Skippy now jumps to the Great Yorkshire

Skippy is owned by Guy's father-in-law, David Walker, of Myton-on-Swale in North Yorkshire and the entire Walker family were on hand at Hickstead to cheer the pair on.

After being placed third in 2008 and second in 2009, Guy finally achieved his ambition of winning the Derby, taking victory from Tina Fletcher and Promised Land in a jump-off in which he proved the quicker.

Guy has ridden the chestnut gelding for the past seven years. He is married to Rebecca, whose twin sisters, Grace and Alice Walker, are both keen show-jumpers and were also competing at Hickstead.

"It's always a family outing to Hickstead," said Grace. "Because Guy is away competing so much we don't all get the chance to get together very often so we really enjoy it. Rebecca has just had another baby, George, and she was able to bring him, too."

Guy, who is based in Canterbury, is competing in the Global Tour Championships Show in Spain and will be flying back in order to ride at the Great Yorkshire next week.

In the meantime, his victory at Hickstead has just been voted Performance of the Month by British Showjumping.

The new award is an amalgamation of the former Showjumper and Owner of the month awards and recognises the achievements of not just riders but of the horses and owners, too.

Tina Fletcher, who also jumped brilliantly at Hickstead, was very disappointed not to have won.

But she took the top spot in the British Showjumping Business Partnership International Stairway series at the recent Royal Norfolk County Show and she, too, will be competing at the Great Yorkshire next week.

Riding Hello Sailor, she produced one of two double clears in a jump off time of 50.37 seconds to win. Second place went to Will Funnell on Billy Congo. Will won last year's Hickstead Derby with Cortaflex Mondriaan and they went on to win the Cock o' the North at the Great Yorkshire Show.

THE organisers of a campaign to help Marwari and Kathiwari horses in India are appealing to Yorkshire horse owners and riders to help by donating bits they no longer need.

The bits should be no more than four to five-and-a-half inches wide as the Indian horses are small with narrow mouths.

The Friends of Marwari Horse UK are working with Indian breeders to support an education programme to change the traditional bits, which are crudely made and cause injuries and pain to the horses, for kinder designs such as snaffles.

Honor Byford, from Middleham, says there has already been a very good response from racehorse trainers in Middleham. "Thoroughbred and larger size pony bits are just the right size for the Marwari horses. So if you have some smaller bits in a box somewhere, don't leave them to gather dust, they could be just what are needed to save the Marwari horses from endless pain and discomfort."

The charity has taken one consignment of bits to Rajasthan and will be taking more to the seasonal horse fairs in September. If you would like to help, collection points have been set up at Field House Equestrian, Ham Hall Lane, near Leeming Bar, Northallerton; Farmway Agricultural Store, Asquith House, Leyburn Business Park, Leyburn; Central Stores, West End, Middleham.

Victorious Badsworth team now facing biggest challenge

THEY have won a place at the Horse of the Year Show in October but now the hard work begins for the members of the Badsworth Hunt Pony Club mounted games team. They need to raise around 5,000 in order to be able to go to the show for the week.

"The team has won consistently throughout this season at competitions, winning at the area finals at York and winning all four sessions of games at Bramham International Horse Trials," said Anna Steel, the team secretary and co-ordinator.

Some 400 teams start out at the beginning of the year, all trying to win a place at HOYS and they are whittled down through the area finals to the zone finals. Badsworth took part in the zone finals at Newark showground, competing against 17 other finalists to win a place at HOYS. Now they have to raise the money to get there.

The team consists of Fay Holgate, Charley Thornton, Beth Clayton, Jake Raistrick and Jordan Dewey-Nager.

"If anybody would like to sponsor the team rugs or jackets or other equipment we would be most grateful," said Anna Steel. Their main fund-raising event is a Weekend Games competition at Beacon Hill Farm, Woolley on July 24-25. For more information call Anna Steele on 01977 513367 or email [email protected]

CW 10/7/10