Horse Hound – 4 December 2025

Summary

Horse & Hound 4 December 2025 (Volume CXLII, Issue 49) leads with REVIEW OF THE YEAR — 2025's amazing horses and heroes — and the H&H AWARDS, partnered by NAF and Agria, with INSIDE BIGGEST TALKING POINTS FROM 2025 and Kim Bailey on Constitution Hill.

The awards are the issue's headline number: the 10th Horse & Hound Awards, with more than 107,000 people voting, held at Dallas Burston Polo Club on 26 November. Winners on the cover include Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, Stoneleigh Showtime, Hello Folie and Rachel Proudley.

The year ends with loss: Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin said goodbye to Valegro, 23, and Utopia, 24, announced on Monday 1 December. The budget analysis gives the racing industry's scale — a £4 billion industry supporting about 85,000 jobs, with remote betting tax held at 15%.

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Content Guide

▸ H&H Awards

p.30-34 · And the winners are…
This is the 10th Horse & Hound Awards, partnered by NAF and Agria. More than 107,000 people voted for the 2025 awards, and the ceremony was held at Dallas Burston Polo Club on 26 November. Editor-in-Chief Sarah Jenkins says it is a shame there cannot be multiple winners in every category and that all the finalists deserved to win, adding that the winners are changing riders' lives and experience of the sport and inspiring generations. Photography from the night runs at p32 and the stories at p34. A hundred and seven thousand votes is the number that makes the awards real. Check one category you voted in before reading the result.

Cover winners
Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo lead the cover, with Stoneleigh Showtime, Hello Folie and Rachel Proudley also named. Cover winners tell you which disciplines the year is measured by. Name one winner before the next season starts.

▸ News and Budget

p.5 · What the budget means for the horse world — Lucy Elder
Remote betting tax on racing stays at 15%, with chancellor Rachel Reeves confirming no change to racing's tax. Racing is a £4 billion industry supporting about 85,000 jobs nationwide, and BHA interim CEO Brant Dunshea calls it an important step by the government to protect a revenue stream. Business rates are promised to "permanently introduce lower rates" for more than 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties, and businesses in England with a rateable value below £51,000 may benefit. New rateable values apply from 1 April in England, and the 40% relief for retail, hospitality and leisure ends in April. BHS chief operating officer Sarah Phillips advises anyone owning or running a riding centre or livery yard to check rates from 1 April 2026, against a government promise of more than £4.3 billion of support over three years. Minimum wage rises in April from £12.21 to £12.71 an hour for those over 21. Inheritance tax: the chancellor announced transferable allowance between spouses, and Adrian Taylor of Taylor.made Financial Management and the Event Horse Owners Association board calls it very good news that does not solve the problem, so tax planning remains essential. Check your own yard's rateable value before 1 April.

p.4 · Your 2025 human and equine heroes crowned
The heroes of 2025 are crowned on the news page. Awards pages are the reason readers buy a December issue. Read the citations before the results.

p.8 · Eventer suspended for horse abuse
An eventer is suspended for horse abuse. The report carries Tamie Smith's view that riders given short suspensions might need a mandatory course on understanding the equine mind, trauma responses, emotional regulation and ethical training. Welfare suspensions are the news the sport must not soften. Read the full report before you form a view.

▸ Opinion

p.12 · Letters of the week
Reader letters run here. Letters are where a magazine's community shows. Send one letter this week.

p.14 · Showjumping — Graham Fletcher
Graham Fletcher writes the showjumping column. Named columnists make opinion accountable. Take one point into your next round.

p.16 · Racing — Kim Bailey
Kim Bailey talks about Constitution Hill, the cover's racing strand. Trainers writing about their own horses is the best racing opinion there is. Read it before the next big race.

▸ People and Horses

p.18 · H&H interview — Jump jockey Sean Bowen
Jump jockey Sean Bowen is interviewed. Jockey interviews are how a season is remembered. Watch one of Bowen's rides before you read it.

p.22 · All in a day's work — The side-saddle maker
Rob Jenkins, the side-saddle maker, is profiled. Craft profiles are the people pages readers keep. Ask one saddler how long an apprenticeship takes.

p.82 · Goodnight — Tessa Waugh's hunting diary
Tessa Waugh closes with her hunting diary. Her diary is the most honest writing in the issue. Read it last, as the editor intends.

