The Not-So-Secret Diary of Diva the Shetland Pony - Sales

Autumn brings the official Shetland Pony Auctions. There are three in total, one in Worcester, one in Aberdeen and one in Lerwick on Shetland. Many ponies are sold through these auctions from the most renowned studs, in particular at the Lerwick and Aberdeen sales.

My social media feed is full of beautiful young ponies and weaned foals looking for new homes, so I am having to resist the temptation to register to bid.

It is a time for the owners of the studs to sell ponies for which they have retained others of the same bloodlines and to seek to introduce new bloodlines by buying in unrelated ponies.

Island-bred ponies often have special prizes at affiliated shows, and I do have to say that I would love to own one of my own one day. The sales have shows before the sale of the stock being brought forward, so I will be interested to watch those online (and still resist the urge to register as a buyer!). The top-priced lot sold at the Lerwick Sale was a beautiful mare called Scatness Ace.

Closer to home, Diva’s yearling full brother, Melland Vantage, is for sale and thank goodness that he is a colt. If he had been a filly, I think I would be zipping down to the stud in the horsebox with the money burning a hole in my pocket.

I do also keep getting asked if I will put Diva (Melland Queen of Scots) in foal. The answer to that is perhaps! She certainly deserves to breed as her results in the ring prove her worth, and she has lovely bloodlines. I would have to think long and hard about which stallion would be best for her. The Shetland pony stud would have the mare stay with them whilst being covered by the stallion, so I would have to let her go away, which would be quite hard as she has been with me every day since I got her as a yearling. But a baby Diva would be so cute. Very tempting!