Dartmoor Pony Training Centre Christmas 2008 Newsletter

Unfortunately we were unable to put any water out as the ponies are being continuously moved from one pen to the other making it impossible to ensure a bucket is in the right place and also generally it will get knocked over pretty quick so we had to give up on that idea for now, the ideal would be troughs attached to the pens.

We also put out our information sheets for people to take away and we saw many people with them over the day so hopefully they were of some use!

On the day over 100 ponies were unsold, these included fillies and coloureds - in the past it has only been bay colts. In a sense it was good we had decided not to take any on as how would you choose...?!

It was very sad and such a shock as there were some really decent strong ponies not being sold which was incredible.

At the end of the day we had to help clear up due to the mess the hay made and we were there until after 7pm and were totally exhausted come the end of the day!

Chagford
Chagford is always a slightly better market in that the pens are wooden and the ponies are stood on grass rather than concrete, this also means they can at least graze during the day. We also put information sheets out for people to take. The prices were slightly better at this market and fewer ponies were unsold.

We will be at Tavistock market in December and will again be putting hay out for the ponies.

Our Ponies
As for our ponies they are getting on very well. There have been a couple more new arrivals, one was a mare we took on after she travelled to market twice with no passport so could not be sold!  We have just discovered she could possibly be in foal  so we will be keeping her for the time being and if it turns out she is we will let her have her foal with us before looking in to re-homing her. 

Benji, Dylan & Dougal
We have had some ponies come back from their loan homes.  Benji, Dylan & Dougal came back at the beginning of November but by the end of November were already in a lovely new home!  We are really pleased as they are adorable calm little ponies who deserve a wonderful home with people who can give them lots of love and attention. 

Finn & Pippin
Finn and Pippin have now moved to their new home in Gloucestershire.  They are living in a 20 acre nature reserve and are at the same home as Jet & Harry

Tinker
Tinker has come home as his loaner could no longer keep him, he was underdeveloped as a foal and so was not  castrated with the others, as it turns out because of  the way he has developed castrating him  is going to be quite a big expensive operation and so for the time being he is living with a herd of ponies a local farmer owns - all geldings so there can be no "accidents"!  We are looking in to our options for his operation before re-homing him.

Snoopy & Buzz
Snoopy and Buzz' loaners could unfortunately not keep them any more, they kept escaping out of their field!  Despite ensuring all gaps were fenced off  they were still getting out and no one can work out how, due to certain regulations on the land the loaners are not allowed to put up a new internal fence to ensure this stops happening and so for Snoopy & Buzz' safety they were to come back to us, in the interim a riding school near to them took them and they decided they would quite like to keep them!  We have done a check and are happy for them to stay there and so fortunately they too were re-homed very quickly and without the stress of having to come back to us in between.  Buzz and Snoopy are very cheeky confident ponies who will love the attention they will get form the kids there!

Earl, Duke & Maggie
In August we were contacted by a man whose mother had sadly passed away.  She had owned 3 Dartmoor ponies and they were unable to care for them.  We agreed to take ownership of them and found them a home in Cornwall.  We were really pleased their loaners could take all 3 ponies who are two geldings and a mare, they are a real family unit being mother, father and son and it would have been very sad if they had to be split up.  We were also very lucky in that we were able to re-home them direct to their new home so they did not have to get unsettled by coming to our centre first.  They are getting on very well.
 
Pixie
We have some very sad news about one of the first ponies who came to us, Pixie. She was sadly put to sleep earlier in the year after suffering an illness. She lost half her body weight overnight, she had two vet practices out to her but unfortunately neither thought there was anything that could be done and she was put to sleep. She did have some tests done but nothing conclusive came back.

It was a very sad day for us and for Peter and Sue her loaners we all loved her very much and have very fond memories. She was only young and it seems such a waste of a special pony.

She came to us in October 2005 with Merry, Trixie and Pippin - she was initially one of our sponsor ponies. She was always very quiet and easy to do though we decided not to keep her as a sponsor pony as we thought she would not cope too well with attending events so young as she was a real worrier and so we re-homed her. She went to live in Chudleigh with Buzz and had a fantastic life there until tragedy struck.

When ITV came out and filmed us she was a star! We needed a patient pony to have work done on her feet by Ruth whilst the presenter interviewed her whilst she worked. She was fantastic and very patient about the whole thing including having cameras close by and even the big white light screen!

And so it is with a very sad heart we say farewell to Pixie RIP

The Rest of the Herd

Merry
Merry has lately befriended BB a 15hh 2½ year old Spanish gelding who is currently sharing our fields! Watching him charge about playing with him is very amusing, I was watching the other day as BB tried to have a roll, Merry decided it would be quite good fun to stamp and jump on him whilst he tried to roll! Luckily BB saw the funny side and managed to remove Merry from on top of him and got up and chased him around, they had a good gallop and play! 

