“Exmoormania” – yes, I have the bug! My fascination for these characterful and highly intelligent little horses is tangible. They have so charmed me.
At home in France, I look out of my window to the “tracks” and observe my small herd of five Exmoor ponies and my son’s Appaloosa mare, as they go about their daily routine. They are an inspiration to me. I believe that they were my destiny, and me theirs. We are friends now, but it wasn’t always that way! I have to go back some years in order to tell you our story.
We first met the “Wallace” family up in Yorkshire when both our children were quite young and had their own ponies. Emma kindly introduced us to “showing” and we had a lot of fun together as well as success. Back at their farm, I recall vividly the display of photos on the windowsill and remarking upon them. Herds of beautiful bay ponies, mares, foals and stallions, all so very alike! I was unsure of the breed and how they fit into their world of show ponies and hunters. I asked a few questions about them at the time, but it was only years later that I fully understood their role as guardians of the “Anchor” herd.
Years went by and despite selling our sons pony and moving to France, we kept in touch exchanging Christmas cards and such like. Our first five years in the Cantal region of the Auvergne, were very involved with renovating a beautiful town house and running it as a B+B. I missed not having horses around and was indeed in need of equine therapy. My husband was the first to notice and dragged me off to our local stables kicking and screaming “I don’t ride western!!” Suffice to say – I do now! I fell in love with a very special Appaloosa horse “Twister”. We changed our lives around him, sold our home and bought a plot of land to build a “ranch”!
“.Twister” is very much part of our story, and it was originally for him that we came to have Exmoor ponies; I don’t wish to labour on the fact of his sudden illness, but it was serious. The knock on effect of treatment, I believe caused him to founder. In our research to try and find a cure we came across Jamie Jackson’s books on “Paddock Paradise” -a guide to natural horse boarding and “Founder”- prevention and cure, the natural way.
In short, this is how we became interested in how horses live naturally, in the “wild”. My mind flashed back to those photos, I had seen way back when, at the “Wallace’s” home. When I was next over in the UK, I arranged to meet Emma on their farm and talk about acquiring an Exmoor “buddy” for Twister. Being a herd animal he would need a companion(s) to keep him moving on the “tracks”. The tracks that we planned to create, to mimic a natural lifestyle for both of them.
Back in Yorkshire, Emma had several Exmoor ponies at home, I was able to reassure myself that my attraction to the breed was still as strong as ever. She was supportive of my idea to bring one over to France and was able to suggest a brood mare “Willow Warbler” whom she was clearly very fond of. That was good enough for me. Emma would kindly keep her for me until after the June “gathering” by which time we hoped to have created our “paddock paradise” back home in France.
Meanwhile, the agonising decision was made and we put an end to “Twisters” suffering, When the homeopathic healer and physiotherapist arrived from the UK to treat him, we were just too late. We never did find out what ailed him. He never did walk on the “tracks” His life was not in vain though, for we have created a fantastic environment that our ponies and horses will enjoy for many years to come.
On a happier note, Willow was due to arrive towards the end of June 2010, and there had been lots of correspondence between Emma and I leading up to the big day. She mentioned that she also had 2 of Willow’s offspring – both mares. Did I know of anyone in France who could be interested. After much discussion with my husband and son, it was decided that we would bring them across, and possibly look for homes thereafter! Emma then mentioned that Willow may have a “foal at foot” when she came off the moor, and could possibly be “in foal”! Was that going to be ok with us?
I think I was economical with the truth and “forgot” to mention those “possibilities” to my husband! I was so excited at the prospect of having my own little herd!!
Transport and paperwork sorted and the 4 of them were on their way to a new life in France.
Yes, Willow had a newborn colt at foot!
Well, I have never been one to think things through properly, but even if I had, nothing could have prepared me for how truly wild these ponies were!! Luckily the transporters were from Dartmoor and were used to handling the likes of! I have never seen horses come down a ramp at such speed!
We left them to settle for a couple of weeks, but I knew we were going to have to round them up again. They had been released onto the tracks with their head collars on! Three of them were still growing! So we picked a day, bought in reinforcement, put the trailer on the track and drove them into it. One pony escaped as the ramp went up – so my husband grabbed the head collar and cut it off! Inside the trailer, the other three had their first exposure to “horse whispering”! It took an hour, but it was all going really well until, last of the three, was “Willow”. No sooner was she free of her head collar she spun around facing the back and tried to jump out! I was terrified, but luckily my husband didn’t panic and pushed her front hooves back in – whilst our son let down the ramp. Extremely dangerous!
How we got from that experience to now having 5 beautifully mannered Exmoor ponies is beyond me! – I really don’t know. Mutual trust and respect is what springs to mind. Patience, kindness and food go along way too!!!
It hadn’t gone without notice that Willow was looking more and more as if she could be in foal. It would have been totally unrealistic to call the vet in for a scan – we hadn’t handled her at this stage. So we left it to nature and as luck would have it she gave birth to a filly 10 ½ months after arriving in France. It has been a joy to handle “Galaxie” from birth.
After much deliberation, and against my husband and son’s wishes, I decided the time had come to cut the colt “Foxtor Finch” I wanted him to run with his mother, 3 sisters and our Appaloosa Mare, and it was just too risky. It was definitely the right decision. He now has a little handler, 9 year old “Caroline” and she hopes to show him “in hand” this summer. We also plan to back our 3 yr old “Eiderdown” – western style of course! and if all goes well she may show her too. I have a bit more work to do on “Dovetail” who was by far the “wildest” by nature and only trusts me!
Perhaps in the future, we will bring across a young stallion. If we do start a breeding programme the plan would be to handle them and move them on in the hope of getting Exmoor ponies known in France. After all they know about Dartmoor’s. They just need educating! We have been asked if we would consider selling a couple of the ponies, but we couldn’t part with Willow and her four offspring. They belong here and are such a huge part of our everyday life. We just love them! The herd may get bigger, but Willow, Dovetail, Eiderdown, Finch and Galaxie are here to stay!
“The extraordinary capacity of the horse, is to elevate the human spirit” ( Unknown)
Article written for Equine Tourism www.equinetourismcommunity.co.uk