‘Lots of riders disregard the walk – it’s the first and last thing the judge sees’: meet the 2025 Royal Windsor M&M performance judge

As well as the prestige of winning, the allure of a bonus ticket to the London International Horse Show’s Heritage Championship means that the open mountain and moorland ridden classes at Royal Windsor are hot competition.

This year, competitors will be sorted into line by conformation judge Lizzie Briant-Finlayson and performance judge Stephanie Turner.

While it’s difficult to alter a pony’s conformation, there’s still time to make sure that your performance is on point. So who is Royal Windsor M&M judge, Stephanie Turner, and what will she be looking for?

Stephanie’s had a lifetime’s experience with ponies, having started riding at just three years old.

“My mother rode, and my grandfather worked the land with heavy horses, so it was inevitable that I would,” she explains.

She enjoyed early success in the working hunter pony arena and having left school, she worked on a yard for a short time before setting up her own production yard.

There, Stephanie produced children’s ponies and showed an array of horses and ponies herself. These included HOYS-winning Arabian horse Silver Moonlight, and Olympia-bound Connemara Minsmere Rebel and Welsh section C Templedruid Welshman.

She also took a turn riding Highland pony Mackenzie Dean for fellow producer Julie Barton, meaning she has a range of experiences not only in the ring, but specifically with native ponies.

Followers of M&M classes in recent years will be familiar with her New Forest pony, Ravenstone Fudge, who is the reigning New Forest pony of the year as well as winner of the 2024 performance pony class at London International.

Stephanie sits on a host of panels, including the British Show Pony Society, the Arab Horse Society, Coloured Horse and Pony Society and the British Show Horse Association among others.

“I’m very lucky and very honoured to have judged at most of the more prestigious shows in the UK and internationally,” says Stephanie.

International appointments include shows in Abu Dhabi, South Africa, and Australia. She’s also judged HOYS twice, and this is her third appointment at Windsor having previously officiated over the hack and part-bred Arab sections.

Royal Windsor M&M judge: what is Stephanie looking for?

What will M&M competitors need to do to impress Stephanie at Royal Windsor?

She explains that, first and foremost, she’ll be looking for “a pony that goes true to its type and in the way their breed description recommends.”

On the go round, Stephanie feels that a “lot of riders disregard the walk,” and reminds competitors that it is the first and last thing a judge sees during the go round and in the individual show.

She’ll also be looking for a pony that “looks through the bridle” and is mannerly.

When it comes to the extension, she says: “Some aren’t bred to gallop but for those breeds, I’ll still want to see a change in pace.“

“Basically,” she summarises, “I’m looking for something that I would like to ride myself.”

You heard it here first! Time to get practicing…

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