▸ Vet and Kit

p.24 · Practices in the past — Victorian rural horse care
The vet clinic looks at how horses in rural areas were cared for in Victorian times. Historical veterinary practice shows how far welfare has come. Compare one Victorian remedy with what you would do today.

p.28 · New in the ring — Safety stirrups and a muscle supplement
Kit focus covers safety stirrups, a muscle supplement and more. Safety stirrups are the equipment that changes outcomes in a fall. Check your own stirrups before the next season.

▸ Reports

p.64-74 · Showing, dressage, showjumping, racing and point-to-point
STARS Champion of Champions leads the showing at p64, with dressage at p68, showjumping at p70, racing at p72 and point-to-point at p74. Reports are the results service readers rely on. Check one result against your own entries.

p.58 · Bedale Report
The Bedale hunting report, with a flying leap for a Bedale follower on p58. Day reports are the closest thing to being out. Read it before planning a meet.

▸ Horses in the News

p.8 · Horses in the news
DSP Chakaria, a 15-year-old mare who won the European jumping championship in 2021 with German rider Andre Thieme, returns to competition after a year away. Dacapo, Laura Collett's CCI4* winner, has become a schoolmaster for a young rider: he is 16 and stood on a four-star podium 13 times. Llanmorlais Buster, Mark Swistun's home-bred Welsh Section D yearling, took the supreme championship at the 2025 Royal Welsh Winter Fair, shown by Kristian Harris. Thirteen four-star podiums is the career most horses never approach. Name one of these horses before the next championship.

Farewell
Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin said goodbye to Valegro and Utopia, aged 23 and 24, announced as H&H went to press on Monday 1 December. Carl called letting them go together a final act of loyalty and dignity, and said they were family he will always love and miss. Charlotte said of Valegro: "You have always been, and always will be, my one in a million… we will dance again one day." Two greats in one week is the year's hardest news. Read the full tribute in the 11 December issue.

Reader survey
The latest H&H reader survey offers a £250 John Lewis voucher, with Sarah Jenkins saying it is vital to keep understanding what readers want as the media landscape changes. Reader surveys are how a magazine keeps its shape. Fill in one survey this month.

▸ Advertising

Better Biome and CushCare
Better Biome from Baileys Horse Feeds is a gut supplement with prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics; user Sarah Cruikshank says her horse Cali's droppings firmed and reduced within a week, "like night and day." It suits digestive upset or hindgut acidosis, loose droppings, horses on antibiotics, travelling or competing horses, sick or stabled horses, those on low fibre, foals with diarrhoea with vet advice, and underweight horses. CushCare from Dodson & Horrell is advertised at 01270 782 223 and dodsonandhorrell.com. Sponsored claims are not evidence on their own. Ask your vet before adding any supplement.

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Editor's Take

The farewell to Valegro and Utopia is the reason Horse & Hound 4 December 2025 will be kept: two horses, aged 23 and 24, put down together on 1 December, with Carl Hester calling it a final act of loyalty and dignity and Charlotte Dujardin's "one in a million" tribute, is the sort of news a sport measures decades by. The awards give the issue its number — 10th year, more than 107,000 votes, Dallas Burston Polo Club on 26 November — and Lucy Elder's budget analysis gives racing's real scale at £4 billion and about 85,000 jobs, with 15% betting tax, £12.71 minimum wage from April and the 1 April business rates change. Weakest is the structure: this is an awards-and-review issue, so most pages from the year in pictures at p46 to the reports at p64-74 are listed with page numbers but no body text, and the review of the year cannot be quoted. The Better Biome advertising gives more detail than several features. Buy this for the farewell and the awards; the review is a contents page.

Strengths
• Farewell gives 23 and 24 and Monday 1 December
• Awards give 107,000 votes, 26 November, 10th year
• Budget gives £4bn, 85,000 jobs, 15% tax, £12.71
• Dacapo gives 13 four-star podiums at 16

Weaknesses
• Review of the year has no body text
• Reports and picture pages unquoted
• Advertising is more detailed than the features

Verdict: Recommended — the farewell and awards, weaker review.