I miss my standard black Shetland pony girls (we used to breed them in the dim and distant).
Happily, I would spend many hours photographing my beautiful ladies in their fields – they were always very photogenic and obliging.
But backs (my spine, mostly) misbehave, the market dropped like a stone, Shetland pony politics, life moves on resulting in the majority of the Thordale Shetland Pony Stud was sold.
Anywho, today I missed my girls. I missed taking photos of them and, presented with an endless supply of beautiful black standard Shetland pony mares from Bergli Stud, I happily snapped away
I hope you like the photos. Yes, there is a sea of mud but, at the moment we are all living like this. There are no exceptions. Until the mud dries up and goes away, we are all in the same boat.
I have been reminiscing on exactly the same thing. My uncle used to breed standard black shetlands in Cumbria (Thanet Well) and when I was young (too many moons ago to keep track of) I used to help show them. Nothing grand just local shows but I was lucky enough to be given one of them as my first riding pony. Sadly my uncle died a few months ago, although he had given up keeping his ponies many years before, and I have lost track of where any of the breedlines went. The sight of a herd of black shetlands will always put a smile on my face and a tear in my eye.
Do you want me to look up any information about the Thanet Well stud?
I’ve just come across this.
I have one of your uncle’s Shetland ponies,
Atlas of Thanet, a gelding who is coming up 31 in May this year.
Such lovely ladies! Beautiful long manes and expressive faces. Thanks!
Keep taking them…Black is beautiful… owned by two black
shetlands…Frazer and Angus
Such calm in those beautiful faces, Frances.
(Here in the Pacific Northwest we’re getting rain, rain, rain with *almost* as much mud as I’m seeing in your photos – I can relate! And yes, the dog is still depressed.) 😉
Wonderful photo’s of such beautiful ponies. Although you miss them, you are so lucky to have so many beautiful animals in your life to photograph.