A sense of connection
Nothing quite beats riding a native pony in the very landscape that has shaped its conformation and temperament, finds Lucy Higginson
Nothing beats riding a native in its natural environment
FOR my family, 2020 was saved by Charlie, a pony we borrowed for our annual summer holiday on Dartmoor, where he was born and bred. He was the saintly conveyance who gave my 12-year-old son Alex his first proper out-of-the-arena adventures, cantering up tors, splashing across rivers and having on-the-hoof meetings with curious foals.
How many others, I pondered, have gone out of their way to experience the thrill of riding a pony in its native habitat? A couple of days’ research later, I had my answer as my inbox bulged with anecdotes and photographs of Dales ponies climbing valleys, Highland pack ponies in the glens and more.
“I hope you find a Lundy on Lundy!” someone even said, excitedly (not yet, alas).
Leading the charge were Exmoor enthusiasts both in Somerset and beyond. Many adult owners take their ponies on an annual pilgrimage for a week-long festival organised by the Exmoor Pony Society around their annual breed show, including guided pleasure rides and social events.
“The preferred height for males is 12.3hh, and 12.2hh for females, but they’re as broad as they are high, incredibly strong and will happily carry an adult,” says Emma Wallace, whose family owns the Anchor herd that runs on Winsford Hill.
She also loves to see owners of mannerly Exmoors return to help with the annual gatherings of this and other herds each autumn, to check mares and wean foals – “it’s so much more controlled using horsepower on four legs instead of quad bikes”.
Susannah Muir and Elizabeth Etchells annually drive some seven hours to Exmoor with their families for August’s pony festival and breed show.
“Although our Essex and Hertfordshire Exmoors were initially a little shell-shocked, they soon got into the swing of it,” says Elizabeth. “Riding out on the famous Winsford Hill was quite special.”
Susannah adds: “There’s nothing better than being on an Exmoor and coming across Exmoor ponies on the hill. You should definitely make the effort to go and see them in their natural environment. You view them so differently when you see what they are truly capable of, living in the wild.”
Susannah got her first Exmoor 23 years ago after falling for the breed at the Exford Show, and now has five.
“They’re an addiction... like chocolates, you cannot stop at one!” agrees Jenna Payne, who is a panel judge and area rep for the Exmoor Pony Society. The Paynes bring a brace of
“Riding in a pony’s homeland feels magical”
JENNA PAYNE
ponies (they have eight to choose from at home) to stay with their friend, the Exmoor pony novelist Victoria Eveleigh, and ride out with their children Harry and Lowenna.
“Though we have beautiful riding in Cornwall, riding in a pony’s homeland feels magical. We love it,” says Jenna “There’s usually somebody local who will show us new areas — Exmoors seem to attract lovely people.”
Lisa Clarke has found the same; having amassed a string of four ponies, she’s now left home on the Surrey/Sussex borders for what she calls “an extended gap year” on Exmoor.
“I’ve ridden my ponies at gatherings where they were basically rounding up their relatives,” she recounts. “It’s very special meeting the herd they were born into, and a gorgeous place to ride.”
Over in the New Forest, it’s even easier for adults to ride the local breed since they often go up to 14.2hh. Forester Louise Booth has had New Forests all her life, her current ride being Mallards Wood Athena, whom she hunts, hacks and has fun with.
“Everyone knows Athena as ‘that one Robert bred’ she laughs, referencing her breeder Robert Maton. “We almost become defined by our ponies. I’ve always had an affinity with the New Forests. It connects you with traditions, countryside, a way of life – you’re part of that fabric of the Forest, and they’re so easy and amenable.”
Kerry Dovey-Whiting is another lifelong New Forest pony admirer, being what she terms “a generational commoner”, and a field master for the New Forest hounds. She learned to ride on a Forester as a child, and now has four at home ridden by herself and her three children, plus others running the Forest.
“My children’s ponies were all turned out on the Forest as youngsters – they learn everything: [how to cope with] pigs, ditches and so on, and they learn from their mothers where to graze around the bogs,” says Kerry.
“They make the best hunting ponies, and they know the bog crossings. Sometimes they tell you, ‘No, don’t cross here,’ and you have to listen to them.
“The market is so strong now for them — everyone wants them because they’re such great ponies.”
FURTHER north, Amy Balmer is another who feels a connection with her ancestors whenever she rides a Dales pony in the Yorkshire Dales. Formerly of Wensleydale, she now lives 20 minutes away