Winning for The Queen

The late Queen never missed a Royal Windsor Horse Show since it began in 1943. Alex Robinson looks back at some of the monarch's horses and ponies who reigned at the show in recent years

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IT’S a rare feat for a novice show horse to maintain enough composure to lift a championship in the Castle Arena at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. But in 2008, The late Queen Elizabeth II’s home-bred large riding horse Petition did just that. The Petoski gelding, who was just a six-year-old at the time, came to the fore to triumph against his much more experienced rivals, providing his producer Katie Jerram-Hunnable with a memorable career first.

“This was the first time I had won a championship on one of Her Majesty’s show horses at Windsor,” recalls Katie, whose first royal ride at Windsor was the lightweight hunter March Past, who was pulled top and dropped to third in the four-year-olds after being understandably spooked by the paparazzi who had flocked to the ringside.

“When I left the ring on Petition, I was beckoned over to a small area in the collecting ring to speak to The Queen, who was delighted,” continues Katie, who credits the late Queen’s head groom Terry Pendry for his consistent support throughout her career. “It was a feeling I still can’t put into words; I think it’s the principle that the horse was home-bred and I was winning on Her Majesty’s home ground that made it so special.”

Petition achieved great things during his career, including standing reserve riding horse of the year at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in 2008 and 2010.