It’s HOYS time again. Ever thought what horses think of it? After Oscar the hunter, we ‘interviewed’ Lola the mare….
Lola has never known the yard so quiet. All the children have gone to the Horse of the Year Show — honestly, you’d think it was a royal visit or something, they were all so excited.
What’s so wonderful about Birmingham, Lola snorts to herself. She’d been loads of times, it wasn’t that great. Not like the old days… Lola’s days of horse shows are long gone; she’s an old lady now, but she can still remember the frenzied preparations for HOYS (as those in the know call it, of course).
Lola dozes a little… and dreams of that magical day so many years ago when she trotted down the centre line at Wembley Arena, with her tiny foal dancing along beside her. She had won something called the breeder’s supreme. Lola didn’t really know what that meant but she knew it was good because her human was quite overcome with delight. She can still feel the heat of the spotlights on her back and hear the crowd whooping and cheering.
That foal had grown into a strapping hunter and he’d felt the spotlights on his back, too, when he won the hunter championship a couple of seasons ago. Lola was proud of him, as she was proud of all her babies. Her last one was competing at HOYS this time. Lola jolts out of her daydream.
Her baby, her last baby, was competing today! Lola is so excited — she can’t wait for the children to get back to tell her how it went. There is nothing quite so wonderful as the Horse of the Year Show…
Image: Bright eyes, by Lali Masriera via Flickr, CC BY 2.0