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The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS (pronounced /hois/)- was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA (now British Showjumping), Mike Ansell. As it was to be the end of Season Finale the show needed to be held indoors, making it a unique event.


History

HOYS was first held in 1949 at
Harringay Arena Harringay Arena was a sporting and events venue on Green Lanes in Harringay, North London, England. Built in 1936, it lasted as a venue until 1958. Construction Harringay Arena was built and owned by Brigadier-General Alfred Critchley under ...
in
Harringay Harringay (pronounced ) is a district of north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the New River, where it crosses Green Lanes by Finsbury Park, and Duckett' ...
, London. It was held as an annual event which moved to
Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-s ...
, London, ten years later. The show again moved to
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
's
National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway sta ...
in 2002 due to the impending closure of Wembley Arena for reconstruction, where it is now held every October. The event has become larger and more complex each year in its larger venue, including the introduction in 2003 of an extensive Equestrian Retail Village. Its purpose was to be a 'champion of champions' Show, and originally took the best from showing and show jumping competitions throughout the year. Nowadays HOYS allocates showing qualifiers to Societies and Shows and the Champions of these qualifiers compete at HOYS to be crowned the Champion of Champions. British Showjumping allocates the National Showjumping qualifiers Horse of the Year Show, Under the Spotlight by Gillian Newsum Over 120 county and equestrian shows in Great Britain host qualifiers for this huge indoor event. Due in part to its standards of competition and its placement at the end of equestrian year, the show has become a widely known in the UK and the world The show runs every October and incorporates a full programme of international show jumping, the British National Show Jumping finals, Showing Finals and a range of displays and entertainment including the
Pony Club Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to educating youth about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over thirty countries worldwide. Origins Pony Club began in Great Britain in 1929 when the Institute of the ...
Mounted Games for the
Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
Cup. In 1997 the then promoters of HOYS went bankrupt. Grandstand Media Ltd were based at Wembley and with help from the shows existing supporters, officials and sponsors the show went on that year under Grandstand Media Ltd. Following the 1997 show, Grandstand Media obtained a long license from British Showjumping to run the show in its entirety and they have since revitalised the presentation and content including a special celebration in 1998 to commemorate the fiftieth show. Horse of the Year Show remains a National Institution, the finale to the showing year and the climax to the domestic show jumping year 2002 saw HOYS move from Wembley Arena, its home for over 40 years to the NEC Arena, Birmingham. Logistically this was very complicated as the show takes up over of the NEC complex, but with record attendance figures and outstanding competition it was described by Horse & Hound as a 'Triumph' and was heralded a resounding success with sell out performances throughout the show.Horse & Hound Since the move to the NEC HOYS has developed and expanded experiencing record numbers visit the Show every year Each year, the Sunday Gala Night concludes with
Ronald Duncan Ronald Frederick Henry Duncan (6 August 1914 – 3 June 1982) was an English writer, poet and playwright of German descent, now best known for his poem '' The Horse'' and for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera ''The Rape of Lucr ...
's emotive poem ''The Horse''; this was read by
Simon MacCorkindale Simon Charles Pendered MacCorkindale (12 February 1952 – 14 October 2010) was a British actor, film director, writer and producer. He spent much of his childhood moving around owing to his father's career as an officer with the Royal Air Force ...
until 2010.
Monty Roberts Marvin Earl "Monty" Roberts MVO (born May 14, 1935) is an American horse trainer who promotes his techniques of natural horsemanship through his ''Join-Up International'' organization, named after the core concept of his training method. Roberts ...
has described the Horse of the Year Show as the "Best in the world. It is the "World's Most Famous Horse Show". The event was for many years televised by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, where it attracted large audiences, but in recent years has been shown on
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
. By 2016, it had moved to Horse & Country TV.


Showjumping

Horse of the Year Show features the finals of the most prestigious National show jumping championships. It also runs a full programme of International classes, four of which carry Longines World Ranking Points. Britain's top show jumpers will take on a host of leading foreign contenders in an array of entertaining speed and jump-off classes. The competitions include the crowd favourite Puissance, featuring the huge red wall that exceeds heights of 7 ft, and the prestigious Leading Show Jumper of the Year.


Feature classes

The Puissance The
Puissance Puissance is the high-jump competition in the equestrian sport of show jumping. Description The competition involves a maximum of five rounds - opening round followed by four jump-offs, not against the clock. The first round consists of four to ...
is probably the most famous show jumping competition in the world; designed to push both horse and rider to their limits. The Leading Pony Show Jumper of the Year This is the biggest junior competition at HOYS. The classic jump-off course is always fiercely contested by some of the country's top under 16-year-old riders. Senior Foxhunter Championship This is the 'FA Cup' of domestic show jumping and features the very best of the country's novice horses. From first round competitions at venues up and down the country, then second-round direct qualifiers, only 24 finalists make it through to HOYS. Leading Show Jumper of the Year This is the climax of HOYS' international show jumping classes. Nine of the international classes throughout the Show carry qualifying points towards this final. The top 28 horse and rider combinations will compete for the chance to battle it out on this challenging course and gain a share in the £40,000 prize fund. A major climax of HOYS 2016 was the supreme horse title winner Allister Hood with Our Cashel Blue


References

Horse of the Year Show, Under the Spotlight by Gillian Newsum 2011 http://www.HOYS.co.uk www.britishshowjumping.co.uk She also joined a show called free rein and was also the main star of that show. {{reflist


External links


Horse of the Year Show Official Site
Horse showing and exhibition Show jumping events Equestrian sports in the United Kingdom Equestrian sports in England 1949 establishments in the United Kingdom Recurring sporting events established in 1949 Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena