It has become apparent to me that people rarely have just one Shetland pony. I call this The Shetland Pony Effect.
My first encounter with the breed was when my sister decided she wanted a black Standard Shetland pony as a companion for her racehorse. After scouring the For Sale adverts, we found a three-year-old gelding for sale and, long story short, Melland Jackson Jive came home with us!
A herd of Shetlands from the Melland Stud
The following year we decided to show him, and the results were amazing: Best Gelding at Lincolnshire County and the winner of the gelding class at Great Yorkshire. Since I’m shorter than my sister and more into showing, I handled him in the ring and had so much fun. I was hooked!
I resisted getting my own Shetland pony for several years until the Melland Stud offered me Melland Queen of Scots, aka Diva, who arrived as mentioned in my first blog.
Since then I have become a little obsessed with all things Shetland. I have been watching any TV show with the Shetland Isles in them. I have discovered the detective show, Shetland, based on the books by Ann Cleeves, and I’m busily catching up by watching the box sets.
But perhaps the greatest sign that I am suffering from The Shetland Pony Effect is that in July I will be heading up to spend a week on the Shetland Isles to view some of the studs and to watch the Shetland Pony Studbook Society annual breed show, which is back on Shetland for the first time in years.
We’re hoping to see some wildlife—puffins and otters in particular—but the real draw for me is to see Shetland ponies in their natural environment.
January is one of those months that can certainly seem twice as long as it really is, and the recent weather hasn’t done anything to dispel these feelings. However, for anyone involved in the county showing season, it is a month where the first plans for the campaign are made.
As with many other hobbies and disciplines, the equine world is full of jargon that may be confusing to someone who has recently got into horse riding.
After the worst winter I can remember and first winter with the horses at home, with no facilities, i had to give up, keep the horses in most of the time and abandon riding for 6 weeks.
2020 hasn't quite got off to the start anyone would want. All Christmas I have been battling a really bad case of Uveitis with Beanie and unfortunately he never recovered.