Once in a Lifetime Trip to the UK.

I just want to tell you all a little about Brenda Harder's and my visit to England from September 20th to October 9th of this year. Both being bona fide 'horse crazy' people, we just had to get all of the equine oriented visits in that we could, both to private farms, and to the two very well known Welsh pony sales 'Fayre Oaks' in Builth Wells, and the 'Hay on Wye' sale held in the town of the same name. We were lucky enough to visit several well known Welsh breeders, such as Dr. Wynn Davies's place, the Pendock stud, and the Fydon stud and three or four others whose names escapes me at this time. It was wonderfully interesting. These people have been breeding these animals longer than I have been alive, with some farms well into the third generation of family, not to mention the many generations of Welsh ponies that they have cultivated for so many years. I had a two and a half week crash course in Welsh pony family trees and genetics, and believe me there was far too much to take in and retain all at once. These people are extremely knowledgeable and really know what it takes to produce top quality stock. I suppose if we were lucky enough to have the time,(several life times) we could do the same.

The scenery was breath taking - history around every corner. We also spent a fair share of our time wandering through the historical sites and even had some time to go antique hunting. My cousin Derek was a wonderful host, and drove us everywhere we wanted to go. Believe me, we kept him busy, poor fellow! Although he e-mailed me when we got home, and said how much fun he actually had taking us around. He also said that he learned more than he wanted to about Welsh ponies!

The first sale we attended was the well known two day sale at "Fayre Oaks" in the town of Builth Wells. We stayed over at a bed and breakfast so that we could take in the whole sale (all seven hundred odd horses). We were also lucky enough to go to the Saturday evening sale (the High Flyer sale) of twenty-eight hand picked animals to represent the best of the Welsh ponies at the sale. We enjoyed a wonderful five course dinner on the balcony, from which we watched the sale that evening. I saw some of the finest animals of the Welsh breed that I have ever seen, and in my humble (not as experienced) opinion, some of the most spectacular Section 'A' ponies I believe could be found anywhere in the world. The 'B's' however were a little different story. Although we did see some wonderful Section 'B' stock, (mostly at the private farms), I personally found the 'B's' that went through the sale not nearly as consistent in quality as the 'A' stock seemed to be. Many of them (again in my very humble opinion) quite light boned with fairly narrow, upright fronts. However when a good one came through they were the epitome of balance, elegance and fluid movement. They even made an exception to the very prestigious 'High Flyer' sale night and put in the very first 'part bred' pony ever to go through the evening sale ring. And a pinto at that!

The following weekend was the other very big Welsh pony sale at 'Hay on Wye' in the town of the same name, about an hour from where my cousin lives and where we were staying. This sale did not seem to have the same ambiance as the Fayre Oaks sale, with ponies coming in a little less groomed and trained. Actually there were many almost feral 'mountain ponies' that came through who had probably never been very close to humans. However rough some of them came in, (there were seven hundred of them as well), many fine animals were sold there.

All of the breeders we visited were very hospitable and could not wait to show us their ponies. We could not have had a better time. Brenda was a super traveling companion, as she put up with my having the flu, and staying up all night because I could not seem to get to sleep (who knows why!). I have also included some pictures. I apologize for not being a very creative photographer, but they will give you an idea at least, of what we were lucky enough to see while we were there.

I would definitely recommend that anybody who is interested in the Welsh breed try to make it over there. The experience is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Sincerely: Vanessa Quartly