Ros Canter takes the Professional Rider of the Year title at the Horse & Hound Awards. Photo courtesy of Horse & Hound.
Jane Holderness-Roddam collected the Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement Awards at last night’s Horse & Hound Awards, in partnership with NAF and Agria. Jane, a double Badminton winner and Britain’s first female Olympic eventing team gold medallist, announced in August that West Kington Stud, which she founded with her late husband Tim, will close at the end of the year. As well as her personal riding achievements and the work of the stud, Jane has given her time, knowledge and energy unstintingly to numerous causes in the horse world and the audience took to their feet to recognise her contribution.
Receiving the award from former Lifetime Achievement winner, longstanding Horse & Hound columnist and team-mate Mark Phillips, Jane reminisced about the fairytale of taking Our Nobby from Pony Club teams right through to Badminton and the Olympics.
“My family have been a fantastic support to me all along and of course everybody else, but none of us would be here if it wasn’t for the horse,” she said, raising spontaneous applause from the guests. “Horses are everything – they helped me so much when my parents died when I was quite young. The best thing was going out for a ride and crying my eyes out with Our Nobby. Whenever anything happened, I’d just go out and talk to the horses and they often put me back on track, which is wonderful.”
The 10th Horse & Hound Awards took place at Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire, where some 300 people gathered to celebrate the equestrian stars of 2025. More than 107,000 votes were cast as fans rallied to support their idols, as
well as unsung heroes of the horse world. Badminton and Burghley winner Ros Canter and her ride Lordships Graffalo were big winners too, taking home an award each. Ros picked up the Zoetis Professional Rider of the Year award and co-owner Michele Saul joined Ros on stage to collect Lordships Graffalo’s Hit-Air Event Horse of the Year prize.
Ros said: “He’s a truly wonderful horse – not just a wonderful event horse, but a great character and a great person, so it’s a privilege to have him at home with us. He’s full of himself, he’s a confident kind of chap who loves pulling faces, licking things and is into everything. But equally he’s pretty chill – he goes to those big occasions and absolutely thrives. He never really gets nervous.”
Other winners included Becky Moody’s European team silver medallist Jagerbomb (Dressage Horse of the Year for the second year in a row), Scott Brash’s double European silver medallist Hello Folie (Showjumping Horse of the
Year), three-time Royal Windsor show pony champion Stoneleigh Showtime, ridden by Isabella Walker (Show Horse of the Year) and young rider showjumping European champion and puissance star Rachel Proudley (Young Rider of the
Year).
You can read more about the winners here.
The Horse & Hound Awards 2025 winners are:
● Zoetis Professional Rider of the Year: Ros Canter
● Baileys Horse Feeds Vet of the Year: Claire Maher
● Show Horse of the Year: Stoneleigh Showtime
● Horse & Hound Podcast Unsung Hero of the Year: Victoria Privett
● Hit-Air Event Horse of the Year: Lordships Graffalo
● Absorbine Groom of the Year: Kim Masson
● NAF Five Star PROFEET Farrier of the Year: Greig Elliott
● Showjumping Horse of the Year: Hello Folie
● SPILLERS Horse Feeds Pony of the Year: Mighty Max II
● Agria Horse of a Lifetime: Hovis
● Amateur Rider of the Year: Hollie Clark
● Dressage Horse of the Year: Jagerbomb
● Young Rider of the Year: Rachel Proudley
● Inspiration of the Year: Abi Lyle
● Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement Award: Jane Holderness-Roddam
