The County shows have been entered with the show string including Foal show supreme Anchor Osprey who is now 3 and Anchor Gretel,the mare who took championships all over last year. Gretel’s daughter has just been sold and went out to win a good small breed class in Cumbria at the weekend. The Anchor colts Odyssey and Popcorn are representing the herd in the youngstock ring and are regularly coming home with tricolours.

This is a special year as The Exmoor Pony Society are holding a Centenary dinner and new spring show in early May combined with the stallion parade. Mares are now out with the stallions and we are thrilled that Anchor Honeymead returned from Wales for a few months to work before resuming his ridden career. Anchor Lullaby, Popcorn and Odyssey have all been out winning in their respective classes.

Sandy Wooderson is delighted that her Exmoor mare Badleybridge Ab Fab won the M&M Lead Rein and qualified for the RIHS at UKP&H and went on to take the Mini Championship. The charming little mare is in her fourth season with her jockey Jennifer Frost and has been produced throughout by Christina Gillett.

Exmoor Pony Society Junior Performance Awards

Congratulations to all our young riders Junior performance winners were Barhill Marigold and Charlotte Heslop and runners up were Dunsmore Glenmorangie and Christopher Farley-Brown. Third place went to Dunsmore Glenmorangie and Amala Wiles while her sister Eleri took fourth place with their pony.

Portly French has enjoyed a great start to the season qualifying for both ridden finals at the Royal International Horse Show in Cornwall with her longstanding partner Blackthorn Poem bred by Jackie Webb. Portly has owned her pony for twelve years, since she was 11. The well matched pair also romped through the 2021 Exmoor Pony Society Performance awards to win both the Adult and Ridden Performance sections.

Portly explains ” After a fantastic season for Blackthorn Poem being Ridden Exmoor of the year, Reserve Supreme Exmoor of the year, the highest Exmoor and mare placed in the Open at HOYS plus being the only Exmoor and one of two small breeds forward in the intermediate final at Royal International – she definitely deserved a winter of variety (and a new saddle!).

After a winter of Riding Club, Show Jumping and Dressage she started her 2022 season with the results of the Exmoor Pony Awards, where she took the Overall Adult and Ridden Performance awards as well as winning the Southern performance and Overall Champion award along with picking up both her Open D/E/S and UKPH Intermediate RIHS tickets at her second show of the season.”

Hayley Reynolds enjoyed Best of Breed success at the London International Horse Show with her great campaigner Dunkery Wigeon owned by Maureen Richardson. Hayley backed Wigeon as a four year old stallion in 2012 and the pair have enjoyed many trips to RIHS, HOYS and Olympia.

Frankie Elizabeth Currell is rightly proud of Dunkery Black Grouse who enjoyed a very successful novice season in 2021 where he won the NPS Novice WHP final and was placed in the top three of all of his HOYS flat qualifiers. “Grouse” had a fantastic start to the 2022 show season where he jumped clear at NPS Area 10 in the RIHS qualifier to stand in second place. Winning start – Overall Champion at EPS Foal and Youngstock Show Christmas 2015 and was unbeaten as Yearling winning at Somerset Area, Dunster and was reserve Overall In Hand Champion at the Breed Show. The colt continued his youngstock career with many wins. As a twoyear old he won the mixed in hand Championship at the NPS Summer Championships and won his 2&3 year old In hand Highbrook final. He followed this up by taking Supreme Champion at the Midlands Exmoor Area Show and Reserve Colt Champion at the Christmas Show. He passed his stallion inspection in the autumn of 2018.

As a three year Dunkery Black Grouse was 1st and Reserve Exmoor Champion at Royal Windsor, 1st and Champion Exmoor at Royal Cheshire, Small Breeds Youngstock winner at Monmouth, Winner of the NPS Highbrook 2 and 3 year old final for the 2nd year running, Exmoor Pony of the Year Youngstock winner and Overall Reserve In Hand Champion at the Midlands Show.

Frankie informed “2019 saw him run with his first group of mares and 2020 saw the arrival of his first crop of foals. All four foals were fillies. Three of them are out of homebred mares and one out of Breed Show Champion Coedywern Harebell. We are very pleased with them and they are proving to have very good temperaments.”