The RoR Horse of the Year Award 2026 finalists

Marley was originally trained by Michael Bell, where it quickly became apparent that racing was not for him and I purchased him in 2015 as a three year old.

Marley has proven to be an extremely versatile horse and has excelled in numerous discipline's including;

• Playing Polocrosse at A Grade.
• Playing a season of Polo.
• Eventing up to BE 100 level successfully, with class wins and placing’s which led to qualification to the prestigious Badminton Grass Roots championships.
• Competed at riding club championships with numerous wins in Dressage, Show Jumping and Eventing.
• We now concentrate solely on dressage, competing at both BD and RoR. We are currently competing BD at Advanced Medium level, competing and being placed at area festivals from Prelim to Medium and achieving placements at BD Regional championships.

His most recent highlights within RoR include,

• Elementary and Medium National Title 2023 (Aintree)
• Medium National Title 2024 (Aintree)
• 3rd in the Elite Final 2025 (Aintree)
• 2nd in the Medium, Cavatgo BD RoR Nationals 2025
• Won Advanced Medium, Cavatgo BD RoR Nationals 2025.

No matter what I ask him to do, Marley will always give it his all, he is a horse with a massive heart and an even bigger personality.

I originally bought him as a “project” horse, but he has become my best friend and definitely my horse of a life time.

There could never be another Marley.

Skeaping, aka Skeaps, came into my life during COVID to fill the void left by my old horse, Objectivity, being retired due to injury. Straight from the racetrack, unseen, he came to me to begin his life as hopefully my next eventer. I have struggled a lot since COVID with mental health issues, and Skeaps has been my rock, keeping me on the straight and narrow, giving me a reason to get out of bed when I’ve felt I can’t go on.

Four years on, we have become the most amazing partnership. In his first year, 2022, he became RoR Intro Dressage Champion at Nationals, Novice Challenge Champion, and placed top 10 at all his events. Year two, he qualified for 2 National Championships in AE and Dressage, both placing top 10.

2023 was by far the best year, we went British Eventing for the first time, won all but one event, and qualified for the Bramham British Eventing BE80 Championship, finishing 15th in the country. In 2024, we again won the two BE80 events and went on to qualify for the AE Championships and HT Championship at 90cm, both finishing in the top 10.

Bux has overcome so much in the 10 years I have had him. In 2018, he battled for his life after a punctured tendon sheath caused an infection that needed emergency surgery and 12 months of rehab, and since then has proved to be a XC machine, progressing over the years to event at Novice level. In 2023, he had to have sinus surgery, and in 2024 he had to go back to Liphook again for surgery to rectify damage to his DDFT caused by a bone spur behind his knee. Despite each setback, he kept coming back stronger and stronger.

This year, we decided to give show jumping a shot (not expecting much) but ended up climbing the heights quickly, taking wins in Discovery, Newcomers, and even our first Foxhunter in just a few months! This shot us into Silver League, and therefore the Elite Winner award for RoR. He has also hunted for fun, proved consistently successful in dressage and showing, models for my painted horse demos as a physiotherapist, and does tackless riding at home. During lockdown, we came 2nd in the RoR online freestyle for our tackless riding, and won the in-hand hunter type, really showing off his versatility.

On top of all of this, and most importantly Bux, is the kindest soul, being a gentle teacher for children learning to ride and a calm shoulder to cry on for anyone who needs a bit of horse therapy. To me—Bux is home.