Breed Show 2009 - 26th August 2009

Breed Show 2009 - 26th August 2009

2009 BREED SHOW CHAMPION was MERKISAYRE DION - 3yr old standard filly, bred and owned by George Tait, Burra Isle, Shetland.


Shetland Pony Festival & Breed Show 2009

Sunday 23rd of August saw the culmination of what had been just over a week of events to celebrate the Shetland Pony in its native land.

The activities began on Saturday 15th with the Pony Breeders of Shetland Association’s annual stallion evaluation day in the central mainland. Thirteen stallions were forward with two receiving the prestigious Gold Awards from judges Anna Stevens, Jeff McMaster and David Gibson.

Sunday 16th saw the stud tours begin with a day in Unst combined with the evaluation of 2 stallions there, both of which attained gold . Marie Brooker, Elinor Bosanquet and their driving teams also kicked off their Shetland long drive.

Monday saw a marathon stud tour of the West Mainland of Shetland with sixteen studs visited and a fabulous buffet of local produce provided by Marion Slater, Lynn Poleson and helpers to keep everyone’s strength up.

Tuesday was then on to the Central Mainland and followed by the South Mainland on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon saw the first ever Shetland Pony Seminar, titled “The Shetland Pony – Past, Present and Future” held at the Shetland Museum and Archives, which was sold out. The panel of six speakers, Margaret Hunter, Libertus Alderkamp, Jane Barry, Anette Thorshoj, Sheila Brooks and Amanda Slater enthralled attendees. Presentations were made on the history of the breed in Shetland and Holland, current developments, role of the NPS & SEBA, stallion assessments in Denmark and a young persons view of what lies in store for the future of the breed.

The week had brought mixed weather and the stud tour to Noss, home of the famous Londonderry Stud, planned for Friday the 21st had looked to be in doubt due to higher winds than expected however this did not deter some hardy souls who braved the surf to land on Noss beach.

Saturday the 22nd brought the blessing of fine weather for the first ever National Shetland Pony Breed Show to be held on Shetland soil. There was a good turnout of exhibitors from throughout the UK and some top class ponies on display. All the five judges expressed their enjoyment of their day of judging despite the length of it.

The Black Ring saw two ponies from Shetland take top honours. Junior Champion was Mrs E M D Flaws’ 2-year-old filly Grutness Klaxon with the Hunter Family’s broodmare Clivocast Tessa taking both the Senior Championship and the Overall Ring Championship.

The coloured ring saw Mrs E Kirkpatrick, from Lockerbie, delighted with her chestnut yeld mare Dryfesdale Dekateriona taking the senior championship along with Mr George Tait’s own Shetland Bred 3-year-old chestnut filly Merkisayre Dion taking both the Junior Championship and Overall Ring Championship

The miniature ring had particularly good class numbers and gave judge, Mrs S Hellum, a hard task. Eventually it was skewbald 1-year-old colt Milday Socks from the Milday Stud that took the Junior Honours. Senior and Overall Ring honours were claimed by the Parlington Stud’s bay and white stallion Parlington Quentin.

The ridden ring also had good numbers forward with competitors from all over the UK. Reserve Champion was lead rein rider Samuel Wilson all the way from Northern Ireland with his mount, grey gelding, Kilshane Oregano. It was somewhat of a family affair in the championship as Samuel’s older sister Cherith took the Overall Championship with her grey gelding Ulverscroft Select. Cherith had no mean feat to get into the championship as she won in a class of 20 very good open ridden ponies.

The driven ring provided excellent spectator viewing and perhaps slightly more excitement than was necessary but all was well and once again Cherith Wilson form Northern Ireland was in the ribbons taking the Reserve Championship with Kilshane Oregano. Elinor Bosanquet from the Clothie Stud in Aberdeenshire came out on top to take the Driven Overall Championship driving the Chestnut Stallion Kinkell Gold Dust.

Five very good ponies went forward for the supreme championship quite late in the afternoon and after some considerable deliberations a decision was made with Ridden Champion Ulverscroft Select and Cherith Wilson standing Reserve Supreme and Shetland bred Coloured Champion Merkisayre Dion being crowned Supreme Champion of the Shetland Breed Show 2009.

The culmination of the week was the Shetland Pony Grand National qualifier and the Shetland Pony Pageant on the Sunday. Despite the weather spirits were not dampened and a good crowd turned out to witness the first ever Grand National qualifier on Shetland Soil. Knix Grand Bobby Jo ridden by Cristie Short and Ulverscroft Café Noir Ridden by Lauren Duffy were the lucky two that snatched the remaining places at Olympia in December.

The Shetland Pony Pageant then chronicled the history of the Shetland pony and its uses through the ages. Mrs Pat Renwick and family staged a fantastic performance with the valuable help of so many people from throughout Shetland and beyond. It was judged to be a ‘Triumph’ by one spectator who had come all the way from England.

Finally we would like to thank everyone who was involved in making the festival and show such a success and our appreciation to so many folk for travelling to the show with their ponies and making for such a good atmosphere.

Click here for Full Results

Roselyn Fraser
Shetland Breed Show 2009 Show Secretary
On behalf of the Shetland Pony Festival and Shetland Breed Show Committees.

If you would like any more information please contact Roselyn Fraser on 01806 566479 or 07810 473946. Alternatively you can email [email protected]