Greydales, Dartdale Clint and Wolsey Saturn
Dan is the grey Dales pony responsible for me being here! He is a real character and can be quite grumpy but also very affectionate. I bought Dan 12 years ago from a riding school when I was looking to replace a nutty chestnut mare we had bought for my ten year old novice daughter, and who was supposed to be a schoolmistress but turned out to be anything but! I saw this little dappled pony who looked like a rocking horse and persuaded the yard owner to part with him.
Dan was not very happy and on the verge of turning sour when I got him; he hated kids with a vengeance due to insensitive handling, although he was always the most popular choice for riding! He was bad tempered, did not let me pick up his back feet, used to pin me against the wall when he saw me approach with a saddle and was covered in muck and wee from being tied in a filthy stall all day, but over a period of a few weeks he mellowed and began to enjoy a one-to-one relationship which he had never had before.
He was such a bombproof little pony, never hotted up no matter who he was with, and was quite happy to hack out on his own, and we even ended up keeping the chestnut mare who calmed right down in his presence.
Dan could turn his hoof to anything and took part in showing, showjumping, cross country, dressage, western, hunting, pony club games, barrel racing and even fancy dress! He was always game for a race and could put on a fair turn of speed when required but I trusted him implicitly with young Anna and was never worried when she was with him, and could put any of my nervous novice friends on him knowing he would not do anything silly.
He was my best buddy for years and armed with pathfinder map and packed lunch we would go off for hours on our own exploring all the bridleways in the area. We managed to do every single one of them within hacking distance!
Dan was the calm and sensible nanny for my extremely sharp horse Pip, he was responsible for getting Pip out and about on the roads and thanks to Dan I was gradually able to hack Pip out on my own on the roads, although he never quite got to be 100% in traffic.
Unfortunately 18 months ago Dan sustained a tendon injury and had to be semi-retired to pasture, and lost the lovely high stepping trot he had. But he is happy enough out with his herd, and is sound enough now to be lightly hacked when the time comes to road-proof my youngsters.! The only problem I have with Dan is keeping his weight down not easy since I live on an ex-dairy farm and the lush grass that goes with it!
Dan is a pony in a million and I owe him a lot.
In 2005 I was lucky enough to buy Saturn, a lovely little black Dales. I had just lost a young Morgan horse and was thinking of looking for another, but couldnt find anything suitable to replace him. Then Saturn came up for sale and I had admired him previously, and thought he would make a good replacement for Dan who had been semi-retired.
Saturn was a just backed three year old and was a good project for me to bring on. Although he is green and a bit lacking in self confidence as yet he tries very hard and has the sweetest nature.
Shown inhand as a youngster with his previous owners, Saturn has been to two shows this year under saddle. He is excellent to load and settles down well in a strange place, and very calm when tied to the lorry at shows (a real bonus in situations where there is a lot going on!). He hacks out well in company and has just started going out on his own.
Saturn grows a very thick winter coat so I decided I would clip him fully, not knowing whether he had ever seen clippers. He let me do a full clip without batting an eyelid, and I later found out he had never been clipped before - what a good boy! I have lots of plans for us both in the future.