A Welsh cob home reared in the Highlands has qualified for the world’s most famous horse show.
The horse, called Newydd Ben Hur, qualified by winning the Welsh cob D section class, which contains the biggest of this breed, at the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate on Wednesday.
And now the cob, which has lived in Cannich with its owners for four years, has a ticket to the premier Horse of the Year Show, which will take place at the Birmingham NEC on October 8.
There were 56 Welsh cobs competing against the Cannich entry, and the judges marked each out of 50 for their gallop and canter as well as for their conformation.
This involves stewards positioning the horses in line and evaluating the degree of correctness of a horse’s bone structure, musculature, and its body proportions in relation to each other.
The pony, which is called Ben for short, went on to become reserve champion for the Mountain and Moorland section.
Jilly Noble, 18, who owns the 10-year-old Welsh cob, yesterday thanked her instructor, Ashleigh Reilly, for her years of advice.
Jilly’s mother Susan said: “We are absolutely over the moon. This is a special case because he is home produced, which means that Jilly does all of the work herself.
“It is very, very difficult to win it because there were 56 cobs, which was the biggest class at the Great Yorkshire Show. But he went in and did a really good show and his gallop was superb. He has a big and powerful gallop.
“It’s really so special because we travelled so far and Jilly has very little experience at that level of showing. She has been to a handful of events in the local area and that’s it.
“It is unbelievable what he has achieved but it would just be beyond words really if he won at Horse of the Year Show. He is an amazing Welsh cob and very true to his breed type.”