Meet the Heavy Horse and Small Hunter Ride Judge at HOYS!

Find out what ride judge Katie Duxbury is looking for at HOYS…

Katie is a born and bred Lancashire girl, who works full time at BAE Systems as a Quality Engineer. She keeps her own horses at home for pleasure and enjoys breeding coloured ponies. Katie sits on the BSHA and Sport Horse Breeding of GB panels and has been ride judging for over 15 years now and enjoys every appointment. At HOYS this year, Katie will be assessing the ride of hopefuls in the Small Hunter of the Year class and the Ridden Heavy Horse of the Year class.

Of her upcoming HOYS judging appointments, Katie says:

“I am obviously very excited to be judging at HOYS and I will have my best friends and family joining me for support as they are just as excited as I am.

“I have two classes to judge- the Small Hunters and the Heavy Horses. In both classes I will be looking for a correctly turned out partnership that has taken the time to prepare themselves; a partnership  who have made the most of the warm up times available and settled themselves into that wonderful arena.

“As the ride judge in both classes I will be looking for a horse that has his ears pricked and is waiting eagerly for his next instruction, a well mannered horse with fire in his belly. I would rather a horse with  a sense of humour than one that is as dull as dishwater!

“I have never met either of my co-judges, David Curtis (Heavy horses) and Jane Hall (Small Hunters), but I know that are both experienced judges and I am looking forward to judging with both of them, hopefully together awarding winners that make us all smile.”