Fifty years ago there was no recognition of British native ponies in Scotland, apart from the Highland and Shetland breeds. But that soon changed following the introduction of a branch of the National Pony Society in Scotland in 1960. The organisation’s main aim was to make people more aware of native ponies. This year, NPS Scotland is celebrating its fiftieth birthday, at a time when native breeds have never been more popular, and with many Scottish studs enjoying world-wide recognition.

Competing at the NPS show at Strathallan Castle. 

Photograph www.peak-photo.co.uk

‘What the NPS in Scotland did was recognise all nine native breeds and encourage the breeding and use of them North of the Border,’ explains well-known Shetland pony breeder and long-standing society member, Dougal Dick. ‘Going back to 1960, people didn’t know what a Dartmoor or Exmoor looked like, it was as bad as that. But the NPS put in a huge amount of work to get these ponies recognised. ‘A lot of time was spent getting native breeds recognised at the Royal Highland Show and it’s still ongoing. It’s only quite recently the show put on working hunter pony classes for Mountain and Moorland,’ says Dougal, who runs the world-famous Transy stud near Dollar in Clackmannanshire. The breed was set up by his grandfather in 1896 and the ponies are exported all over the globe, including Australia, Brazil and Japan.

Stallions on show

As well as establishing classes for Mountain and Moorland ponies at Scottish shows, another task for the newly-formed society was to give breeders the chance to view the variety of stal-lions on offer, both in Scotland and the North of England. With the help of auctioneer and racing trainer Ken Oliver, the Scottish NPS set up a new stallion parade at Kelso Spring Sales in 1963, which according to Dougal ‘opened up the possibilities of being able to breed’.

Today Scotland is very successful in the breeding of top-class native ponies, not just in the UK, but throughout the world. Dougal recalls the success of Dartmoor pony breeder Margaret Furness who picked up a coveted Olympia championship in London with a Scottish-bred pony in only the second year ever of the competition.

Above: Taking part in a study day in the 1960s are (from l to r) Mrs Margaret Runcie (secretary), Lady Ramsay-Fairfax- Lucy (chairman), Camilla Thomson (treasurer), Margaret Furness, Colin Furness (Senruf Dartmoors), Mr J Deans,mMr Hugh McGregor and Mr Runcie.

Scottish studs

Other very well-known Scottish stud names with national and international repute and prize winners at top equestrian events such as Wembley and Olympia, include Waxwing, Rosslyn, Lammermuir, Waulkmill and Kilmannan to name but a few. Another of the society’s major achievements in the 1970s was to provide crucial data about horses and ponies in Scotland suffering from the devasting disease, grass sickness. Of every animal counted across Scotland, details were taken of every fifth horse to find out if they had any link with grass sickness.

‘If you blink you’d almost miss the in-hand classes these days, but the ridden classes are bursting at the seams. Let’s hope the young people in those ridden classes will maybe come back and show support for breedingin the future’

It provided vital information for scientists researching the disease. The survey was organised by retired show pony breeder Margaret Runcie, who was one of the first members of the Scottish NPS 50 years ago and who has been showing ponies for almost 80 years. ‘We basically surveyed every horse in Scotland and it took a huge number of people to do it. It was a diffi cult thing to run because it all had to be done in the same week and we had a postal strike’. recalls Margaret, who started the Rosslyn stud with her mare, Elizabeth Arden. She has lost count of the times she has won the Supreme Riding pony championship at the Royal Highland Show with that pony’s offspring, but thinks it is 12 or 13 times! Margaret remembers the society starting out with only 11 members and ‘we all put a pound in the kitty’. Today there are 350 members. The organisation’s umbrella body, The National Pony Society, is the oldest society in the country, with stud books going back to 1890.

Taking the red rosette.

Photograph www.equinational.co.uk

‘In those days it was known as The Polo Pony Stud Book Society. Polo ponies were the in-thing then, that was the sport of the gentry,’ says David Blair, who runs the successful Waxwing stud with Tom Best. ‘The society gradually phased out and it became the stud book for riding ponies instead and was renamed The National Pony Society.’ So why own a native pony? ‘They are very popular because they are relatively easily kept compared to a riding pony, which is down to their native hardiness,’ explains Dougal. ‘They cater from the youngest child right up to Welsh Section B’s which can be 16.2 hh. Adults of any size and weight can ride them.’ David feels there’s been a change over the years from breeding to performance. ‘If you blink you’d almost miss the in-hand classes these days, but the ridden classes are bursting at the seams. Let’s hope the young people in those ridden classes will maybe come back and show support for breeding in the future. ‘The animals are still being bred, but showing is hard work. We used to compete at about 28 shows every year and now we only attend three. ‘The future for native breeds is very strong indeed and will continue to go forward. They are used in every discipline you’d care to mention, from dressage to driving, you name it,’ says Dougal.

To celebrate its special birthday, commemorative rosettes will be given to exhibitors at the Summer Show at Strathallan Castle and a celebratory lunch is planned in October.

FIELDFACTS

NPS Scotland summer show is at Strathallan Castle, June 12th 2010. Memorabilia will be displayed at all NPS Scotland shows this year and if you have any old photographs or catalogues from early events, the Scottish Committee would love to hear from you. To fi nd out more about the NPSS go to www.npsscotland.co.uk