HOYS victory for Laura Tomlinson

Laura Tomlinson and the home-bred Forest Hill wowed at the Horse of the Year Show in Birmingham (9 - 13 October 2024) with a spectacular samba-style freestyle performance in the Dressage Future Elite Championship.

Eight combinations came forward to contest the dressage showcase under a top judging panel of Peter Storr (H), Andrew Gardner (C) and David Trott (M).

Laura Tomlinson and Forest Hill (Furstenlook X United) sealed the coveted HOYS victory with 75.833%. The pair, fresh from taking the Saracen Horse Feeds Inter I Champion title at last month’s LeMieux National Championships, delivered an impressive performance in the Andrews Bowen International Arena at the 2024 edition of this showcase class. 

Launched in 2013, the Intermediate I freestyle to music competition for up-and-coming horses (aged eight to ten years old at the time of qualifying) provides a unique opportunity to expose young horses to a big occasion giving the audience an exciting preview of potential future stars.  

Despite the eight-year-old gelding being the youngest horse in the class, Forest Hill and Laura gave a confident and relaxed performance.  

“I am really proud of him. He won the Inter I at the National Championships and hasn’t competed since then so to come here, having never done a freestyle and do everything I asked, he’s pretty cool,” said Laura. “He felt up for it! It was quite tricky warming up with limited space to really get them opening up,”. “But as soon as he went into the arena, he felt like he thought ‘Oh yes I know what this is.’ The atmosphere didn’t seem to bother him, it just made him more fun to ride. He felt really mature.”   

Entering to Let’s Get Loud, Laura’s fun, crowd-pleasing, samba-style music perfectly suited the gelding’s expressive but relaxed and floating movement which, as Laura explains, has stood the test of time: “That music was ancient. I used it in my U21 years and it has always been my go-to whenever I’m going through the Inter I level because I can make the choreography work for any type of mover and I try not to have them at that level for too long. It seems to be a fun one for people to watch and listen to, so I have never changed it” 

“It was fabulous. She rode to a very strong beat, particularly in the trot.” commented judge, David Trott, Praising their performance. “She presented some really subtle half-passes in both the trot and the canter. It looks like he has a really good future.” 

The future undoubtedly looks exciting for this talented young horse in the experienced hands of Laura who is no stranger to producing horses to the very top level.  

“I am already playing around,” Laura said, “He has already got a lovely piaffe, he’s got huge tempis, I think it is all there. He is only eight, so I am not going to rush things. There is going to be a bit of establishing but I would be very confident that we at some point next season will do an Inter II and possibly a Grand Prix by the end of next year.”   

At home, Laura described the gelding’s personality as “very cuddly, and very food orientated.”  

“He’s always on a diet - he loves his paddock time, but he is like a hoover - he is one of the only horses I have ever had that puts on weight after a long journey because he’s probably guzzled his own and someone else's hay net as well!” said Laura. “He loves to have a buck on the canter track but other than that he is super chill to hack and you can go and lie down in the stable with him and he just grunts and groans … He knows how to enjoy life and takes everything in his stride”  

Andrew Gould riding Jo and Terry Barnett-Knott's 10-year-old Active Solaris took second on 74.458%. “There was lots to like there, some really expressive trot work and great music” said Peter Storr, commenting on the combination’s strong performance to the soundtracks of The Greatest Showman. 

Concluding the class, the final combination to go, Sarah Higgins and 11-year-old Samuel (Ampere X Stedinger), dazzled us under the lights of the NEC and completed the top three with a score of 74.167%.  

“It was a super finish,” said Andrew Gardener, commenting on the final combination and how the powerful music was a wonderful fit for Samual’s powerful canter.  

Then summarising the talent we’d seen across the evening Andrew added, “We’ve seen a wonderful stock of young horses come through and experience of this competition has revealed we sometimes see these horses successfully going on to Grand Prix, internationally and to Olympic team members so let’s hope they have the same good fortune to progress in their development and careers to go the whole way.”  

Results 

1. Laura Tomlinson and Forest Hil, 75.833% 
2. Andrew Gould and Active Solaris, 74.458% 
3. Sarah Higgins and Samuel, 74.167% 
4. Sara-Jane Lanning and Hawtins Lirica, 73.250% 
5. Greg Sims and Waverley Fellini, 71.583% 
6. Lucinda Elliott and Kakalina, 70.958% 
7. Sarah Higgins and Jolene, 70.375% 
8. Henry Boswell and Koeka Matcha JCS, 68.833%