Hpec newsletter may 2017

Highland Pony Enthusiasts Club Newsletter

May 2017

Summer will soon be with us and there are now lots of activities happening around the country that many highland pony owners will be getting involved with. For some great ideas please see our ‘what's on’ item.

including two NPS qualifying classes there was great

yet friendly competition going from the word go. Two arenas were in place in the indoor ménage with a spacious working in area outdoors.

The day proved to be most successful for Highlanders, cumulating in a win for the breed in the Westgate Labs team competition. This years team was made up of Kate Lee, Jen Beveridge, Mardy Fawcett and Kyle Ord. Kyle Ord, riding Anna Pennell’s six year old Highland Gelding Tarquin of Forglen headed the Intro A class in what was Kyle’s dressage debut. They narrowly pipped Jennifer Beveridge and Fionnlagh of Achnacarry into second spot. Jen and Fionnlagh went onto to take the best of breed accolade in Intro C. Kate Lee had a busy day, not only as yard manager of the college venue but also competing her two Highland geldings. Proving the one to beat on home turf in the NPS Prelim qualifier with Chapelhill Cameron, Kate also scored a second place in Intro B with her novice pony Rannoch of Sunnyneuk. The final member of the team was Mardy Fawcett riding Tower Highland Piper. They individually scored a second placing in Prelim 1. Chris Grant

HPEC Performance Awards Congratulations to all our Performance Award winners for 2016. They were presented with their trophies and rosettes at the recent HPEC AGM and Performance Awards ceremony. Top Platinum Happy Hacker was Katherine Owen with Glen of Langsett. Points Champion was Lesley Dawson and Trowan Promise with Alan Butler and Machelthy Sir Bertram reserve.

HPEC & FPS M&M Annual Dressage Competition In the North East of England, the Mountain and Moorland Dressage Competition run in March is now a firm fixture in many Native Pony Enthusiasts Calendars. 2017 saw the event take place at the brand new venue of East Durham College’s Houghall Campus on Sunday 12th March. The venue change proved most popular, and for many was their first visit to Houghall having only been recently opened

by HRH Princess Anne.

Another change to the competition was in the organisation as the Highland Pony Enthusiasts Club teamed up with the North East Fell Pony Society Group to put the event on. After five great competitions the Dales Pony Society bowed out to focus on other events. With seven classes on offer

Kate Newton riding Chapelhill Cameron

photo Kevin Owens - Digital Works Ltd

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The afternoon session opened with a riveting review by Mr David Wallace of the Anchor Exmoor Stud on the guardianship of herds on Exmoor. This took us through the management of Exmoor ponies though the seasons, culminating in the gathering of the herd at the end of the year often in the mist and rain.

News The Highland Pony Society have a bursary of £500 available to current young members of the HPS who are between the ages of 12 and 25 and want to improve their highland pony knowledge skills and understanding.

Applicants have to submit a portfolio to the HPS which shows where they are, where they would like to be and how they would like to make their progress. In short they need to demonstrate “Why should the HPS allocate this bursary to you and what benefits would it bring to the Highland Pony breed?” Anyone who is interested should check out the HPS website.

Mrs Kate Dykes from the very successful Mendick stud continued the afternoon session firstly by explaining the history of breeding highland ponies with reference to the days of the Department of Agriculture for Scotland.

She continued by describing how she and her husband John had become involved with highlands and outlined their breeding policies.

She reminisced about ponies who went on to achieve much success in a variety of disciplines some of which were with other owners. achieve much success in a variety of disciplines some of which were with other owners.

The final speaker was Mrs Gillian McMurray from the Trailtrow Stud. She explained the rules and etiquette of a ridden showing class, the importance of Health and Safety and the responsibilities of being a judge and how this could affect both future breeding and competitor’s aspirations. It was particularly interesting to hear from the other side of the fence and not just the usual view of a competitor or spectator. Chris Bassett

Native Pony Study Day Almost 120 people, including many members of the HPEC, congregated at the East of England Showground, Peterborough to support this joint venture between the Highland Pony Society and the Exmoor Pony Society.

Mr John Dykes HPS judge explained the breed standard of the Highland Pony and what to look for when studying the conformation of the various animals forward. Eyes, ears, head bodies and legs were all discussed and John commented that “a good highland pony should have the head of a duchess and the rear of a cook”. The ponies forward were varied in their stamp and we, the audience, were instructed to judge them for ourselves. John explained movement and each pony was walked and trotted up for us to see. The ponies ranged from a very well behaved yearling to more mature mares and geldings.

Mrs Margaret Partridge-Keane explained the Exmoor breed type, conformation and way of going and again a range of Exmoor ponies came before us.

