A sense of connection

Nothing quite beats riding a native pony in the very landscape that has shaped its conformation and temperament, finds Lucy Higginson

- Lucy Higginson

FOR my family, 2020 was saved by Charlie, a pony we borrowed for our annual summer holiday on Dartmoor, where he was born and bred. He was the saintly conveyance who gave my 12-year-old son Alex his first proper out-of-the-arena adventures, cantering up tors, splashing across rivers and having on-the-hoof meetings with curious foals.

How many others, I pondered, have gone out of their way to experience the thrill of riding a pony in its native habitat? A couple of days’ research later, I had my answer as my inbox bulged with anecdotes and photographs of Dales ponies climbing valleys, Highland pack ponies in the glens and more.

“I hope you find a Lundy on Lundy!” someone even said, excitedly (not yet, alas).

Leading the charge were Exmoor enthusiasts both in Somerset and beyond. Many adult owners take their ponies on an annual pilgrimage for a week-long festival organised by the Exmoor Pony Society around their annual breed show, including guided pleasure rides and social events.

“The preferred height for males is 12.3hh, and 12.2hh for females, but they’re as broad as they are high, incredibly strong and will happily carry an adult,” says Emma Wallace, whose family owns the Anchor herd that runs on Winsford Hill.

She also loves to see owners of mannerly Exmoors return to help with the annual gatherings of this and other herds each autumn, to check mares and wean foals – “it’s so much more controlled using horsepower on four legs instead of quad bikes”.

“Riding in a pony’s homeland feels magical” JENNA PAYNE

Susannah Muir and Elizabeth Etchells annually drive some seven hours to Exmoor with their families for August’s pony festival and breed show.