Throughout the 1990s I owned and bred Welsh Ponies from our farm in Kent under our stud name, Ibornden Park Stud. We showed them in-hand at local and county shows throughout the South East of England with great success. At the same time I published a magazine entitled ‘Critters Horse & Animal Magazine’ which enabled me to indulge in two of my favourite subjects – horses and animals.
We purchased a Welsh Section B stallion from the famous Fayre Oaks Sales in Hereford with the help and advice of Ian Lamb and Caroline Bachman. He was called ‘Cennen Signature Tune’ and we bought him with a standing ovation from the audience who had come from all over Europe to buy Welsh ponies. He was bred by Emrys Bowen of the Cennen Stud by Downland Chevalier out of Cennen Serenade and had a wonderful temperament. We brought him home and what a complete gentleman he was with his mares, siring many excellent foals that have gone on to become champions in their own right.
Sadly he had to be put down a few years ago whilst staying at the Kingsmead stud where he suffered an extreme bout of colic. He had covered several of their own Kingsmead mares and a few visiting mares before he died.
Recently, I have been looking through photos and thought I would include a piece on the website about my ponies as although I no longer keep any, due to back injuries and lack of facilities, they always give me pleasure each time I think of them.
So, here’s a few pictures and comments. I hope you enjoy them. I will update the photos as I find them, so please indulge me.
My favourite part of all this time with my ponies was looking after and showing the foals. We had a great lady called Lorna who was very experienced with this and helped us through many births and shows. The very first mare we had foal was Gracie who decided to give birth early in the field amidst all the other novice mares, causing much interest. Lorna took over the situation, whilst we helped Gracie to the stable, carrying her afterbirth like a wedding train as we guided her and her foal up the field! Gracie’s foal, Ibornden Lullaby, went on to win many trophies and rosettes as a Welsh Part Bred prior to being sold where she excelled in dressage, jumping and ridden showing classes.
During this time we had visiting mares come to the stallion and he covered our own mares who were from The Hale Stud, Brookhall Stud and Eyarth Stud and we bred some superb foals, mainly from Cennen Signature Tune, but a couple from Carolinas Wildcard and Hollybush Cassius. Here’s a list of some of them:
Ibornden Lullaby, Ibornden Serenade, Ibornden Symphony, Ibornden Melody, Ibornden Wild Rose, Ibornden Grasshopper, Ibornden Filigree, Ibornden Firefly, Ibornden Park Diamond, Ibornden Honeysuckle, Ibornden Master Magician, Ibornden Comet, Ibornden Bewitched, Ibornden Firedancer, Ibornden Foxglove, Ibornden Minuet, Ibornden Sapphire, Ibornden Sonata, Ibornden Waterlily, and Ibornden Mr Mcguigan… I’ve probably missed some.
Our weekends were spent grooming, shampooing and rushing off to shows and hoping for that much-prized red rosette to bring home. It was exhausting but very enjoyable and what a thrill to win with a pony you had bred yourself!
Many of my ponies went off to nice homes and went on to become successful in ridden classes. One of these was Ibornden Comet, the only foal we kept as a stallion because of his perfect confirmation and temperament. Sadly the lady I sold him on to had him gelded shortly afterwards in order for him to be shown more easily in children’s riding classes. Many people contacted me afterwards to bring their mares to him but sadly… too late.
Unfortunately I was not cut out to be a horse dealer. I just hated selling them. I found people did not always tell the truth and many never kept in contact to let me know how the ponies were doing. One of the sad things about selling ponies. So, if you are thinking of breeding ponies one thing I would like to say is, only do so if what you are producing is from good stock and that you are able to place this foal knowing it will be looked after properly. At the time we were breeding, many people left their colt foals entire and were not fussy about what they bred, or where they went, hence there were too many lower quality foals bred that were unsaleable. I could not bear seeing these horses being sold for meat and as I was concerned about where my ponies went, I decided to stop breeding.
If you have any of the ponies I have listed above, I would love to hear from you to find out how they are getting on. Just email me on shirley@mycountrypublications.com
Have you a story to tell? We would love to hear from you. Why not send it to us at copy@mycountrypublications.com with pictures and we will place it on the website.