Craig, who has 32 horses at his production and competition yard, said he was planning in saving Mulberry Lane for the Royal International Horse Show and would test another of his working hunters at Bramham.
Asked what made Mulberry Lane so successful, Craig said: “He’s a show horse that jumps, that's what a true working hunter should be. I try and keep him fairly relaxed. He has a fun, varied life. He’s not one you can school all the time, he gets too het up. All of my show horses have to do everything, I am a big believer in that. It keeps them happy, they see a lot more. A lot of people just go round in the schools, whereas we hack out a lot.”
Craig dismissed suggestions by some onlookers that the jumps course was not a sufficient challenge. He said: "I did think it lacked a bit of fillerage. It’s very hard isn’t it. The ground here isn’t always the best and it’s not the biggest course you can get with working hunters, but the ground is very undulating, so to be fair to the course builder, he built a course according to the ground and the suitability of it. They did have a few clears. Sometimes when they build it big they have very limited clears and sometimes your best horse doesn’t win. I’m very lucky with him because when he jumps clear I know he ticks all the boxes to be a winner.”
Reserve champion was Richard Nichol with Pillow Talk, his own six-year-old sports horse, entering her second working hunter class contest, having qualified on her first outing last weekend for the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead in July.
He said: "She show jumps normally, but we thought we’d have a go at this because we watch it every year at HOYS and thought we can do that. She’s only just missed out on getting a HOYS ticket today, so she’s not bad! In 2013 I had one who won the HOYS in the amateur class, but we’ve never done this big a class before. It’s all new to us really. We’re just amateurs. People are like who is that, why has he turned up?”