Shilstone Rocks

"There is not much yummy grass to eat during this time called winter, but at least we can play"

Elizabeth's Rambles

March 2008

The time has come once again to start bringing the mares in off the moor.We like to get them onto the farm about three weeks before they foal. I only started to feed them a small amount of hay last week, most of them have wintered very well there is so much keep out on the moor these days now that the stock has been so drastically reduced.The down side of that is that the ticks have become a big problem and some of the ponies get covered by them, the ticks live in vegetation and as we no longer seem to have the hard winters we used to have they find life very easy.

Our first foal is due on April 5th I never fail to get a thrill at the thought of new foals but in all probability she will not foal for a couple of weeks after that, I always find foals due early foal late and those who are due later in the summer come early, natures way of getting it right I suppose

Chapter five - February 2008

Well another year has past, they seem to go so quickly these days. The news from New Zealand is very good Becky Pocock and Steve Phipps took a big gamble when they decided to put their Dartmoor mares in foal to Lizwell Simon before they left England last year and the gamble paid off ! Bindy's mare had a very pretty filly and two other mares had strapping colts a pity it could not have been they other way round but one always seem to get more colts than fillies but they now have a good selection of blood lines to keep their starter herd going before having to import again evan though it would have been better to have a few more females. Shilstone Rocks Dinger Tor has been busy he has covered a 16hh TB mare (ones mind boggles!) a Clydesdale x station bred a Hackney pony and a Welsh x riding pony so the word is getting around now he will be busy with the Dartmoor mares.

Last summer we did very little showing for many reasons, the good one was that my Daughter Claire and my grandchild Ashliegh came over from New Zealand for three weeks in June we all went to the Bath and West together which was great fun but with so many shows coming up around that time we did not want to spend those precious days going to shows, then the weather turned nice after the appalling weather we had been having so we were making hay and that put a stop to those shows too.

However we had some good results at the few we did go to being Supreme Champion at the Southern Dartmoor Show and Reserve Supreme at RASE with Shilstone Rocks Another Star.

We had a successfully open day and sale in November, it was better than we expected with two other studs having had dispersal sales not long before. The weather was good and I think people enjoyed walking around the ponies.

We breeders still have an ongoing problem selling our geldings, everyone seems to want a fully made up pony that will qualify for HOYS straight away, braking in is not a problem although expensive in time, but finding small adults or preferably children to ride them on is a night mare, with all the new legislation no child under 12 may lead a pony without supervision, any child under 18 must where a hard hat at all times when on the premises!

I can not quite understand why people who want a Dartmoor and do not have the skill themselves cannot buy a younger pony at a cheaper price and send it to a professional to break or school, it would seem to be much better idea to me, then they can have it from the start before it has learnt any bad habits,and what a sense of achievement to then get it to the top if that is what they want. Once the pony has won a bit it puts thousands on the original price and will well repay fourfold the money spent to train it It always amazes me what our ponies fetch when they have left here!

Chapter Four - July 2007

This spring one day in April Warlord did not come in with his mares, nor the next day, two days running we were getting a bit disturbed, on day is fine but two was a bit ominous. I was doing my daily stock check, looked up towards the moor and noticed a pony in one of our top fields adjoining the moor Nothing had been in this field since the autumn so I hastened up there to find- who? War Lord- he had jumped in to the growing spring grass! we brought him down and returned him back to the mares he was supposed to be looking after, they were very pleased to see him. Next day going up the lane next to our house I noticed the mares had all come down to the cut where we turn the ponies out but no War Lord, on further investigation I saw him in our next door neighbours field. No gaps any where and a uphill five bard gate, somebody must have let him in. I put him back with his mares again thinking that was that. Next morning the mares were still there clustered around my neighbours gate with War Lord happily munching fresh spring grass the other side ! Well he always has been a good jumper after all he was third at HOYS in the WHP his first and only year under saddle, but how he jumped that up quite a steep slope I shall never know I just wish I had seen him.Well all our foals bar two late ones are all born and we think they are very special more colts of course but two or three are going to be top class stallions.The ponies who went to New Zealand arrived safely and have settled into a cold winter it seems the weather over there has also been unpredictable

