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.
Diva and Jackson have travelled to shows together several times but, as we try to enter Jackson for gelding-only classes rather than mixed mare and gelding ones, they had never competed in the same class.
Bob and I had our second lesson with out new instructor and all I can say is wow (plus I also stayed aboard – just!)!
As mentioned in a previous blog, the way the grass is growing this year is causing problems for people with good doers. This time last year Diva and Mabel were out 24/7 and I was getting to the stage of giving a little hay at night as the grass just wasn’t growing.
While there are plenty of benefits to a beach ride there are also particular risks you need to plan ahead for. If you want to try out beach riding then you need to make sure it is safe. If you’re wondering where to start, then read our top tips.