Trixie
Trixie is quite quiet at the moment and keeping herself to herself, every now and then though she will suddenly start bombing around the field bucking, squealing and farting, the madness seems to come from nowhere and the others join in and she has a great time! She is such a sweety and always loves a fuss from us though as she keeps herself to herself we have to remember her and make sure we go over to see her as she rarely comes and asks for attention, the problem is once you say hello you can never get rid of her and she follows you around the field!

Grey Mare
At the moment she has no name but hopefully will do soon!  We took pity on her after she travelled to two markets without a passport so was unable to be sold each time.  We discovered there is a high possibility that she is in foal so if this is the case we will keep hold of her until the foal is born and can be weaned - so we will probably have her until at least this time next year!

Amy & George
Amy came to us late summer with her foal George at foot.  She is still unhandled and we will wean George after Christmas and then start handling work with them both before looking for homes for them

Gorse & Bramble
Gorse came to us with Bramble her foal at foot in late summer.  Her owner could no longer keep her and was unaware she was in foal when he bought her.  Bramble is a very pretty pony with a real character, he loves attention and is handled.  Gorse has lost trust in humans and we are slowly building this trust back up with her and will soon start handling work

Maia
Maia came to us in May 2007 as an unhandled 8 year old, she is now fully handled and being ridden.  She may be going to Sirona to be used as a therapy pony.  If this does not transpire we will look to re-home her.

Bonnie & Rona
Both Bonnie and Rona are doing really well.  We want to find a loving home for Bonnie as she really thrives on attention and we cannot give her as much as she craves!  Rona is doing really well and is very friendly - though can be a bit of a madam at times when she doesn't want to do something!!

Woody & Milo
These two are still looking for a home and are as adorable as ever!  Sadly Milo has had a few problems and will not be able to be ridden in later life but he would make an ideal companion with his soft nature, he follows us around the fields wanting attention now so has made huge progress!

Leo 2
Leo who was taken on by our volunteer Ro is doing really well, recently Ro has been teaching him to load and doing more work on his leading.  We are really pleased with his progress.  He has a very calm laid back attitude and likes to do things in his own time!  We took him to Trago Mills with us on 6th December and he was very good, he loaded and travelled well and took everything in his stride, he had a very quizzical look on his face when he saw a pushchair for the first time but he wasn't phased!
 
Other successful Dartmoors
Take a look at our blog site (http://dptc.blogspot.com) to read up to date news on the centre, see lots of photos and also read about other Dartmoor Ponies people have brought and how they are getting on including George the coloured foal who is already strutting his stuff in the show ring, Aquarius the sweet filly and Lizwell Archie the gelding who was once a handful but is now winning plenty of prizes!

Trago Mills
We were at Trago Mills on 6th December with Trixie and Leo.  Trixie was her usual perfect self (well apart from trying to kick Leo a few times at the beginning of the day, we put a sheep hurdle in between them and they soon settled)!  We will be there again on 13th December 2008. 

Sponsor a pony for Christmas
A sponsorship makes a fantastic Christmas present which lasts throughout the year. For £15 the sponsor will get a certificate of sponsorship with their pony profile, a photo, a letter introducing them to their pony, a birthday and Christmas card and 3 updates/newsletters a year. This year we are also offering a special gift for Christmas sponsors, a lock of their chosen ponies mane! Merry and Trixie have said they don't mind a small haircut for their supporters! So if you fancy a present that lasts all year with a difference get in touch and we will send you a form.

Haylage
We successfully grew and had cut our own haylage again this year, it was a struggle for a while having to keep them all out of the 3 fields but we managed it so this will help keep our feed bill down again over winter.

Outgoings
We are still desperately trying to keep funds coming in to cover the cost of things such as farrier visits, vet bills (we still owe money for the castrations), the cost of having the haylage cut and baled, monthly field rent and the list goes on!  We have just taken on 5 more acres about a mile from our current fields, this will be ideal for any ponies that may need separating (i.e. because they are in need of gelding) or for new ponies coming to us who may need to be quarantined from the others for a while, of course taking this on does mean added cost!  If you have any great fund raising ideas do let us know, or if you would like to organise anything to raise funds for us and need information or donation boxes don't hesitate to ask.

Our Websites:

www.dptc.org.uk - our main website though it does need updating

http://dptc.blogspot.com - this is where you will find all the news from the centre plus lots of photos

http://dptcrehoming.blogspot.com - Here you will find updates on our ponies that have been re-homed as well as see the ones currently available for re-homing

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