Keith Mott
Writes about winning fanciers past & present
MIKE & THERESA HORNER
OF ALTON
I first met Mike Horner back November, when he won Best in Show at the R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show and I was there at the High Wycombe event judging. To say he was over joyed at his performance would be an under statement. This was his best performance ever with his Show Racers and he was over the moon! His team for the Southern Region Show were exceptionally good this year and in the light of that he fancied his chances. Mike and Theresa Horner won Best in Show (645 birds) with their four year old Mosaic show racer cock, ‘Barny’, and he has plenty of previous good form, having won in the show pen twelve times. He won Class 7. (Coloured Cock or Hen) at High Wycombe and also lifted two trophies, ‘Best Show Racer’ and ‘Best in Show’.
Mike has been in pigeons, in one form or the other, all his life and is from a racing pigeon family, with his father and grandfathers being pigeon racers. He had racing pigeons up to the late 1970’s and flew in the Godalming & Dist. F.C. (Surrey Federation) with all the old greats of that time including, Stan Edgington, Paul Bridgewater, Alec Martin, Ron & Chris Cox and Eric Cannon. In those days he got lot of help from Pat McFadden, the secretary of the Godalming club at that time and raced the Channing of Wales family of pigeons. Years ago Mikes also kept a few Show Racers obtained from Bill Meader of London. The Horner racing loft had some good success, mostly from the longer channel races, as he flew on the natural system. He started up with the Show Racer properly on marring Theresa in 1980, with birds from Tony Williams, which were reds and mealies, and later some stock from Mr. & Mrs. Colin Carter of Churchdown. Mike’s latest champion, ‘Barny’, was bred from these original bloodlines.
He is a member of the Devon & Cornwall Show Racer Society, the new Southern Counties Society based at Gravesend and says he never missed a show for years at the Midland Show Racer Society, but it has now mover up to Birmingham and it’s to far to travel. His main show loft is a two section 18ft x 8ft structure, which houses his 32 bird show team and has a thick wood shavings litter on the floor. The few pairs of stock birds he owns are kept in a smaller loft and all are paired up in late January, producing about 30 young birds each season. Mike likes to split the show pairs up again in late May or early in June to get the moult going, ready for the show season the following winter. His nest boxes are removable and are taken out of the loft at the time of the birds being parted and replaced with ‘V’ perches, which the birds sit on through the show season. The birds are fed on a heavy racing mixture called ‘Cranleigh A1’, which he gets from Des McFadden’s ‘Pet’s Pantry’ at Cranleigh and Mike gives them a conditioner every Sunday morning. Grit and Minerals are in front of the birds all the time. When Mike brings in a new stock bird he looks for a good type and likes a bigger bird in the hand. The birds never fly out and are given a bath at least once a week, with bath being moved from section to section every day.
Mike is a busy self employed builder and hasn’t got the time for special preparation on his birds in the week leading up to a big show, but says his system has got a regular routine, which is the same week in and week out. His present day Show Racer family are bred down from the original Tony Williams / Colin Carter pigeons and has added a few blue chequers from Les Petty. Mike and Theresa travel around a lot judging at the National and Society shows every year and he says his wife is very helpful with his hobby. His favourite colours are reds and mealies and Mike told me the competition on the Show Racer scene is getting better every season and it’s getting harder and harder to win. His birds get about 15 shows in a season and Mike maintains the Welsh boys, Ron McCarthy and Norman Perry, are the fanciers to beat in the open National shows. Mike told me the fanciers on the Show Racer scene are a smashing bunch of lads and he really enjoys their company!
Some of Mike and Theresa’s best birds are: ‘Princess’ a red hen bred in 2000 and she is the top pigeon in the Alton loft winning fourteen firsts in Society shows. Mike says this grand ol’ hen is well past showing now, but is producing some outstanding young birds. ‘Blue Boy’ is a blue cock bred in 2004 and he has eight Society firsts to his credit. ‘Freddie’ a mealy cock also bred in the 2004 season and he has won six firsts in the Show Society events.
Congratulations to Mike and Theresa on their wonderful success at this year’s R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show! That’s it for this week and I can be contacted on Telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.
20/12/06
