IN HIS second year as chief steward of the light horse section at the Royal Highland Show, Andrew Reid must be more than happy with how things went at his end of the show ground.

With a few exceptions, the timetable seemed to work, rings ran to time, exhibitors appeared to be happy and the public had plenty of top class horses and ponies to view over the four days of competition, both on the flat and over jumps.

'Ladies' Day' has become a fashionable feature at many sporting venues nowadays and it could be argued that the opening day on Thursday was another of that ilk in the light horse competition, as one championship after another fell to the ladies at Ingliston.

Leading from the front was Kirstine Douglas, from Dumfries, who swept the board in the overall ridden hunter championship in a repeat of last year, with the upstanding middle-weight, Annaghmorre Huntsman, a former reserve supreme champion at Dublin Horse Show and a qualifier for the Horse of the Year Show last year following a brilliant season.

The big bay led the novices last year before taking the overall hunter award; this time he came through from the open weight division.

Fresh from a recent victory in the heavyweights at Devon County, it was another from the Dumfries yard, An Ceannus, which led the novices this year before going on to stand overall hunter reserve to his stable mate.

Kirstine Douglas augmented her hunter success with almost equal success in the riding horse section where she set the scene by claiming the novice class with H Expensive Decision which was also third in the small height open class. Interestingly, of the six rosettes awarded in this class, all but one went to Scottish exhibitors.

She then went on to take the HOYS qualifying class with her large height Holtess D-Day by the influential sire, Fairlyn Fanfare, before taking the championship from fellow Hexham-based Vanessa Ramm’s Corbally Lucky Boy, ridden by Martin Skelton, one of Britain’s leading young professionals.

Freda Newton, from Inverness, is no newcomer to the winner’s enclosure having previously shown the country’s best, including Kings Warrior, Show Hunter of the Year at Wembley (HOYS), in 1994, shown by Robert Oliver.

She now has her show horses closer to home with James Munro and Russell Skelton, in Caithness, including this year’s Royal Highland sports horse breeding champion, Future King, a chestnut two-year-old gelding, by the Oldenberg stallion, Future Trend, and bred in Ireland by Noel Daly.

He may be a ridden champion for the future, however the show witnessed a former champion appearing in a new guise when Rachael Smyth, from Randalstown, Co Antrim, won the ladies' side-saddle on Vantage Point, Jill Day’s former Irish-bred hunter champion when ridden by Robert Walker.

By contrast, it was local exhibitor, Lindsay McCulloch, from Edinburgh, who took the retraining of racehorses ridden show horse class with her six-year-old bay gelding, Pastoral Prey, produced and ridden by well-known Scottish producer, Richard Telford.

At the other end of the spectrum, Richard has qualified for HOYS 2016, Bill Ireland’s two widely different exhibits, the Suffolk Punch mare, Eyke Diamond, and the Dales stallion, Robert The Bruce, which won his ticket on Sunday, where he repeated previous success at the Highland.

Thursday had started at Ingliston with a strong working hunter class which had a Horse of the Year Show ticket at stake. Here was another repeat of last year when Fife-based Kirsty Aird took the red rosette once more, with Liz Smith’s versatile warmblood, Toronto AZ, which is equally at home over coloured poles as he is over natural fences.

There was a strong southern challenge in this class, as there was throughout the show where Horse of the Year Show qualifiers were available early in the season.

It was the first airing of the show’s new set of working hunter jumps, which added variety to those normally available in Scotland and which proved popular with exhibitors.

The jumping ring once again showed it usefulness when it not only hosted some top class jumping competitions but also two well-filled working hunter pony sections for which the new jumps proved invaluable.

Competing over Graham Barclay’s well-built course which remains popular with competitors, native ponies representing all breeds came forward on Friday, led by among the largest on parade, the Connemara gelding, Ballymacar, owned by Jo Croft ,from Nottinghamshire, and well ridden by Jessica Legge.

Runner-up for this championship was one of several which travelled from Lancashire. This was the former HOYS winner, Peasedown Mr Muddle, a fresh-faced 16-year-old ridden by Steph Wheway.

The plaited working hunter ponies came before Irish judge, Peter Malloy and Gill Wright, from Brampton. Their large classes had mixed blessings as some of the exhibits were well below par for the competition, resulting in a goodly number of stops, rider falls and eliminations.

While competing at the Royal Highland is the ambition of many an exhibitor and rider, they have to appreciate their own limitations – it is no place for a practice.

As we have come to expect, the Weir girls, from Thornhill, Dumfries, were on top form winning two classes as well as second to one of their winners.

They missed out on championship honours this time, when Shirley Moore’s Barney was reserve champion to Harriet Dennison riding her mother’s chestnut 143cm mare, Glenviews Bubbling Brooke – a quality pony with the only clear round in its class.

