Starting out in Harringay in 1949 and later moving to Wembley in 1959, the show grew in popularity as ‘the’ special event to mark the end of the equestrian season. Today, the Show is held at Birmingham’s Genting Arena and NEC, its home for the last 16 years, where it takes up over 50 acres of the NEC campus. With 60,000 visitors and 1,500 competitors across the five days, the show produces an array of equestrian entertainment as well as hosting National Showing and Showjumping Championships.
To mark the special occasion, HOYS will be incorporating more entertainment displays into the timetable than ever before with four varied displays offering something for everyone. There will also be a Sunday all-day ticket package to enable more people to stay and celebrate the Gala Evening Finale with us in style; this will be called the Platinum Jubilee Package and there will be just 1,000 packages available to buy on a first come first serve basis.
Following 2017’s Horse of the Year Show, where the event faced a challenging project to make changes to the layout of the Show due to alterations in the NEC’s infrastructure, we have listened to our customers’ feedback and made changes to the show. The changes include a redesign of the Retail Village to make even more space for the trade stands that you want to see there. Every single ticket variation provides full day access to the immense HOYS Retail Village too, so you can shop ‘til you drop and be surrounded by likeminded equestrian enthusiasts. The HOYS Live Zone will return to the Retail Village with a brand new line up of speakers and demonstrations, and the ever-popular Meet the Horses Area will also retain its standing in the Retail Village vicinity.
Emma Wardell, Event Director for Horse of the Year Show comments: “We are delighted to be celebrating our 70th Show this year; it is a tribute to our competitors, our visitors and all of our generous supporters that we have got to where we have today. Whilst the Show continues to evolve, the changes enable us to grow and to continue to provide the high standard of event which everyone expects to come and celebrate. The Show has a lot of gratifying history which we are extremely proud of and our aim is to continue to put on an unbeatable line up of equestrian entertainment but also to focus on what HOYS is all about – the horse and the competitors who strive to achieve a Horse of the Year Show accolade.”
