Horse Agility Results

The ponies did really well in The Horse Agility Summer of Sport results - competitors from all levels from all over the world were competing in fun classes!  Arthur, Faie, Frodo and Faye scored 91/100 for their Pairs course which is quite impressive really!!  That gave them 7th place in the class and they were the highest scoring GB entry!

For his first ever ridden class Arthur scored an amazing 93/100 (he lost 5 points automatically for having a pair of reins rather than just one, one point for a tight rein on the "Z bend" and one for his backwards guessing the course blip) - we are so very pleased with him!  He was placed 9th out of a class of 15.  Clever boy Mr Arthur!

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For Oscar's Fans!

One very happy haymaking dog!!

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September's Calendar

This photo is of a late summer sunset on Bodmin Moor - it really gives the idea of how harsh the landscape and environment is for ponies there to survive in.  Bodmin Moor is where Topsy was seized from in emaciated condition so I expect she really appreciates her retirement in the much lusher lowlands "upcountry"!

This also reminds me that there are only a few weeks now until the wild pony markets start...so spare a thought for all those foals whose lives are going to be turned upsidedown in about 4 weeks time...

The moors can be very beautiful but they are also very harsh in many ways (in environment and tradition) for the animals that live there!

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Hay, Fundraising & Horse Agility

The end of August has just flown by and there's been so much to do...

....On Friday Roger arrived to cut our hay...the weather finally looked like it was going to improve...so our hay is now underway.  Roger turned the hay on the first day and then Ted turned it twice on Saturday.  As the crop is so late it is very thick and there's a lot of potential hay there - but it's going to take longer to dry so we are all keeping our fingers crossed for favourable weather.


On Saturday we had a stall in Honiton at the Mind, Body and Spirit Fayre where we met lots of lovely people.  We owe big thanks to Harry and Pauline who allowed us to have a stall there at the last minute and were kind enough to offer a pitch free of charge.  Thank you to all the supporters who visited our stall...we raised £165 which was brilliant.  Thank you also to Margaret who came over to Honiton to set up the stall, and to Faie, Rachel and Archie for looking after the ponies...they even roped in Faie's family for a some extra support breaking up the big clumps of cut grass in the field - we're very grateful for that, thank you!


The end of August was also the deadline for entries to the Horse Agility Summer of Sport competition - we didn't have enough time to try all the courses we wanted to...but we did manage to enter Arthur into the Equagility lead rein/ridden course.  We were very proud of how well he did - we've only been focussing on his ridden work since July and only on non-rainy days.  He's had to learn everything from scratch as we've been restarting him and we're particularly pleased with how well he stood at the mounting block.  Faie also joined in with Arthur for a try at the Pairs Horse Agility course with Faye and Frodo.  Just for fun!  It's actually quite tricky!!!  Thank you very much to Jenny for her videoing of our courses!

...And finally, yesterday Jas came over to help catch up with the extra pony chores so I think we're just about up to date! Phew...

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August...Rain...Sunshine...Rain...

This was the scene at the farm on Tuesday...perfect you might think...except this field is our hay field...we are nearly at the end of August and our hay is still standing in the field waiting to be cut...not good news!  With the jet stream having been sat over the South West of the UK for the whole of the summer, every other day we've had rain...which is a nightmare if you are trying to make hay.  In July the local rainfall total was 4 inches!  We need at least 3 or 4 days of fine weather and no rain to cut, turn and bale the crop successfully...and unfortunately the weather forecast until the end of August is not in our favour.  This is the first time that we are looking into September for an opportunity...so please keep your fingers crossed because although we have some hay left over from last year in the barn, it isn't enough to feed the ponies into next year...and if we don't make it we'll have to buy some in.

On top of this, this week we had news that the two day Christmas event we were booked into has been cancelled - this was going to be a big fundraiser for us and we can't afford to miss out...we owe huge thanks to Thea and Lesley for coming to our rescue!  Thea has managed to arrange for us to have a stall at the Wellington School Christmas Fair at the end of November...and Lesley was able to arrange for us to have a table at the Mind, Body and Spirit Fair in Honiton next weekend.  The organisers of both events have offered us free pitches - thank you so much everyone, we really appreciate it!