Sad News. D-Day has died, he was found in the morning in his stable no sign of a struggle just a peaceful death and that is defiantly the best way to go for all concerned. What a terrific Sire he has been,SIRE OF THE YEAR on many occasions and for us he has sired Shilstone Rocks Snow Fox, Snow Goose, War lord, Sweet Brier, Sweet Pea, Sweet Talk, Sweet heart, Bitter Sweet, Snow Bird, Flamenco, all champions or top winner's. Apart from their looks the temperament of his children and grandchildren is amazing; we shall miss him sorely as I know will Jane Moor who looked after him so well during his last few years.

We like all our Dartmoors to be ridden at some time during their lives and they are used for our Riding Over Dartmoor when they are not in foal.

During the Winter all our in foal brood mares live out on the open moor, and they can get quite lean during this time. It gives one great pleasure to visit the mares on the moor grazing at over 1000 ft. They look so good in their natural environment and it keeps them tough, living in these rugged conditions, their feet seldom need trimming as the hard ground and granite does that naturally.

This winter although very wet, has been very mild and the mares out on the moor look amazingly well on the Molina grass, gorse and heather. Warlord was again running with the mares this winter he does a really good job of keeping them in a herd

A few weeks ago when we were on our way early morning in the dark to The Big Sheep Equine event to run the Dartmoor Pony Society stand we passed some of our ponies in a small copse next to our farm, but not on the Moor we knew that they were our ponies because they had these reflective bands which showed up in the head lights, however we could do nothing about it as we had a two and a half hour drive to get to this event so we just hoped that they would find their way back on to the moor.

Unfortunately they decided to travel on up to our yard and when they could not get in (everyone else was still in Bed!)they went on up the hill past the farm to another part of the moor where they do not normally run. When they got to the top of the Hill Warlord discovered that his sisters, mother and two of his daughters were in a field he was passing, he decided that they should be out on the moor with him so he jumped the gate and did his best to drive them out! His mother Sweet Fury aged 25 and who has always been a good jumper slipped off and joined her friends on the moor I am not quite sure how she got out except by jumping the gate. Fortunately none of them were in season so no harm done.

War Lord also keeps the other stallions away which are always a bit of a worry and at least if anyone was not in foal. and they do come into season, then the resulting foal will be by Warlord.

The only problem with Warlord is that he does like to poach on other stallions territory and he takes his mares over to Widecombe Hill where there is a rather busy road and we are constantly driving them back to their home lerage, They do all wear florescent collars, ( kindly supplied by the ILPH), which show up very well at night.

February 2007 and we have already had our first foal a black filly born last month (from Another storm) already in her winter coat! of course this was not planned and her dam had been scanned in foal for last summer, That experiment was a real waste of money, but at least she went to War Lord, she has had a very nice filly in the past by him, this one named Blow Away (after all the high winds we have suffered this winter) is very cheeky and full of her self. Extra work of course as she has had to come in at night. Our next foals are due at the end of March hope they hang on for a bit as the land is so wet.

Liver chestnut is one of my favourite colours. Nothing looks better than that gleaming coat in the show ring and I find it very strange that some people do not like it as it is one of the oldest Dartmoor colours and the famous mare Treacle, ancestor to many of the best Dartmoors, was a chestnut. It really annoys me when some people query if it is a Dartmoor colour, as they also do with roans and grays. I feel that at least M&M judges should know the colours of the breeds that they are judging but it is amazing, (from the feed back that I get), how many judges do not know. If any of you have this problem you should report it to the panel under which the judge is qualified. I feel very strongly that if judges do not know the breed that they are judging they should not be allowed to judge it.At an NPS HOYS qualifying class last summer the judge said to the rider of the Dartmoor who was standing well up the line what a sweet Welsh pony it was! in this case it happened to be brown and a big winner of Dartmoor ridden classes, horror upon horror!!

A lady rang me the other day looking for a top quality Dartmoor for showing in the ridden classes. I offered her one for £2000 and another a very steady safe pony for £2500 which I felt were quite sensibly priced but after she told me that was too expensive and that she had been offered one at £1000, I thought that I had better do some figures. I do not like to over price my ponies but I do know that many of the young Dartmoors I have sold up country have changed hands in excess of £6000.