Earlier in the day, Harriet had also captured top honours in the show hunter pony section, which has seen standards rise since the allocation of HOYS qualification.

Her 153cm winner, Imperial High Tide, at five years of age, is the latest of finds for the family who have brought their young ponies right to the top from a young age. This one looks no exception as he now heads to the Horse of the Year Show.

He did well to head the former HOYS winners, Hightopps Jazz, ridden by Martha Jobling-Purser, from Northumberland, and Valentine’s Dignity, ridden by Rachael Helliwell, from Cumbria.

Pony sections, both ridden and in hand, are too many to mention, however most successful of all sections at the show had to be those for ridden natives, whose presence in the main ring impresses during the entire morning of the last day. The numbers forward for the large height breeds is astounding with quality of the highest and exhibitors coming from all over Britain.

Only eight of the top 48 places over eight classes went to Scottish exhibitors, but, thankfully, two of them won.

Bill Ireland’s Robert The Bruce has already been listed, however mention must be made of James Whiteford from East Lothian, whose eight year old Connemara stallion, Fuinseoig Boy, stood top of a long line; this great natured grey also successfully competes in working hunter pony classes.

Despite a strong Scottish contingent of Highland Ponies, it took one from Yorkshire to head both class and section. This was Melanie Stanford’s good-going stallion, Benbreac of Croila, bred at Newtonmore by Cameron Ormiston and well ridden by Matthew Cooper who has partnered him to many prestigious wins in southern rings.

The results show that yet another Highland pony victory went south when Chris Grant from Northumberland, a familiar and popular competitor in Scotland, stood top of the ridden Highland section on Friday when he rode to championship victory Victoria Fletcher’s Royal Caledonian of Fourmerk.

For light horse exhibitors, the highlight must be the Cuddy In Hand qualifier for HOYS which holds centre stage on Friday lunchtime, along with the Sanderson Trophy (for all native horse and pony breeds), the St Johns Wells Trophy (for pairs of native ponies) and the Waxwing Trophy (for the overall champion Mountain and Moorland).

With four different judges, there is always the likelihood of a difference of opinion; after all, isn’t that one of the fascinations so the show world?

Having taken the Sanderson Trophy, the Clydesdale champion left the ring, leaving it to the reserve, the Shetland leader, Wells McCoy bred and exhibited by Harry Sleigh, to take on the others as it ‘crossed the line’ from the heavy horse ranks to that for light horses (of which many are ponies!).

A former Welsh mountain pony breeder himself as well as exhibitor of quality riding ponies, the Waxwing Trophy judge, David Puttock, threw his own preferences aside when he selected as champion the Welsh pony of cob type (Section C), Michael Cobley’s bay seven year old stallion, Caebryn Endeavor, a Royal Welsh winner unbeaten until a few days previously at Royal Cheshire. Runner-up was Wells McCoy.

Race horse trainer, Jonathan Geake from Marlborough, had the task of placing the champions for the ‘Cuddy’ final qualifier, which provided a fine sight in front of the Ingliston grand stand.

In terms of movement and agility, there was none better than Billy Moran’s two year old hunter, Wallace Town, by Up With The Lark, who was also sire of last year’s Hunter Pony Breeding champion.

With scope to carry a saddle, he doesn’t quite fill the eye at the moment needing time to deepen and mature. By contrast, the eventual champion just did; this was Lisha Leeman’s elegant riding pony yearling colt, Kelleythorpes Notorious by Kilmington Scoundrel, a legend in his own lifetime whom few people know was sent to ‘boarding school’ in Scotland according to his owner, Joanna MacInnes, as a three year old to learn stud duties.

Casting previous judgement aside, Mr Geake ignored his preference for the other natives when he had the stewards call forward as reserve, the Penech Stud’s homebred Welsh mountain pony mare, Penech Bellisa.

I never thought I’d see the day when I’d comment that it was the Eriskay pony which caught my eye in the Cuddy Qualifier, but little wonder since it is by a son of a twice former champion at the Highland, Scalpay Alba, which I showed for the Countess Granville from North Uist.

This was Gillian Clark’s Crichton Gunna, by Callernish Caolas, and bred by Mr and Mrs Peter Misselbrook.

Equally, I never thought that I’d think that donkeys might catch my eye, but they did, this time in the driving classes where Claire Armet from Heriot won with a cooperative tandem of donkeys, Baxter and Jools.

However, it was also in this section that I saw arguably the ‘Best in Show’. Richard Lanni’s magnificent pair of Gelderlanders, Symen and Vinny, members of his highly successful coaching team.

From their immaculate turnout to their way of going and ring presence, they were a real eyeful in all respects and worthy recipients of their qualifying ticket for HOYS despite a disappointing entry.

Although the ring at Birmingham may prove a little too small for them, there is no doubt that they will do us proud as will all the other qualifiers come October.