New Forest pony delights at Winter Dressage Championships: ‘I’m blessed to have found him’

New Forest pony Buckland Bonny Lad flew the flag for native breeds to dazzle on his NAF Five Star Winter Dressage Championships debut and score just shy of 70%.

“We just came for a nice picture!” said his owner and rider Hannah Bown, who scored 69.3% with wildcard entry for 14.2hh “Rodney” in the HorseHage prelim gold winter championship on Wednesday (19 April).

“He did the best possible test that he could have done. He’s a native pony, he is at the winter championships in the gold section and nearly every competitor being above 70% shows the quality of those horses. Eighteen months ago, he was in a field doing nothing – I couldn’t have asked him for a better test.”

They say horses find you in life. It’s a saying that rings true for Hannah and Rodney.

Hannah’s previous horse, Sandro’s Storm (Stanley), whom she competed to prix st georges, sustained a serious injury two years ago. Despite her and her vets’ best efforts and months of top care, it did not heal and he would not have been able to enjoy a comfortable life in retirement, so had to be put down.

Hannah was “emotionally exhausted”. As well as the loss of her much-loved horse, she works full-time as an NHS diagnostic radiographer. After the pandemic, she decided that she was not in a place emotionally or financially to think about buying another dressage horse.

“Then someone said, would you like a New Forest pony? I said no, a few times, and she said, ‘Go on. Just come and get him and see how you go’,” she said.

“So I went and picked him up from the field – I thought he was huge because he was in the field with two 11hh ponies. I got him home and thought, ‘Jesus Christ, he’s tiny!’

“I had him on loan for the summer, got him back into work, took him on sponsored rides, and didn’t even consider doing dressage.

“Then his previous owner, Deborah Goldsworthy, asked if I wanted to buy him. She sold him to me for nothing. I train with Sara-Jane Lanning and she said, ‘Are you going to do some dressage with him?’”

Hannah dug out her competition kit and the pair won their first competition together with a huge 74.04%.

“He’s just exceeded every expectation, he’s got the best brain. He’s the most lovely person. He goes in there and he just wants to please, so training him is a joy,” said Hannah.

Riding at Hartpury is emotional for Hannah and her family. The 2016 Winter Dressage Championships were the last time her mum watched her compete before she died.

“That was the first year I’d ever been to the winter nationals and we won the novice restricted, as it was then,” she said.

“We all went home baffled because we didn’t really know what we were doing, I don’t think I even had a sparkly browband! So it’s always emotional, but it’s nice because I think she’s still watching and on the journey with us, even if she’s not here. And she would have liked Rodney.”

‘I hacked him out bareback on Monday’

Hannah’s journey with Stanley will always be in her heart.

“I had the time of my life [with Stanley] and did levels that I never thought I would,” she says. “It’s a very different journey with Rodney. As a rider, I’m blessed to have found him and that his owner gave me the opportunity to have him.

“His previous owner could have sold him for a lot more money, but she trusted that we would go on a journey together and have fun and that was all she really wanted. I’m very lucky.

“I’ve been reliving my childhood with him, it’s like having a Pony Club pony again – I hacked him out bareback on Monday.

“It’s a fun journey now, it was brilliant before, but there was pressure, and now there’s no pressure. I knew he was going to go in there today and not challenge the leaders. But I don’t care, he was here, he did it and scored 69.3%. How many people dream of getting nearly 70% of the nationals?

“Rodney lives out and gets ridden at whatever time of day I’m not at work – 5am, 8pm, whenever I can. My Dad is my hero. Work is full on and when I ring him and say I can’t get home, he’ll get him in, feed him, get him ready if I’m going to ride.

“When I got to 30 he might have been able to get rid of me, but he’s still there and he still bought my pictures!”

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