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The AGM

Pennine Spring Show

The AGM was held at Lubenham Village Hall in Leicestershire on Sunday 19th March. It was a lovely friendly day with super discussions and ideas about keeping the club moving forward.

Special thanks must go to Sally Vernon, Andrea Gilbert and Julie Bosworth who organised the venue, food and the excellent speaker Sam Johnson who gave a very interesting and informative talk on

This show run once again at Adlington was judged

by Mrs Janet James, where she awarded the In-hand Highland Championship to Amanda Kay’s Lagalgarve Loch Lussa with Reserve and best youngstock going to Margaret Woosey’s Sydbrook Molly May. In the afternoon, Mrs James chose her open ridden winner Lagalgarve Loch Lussa as champion with the novice class winner Amy Harris and Heybrows Berneray Lord Bertram as reserve. Loch Lussa Amanda Kay’s Lagalgarve Loch Lussa scored a hat trick by also winning the Performance Points Award.

Competitors will be interested to hear that the Inhand classes at the Autumn Show will be separated so that the highlands once again have their own section and championship with the Fell and Dales ponies having joint classes and breed championship.

conformation and how it affects the way a farrier shoes a horse. Many thanks to Lianne Parkin and Amanda Hart for all of their administrative work in the run up to and on the day and Karen Porter for her great job with the minutes. Thank you also to Alison Payne for her brilliant slideshow and to Linda Graham for very efficiently organising the performance scheme. It was lovely to have our honorary life member Christine Brady present all of the rosettes. Well done to everyone that took part, it was great to have most of the trophy winners there.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to come along, I hope you enjoyed your day and I look forward to seeing members at the different events organised across the country in the coming months.

Chris Grant

Amy Harris riding Heybrows Berneray Lord Bertram Photos by MB Photography

Stop press...

The HPEC committee are looking for further sponsors for the new HPEC Summer Show to be run in conjunction with Equifest this August at the East of England showground, Peterborough. We would really appreciate your help.

If you would like to make a contribution please contact Amanda Hart. Tel: 07879 257166 3

Facebook Administrator Kate Hawes Highland Times Editors Mark Unitt, Jo Jeffs Acting Newsletter Editor Alison Payne Scotland Chrissy Pritchard, Jean Connell North East Rebecca O’Rourke, Lianne Parkin, Christopher Grant Pennine Alison Payne, Amanda Hart, Christine Bassett North West Julie Beaty, Sallie Hurst Anglia Kate Hawes Central/West Midlands Helen Best East Midlands VACANT Rutland and Leicestershire Margaret Hallam, Sally Vernon Wales Margaret Harfield South West Nina Hoad, Wendy Bridges

What’s on May 5th to 7th - Highland and Fell Camp, Hexham.

Contact Chris Grant. (Tel: 07787 124413) 12th - Royal Windsor (HS), Berkshire.

21st - Native Pony Festival (HS), Northumberland.

27th - Heathfield Show (HC), East Sussex.

June 2nd - Royal Bath & West (HS), Somerset.

8th - South of England Show (HS), West Sussex.

9th - Royal Cornwall Show (HS), Cornwall.

10th - Honley Show (HS), West Yorkshire.

17th - Friends of the HPS Performance Awards Eskrick Ride, North Yorkshire.

Contact Anne Owen Walker Tel: 01964 670918 or anneowenwalker@me.com 22nd to 25th - Royal Highland Show (HS) HC - Highland Class or classes HS - Highland Section Please note these shows are not run by the HPEC. This list simply informs members where highland classes are being run. All of these shows have their own websites and contact should be made directly to their secretaries.

Open forum!

Who’s who

The next committee meeting of the HPEC will take place on Sunday 14th May at 11am at St Johns Community Centre, Penistone. For the first time this meeting will be open forum and any paid up member of the club may come along. It is hoped then that people will be able to see what goes on 'behind the scenes' and have an input/ present ideas towards items that are discussed. Votes can only be cast by committee members but everything else will be open to all. If you would like to attend, please let us know by emailing Lianne at hpecsecretary@gmail.com before Monday 8th May so that we can cater for lunch. Also let your area rep know too as you may be able to car share!! I look forward to seeing lots of members there. Chris Grant

Following on from the 2017 AGM the following people are part of the HPEC Committee Life President Penny Smith Hon. Life Member Christine Stevenson Chair Christopher Grant Vice Chair Helen Best Treasurer Amanda Hart Secretary Lianne Parkin Minutes Secretary Karen Porter Promotional Items Clothing – Christine Bassett, Sundries – Mardy Fawcett Performance Award Administrator Linda Graham Website Administrator Rebecca O’Rourke 4