Margaret's been making lots of jam sales this week and has also kindly donated a couple of haynets for the ponies.  Ryan, Laura and Anne have all donated apples for the ponies.  Archie did a good job of helping Margaret with all the pony chores on Wednesday.

Arthur's coming along so well with his ridden work...here's a little video from today that Jenny filmed for us...

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Porlock Country Fair

Alan meets Frodo from a safe height!

Anji and Alan the Dachshund

We had a very good day at the Porlock Country Fair yesterday with the weather staying good for the day.  We had our fundraising stall at the event and sold lots of items which raised £204.05 for the ponies, which was brilliant!  Thank you to Thea for organising the stall for us and for donating all the extra items for our stalls...and to Diane and Julie too who are so supportive...and to Beate who came to help on our stall.  There were lots of lovely dogs of just about every breed at the event which reminded us that we hadn't posted the photo of Alan the miniature Dachshund who came to help at the ponies earlier in the week...very cute!  Margaret and Jas did all the hard work at the yard looking after the ponies yesterday so thank you for their efforts too!

Faye went back to Marsland on Saturday and both Breeze and Star were fine...Star is a little lost without her friend but doing OK...

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Misty

Misty back in early May

It's been a long day today and unfortunately we have some sad news...our sponsor pony Misty had to be put to sleep today...and such a shock really as she has been such a healthy, happy pony.  We can't thank our friends Vanessa and Phillip enough as they dropped everything to come and help.

Misty will be missed by the wardens and local walkers on the nature reserve too...she had such an idyllic life these last few years grazing with her friends in one of the most beautiful spots in the UK.  The vet even said that she was in perfect condition - absolutely beautiful - but something in her body went wrong today and it was very clear it was her time to go...run free little Misty...she'll never need to fear a human ever again....

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Happy Pony Stories!

We had some really delightful news yesterday about Charlie, the New Forest pony who was next on our waiting list to come to us.  His owner Louise got in touch to say that Charlie has been very lucky and found a forever home!!

Louise says "Last month I moved the horses to a new yard as the land I was keeping them on was being sold.  At the new place are two Andalusian mares who were rescued from a Spanish slaughter house last year and brought to the UK.  With lots of love and attention they have been recovering and healing but remained nervous and lacking in confidence.  Within the first week of turning up Charlie decided that his job in life was to look after these beautiful girls and they have blossomed under his care.  The mares owner has decided that he has had such a positive impact on their lives she would like them all to remain together as a herd.  As you can imagine I am absolutely chuffed to bits, especially as this wonderful lady has seen past his difference to the true him.  She thinks he is very special, as do I!

Thank you for taking the time to talk to me about Charlie, and for giving me hope when everyone else had given up on him.  I have attached a photo of Charlie with one of the mares, they are all so happy together"
What lucky ponies they all are...and thank you to Charlie for the donation he sent to our ponies!  We wish them all lots of happiness together!

...And earlier in the week we also had a photo of Jessie (the fearless foal's Mum who was part of the Dartmoor group rehomed a few years ago) who resides at the Pit Pony Sanctuary - looking great and very comfortable under saddle.

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Congratulations!

Big congratulations to Tasha and Muddy who were at Chulmleigh Horse Show yesterday and had a very successful day!  They won a 2nd place for best driving type and a special rosette for rare breeds.

Tasha says "Muddy is a superstar and won 2 rosettes yesterday at Chulmleigh show. I've taught him what the whole riding thing is about and he loves going out on rides and is always really keen to get going ! I have now started teaching him to drive and he is long reining really well...He's so wonderful :0)".

Lots of lovely photos of them together!  

And at the yard today Archie's having his own achievements working with Arthur and he's hoping to enter one of the Horse Agility Summer of Sport competitions with Arthur.

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August Is Here!

This is one of our favourite calendar photos...our herd all out happily grazing together in the sunshine...Rocky, Bobby, Frodo, Dan, Topsy and Arthur.  This is how life should be!! Care free grazing in the sunshine!

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