I work on a budget that each pony we have costs an average of £5 per week to keep, this includes worming, vet, farrier, feed and any other costs The first year when the foal is in eutero say £265, then another £265 the first year of its life makes it £530,(but of course one must remember the first year is probably the most expensive as our foals are in and they are fed hard feed). The second year £790 and as a three year old it has cost me £1055 and as a four year old £1,315. Now if it is a colt we have to add the castration, certainly £90 or if one is unlucky and it is more complicated say £300. We have now spent between £1400 and £1600 and have an unbroken pony.

I know the cost of breaking will vary but I would estimate on £70 a week for at least four weeks. We now have a Dartmoor gelding who has cost us between £1685 to £1880 and slightly less for a mare, but this pony is unlikely to be ready for the to-days child rider who looks so good on a pony but they do not seem to have the balance or tenacity anymore to ride something green or cope with the odd shy or buck.

I have just adjusted this to 2008 prices and am quiet horrified, the price people are willing to pay for their children's ponies has not improved (apart from the top show models who have been there and done it all). I shudder to think what our young big horses have cost to rear.

If the pony has been shown, depending on how much, you can add some more hundreds of pounds .Entries, stabling, boxing and getting ready e.g. comes to at least £100 per major show. PROBABLY MORE LIKE £300 if one is showing two or three with the cost of derv and stabling having gone up so much in the last few years.

None of the above allows for the years of experience that has gone into breeding these ponies to produce the pony with the kind temperament and good looks which naturally all of you wanting ponies for your children require.

Shilstone Rocks Mountain Battle the yearling colt by Shilstone Rocks Another Lord Ex Shilstone Rocks Mountain Song News last spring about Mountain Battle was good and they seem very pleased with him. He is of course a full brother to Mountain Lord and Mountain King both of whom have done so well at his shows this year and have both been sold to Sweden Mountain King fetching what must have been a record price for a colt foal of £2000.

Shilstone Rocks Fandango a three year old colt owned by Linda Calcutt from Essex has been winning again this summer and among other wins was 1st at Royal Windsor, 1st Herts County, 1st Champion and Res Supreme at The South of England Ardingly, 1st and Res Male Champion Eastern Dartmoor.

Linda now has a Yearling colt Shilstone Rocks Forester,he has also been very successfully:- RASE 2nd, Dartmoor pony Society breed show 1st and Champion yearling, Reserve young stock and Reserve male. At the Eastern Dartmoor,Champion male young stock and Reserve Male Champion, not bad for a yearling!

Mrs Sue Hide tells me that Shilstone Rocks Atlantic Swell's foal won the M&M supreme foal championship at NPS Area 4, which means that all Swells first three foals have all won at Star shows:- Alpha her colt and Atlanta her yearling filly now owned by Mrs Madge Taylor. This is an amazing family, all Whirlwinds (Swells Dam) stock have won at county level.

Shilstone Rocks Venford Sold as a foal she is now with her third owner and it is great to have had news about her. She has been successful in M&M ridden WHP, Lead Rein and first ridden. In 2001 she was Champion M&M Working Hunter at the festival of Champions at Birchinley Manor and in 2002 she was Champion M&M worker at the all British Summer Championships at Birchinley. In her latest home she will be doing lead rein and Pony Club for her 6 year old rider.

Other Shilstone Rocks Ponies in the ribbons last year have been Tania Rushtons Shilstone Rocks Snowy Mountain, Sire Shilstone Rocks Snow Goose. Mrs. Bruce's Shilstone Hambledown Beacon,.Mars S Squires Shilstone Rocks Claret H Brills Shilstone Rocks Ruahini. Templeton/O'Niels Shilstone Rocks Sweet Briar.(so pleased to have news of this mare she is of course full sister to War Lord Sweet Pea, Sweet Talk and Bitter Sweet all top winners in the show ring) Mrs Trivet's Shilstone Euro (qualified for HOYS 2005).

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