A Fine Horse in New Country

Meet the Team!

Caenlochan Highland Ponies was started in the seventies by Chic Nicoll and the late Dave Grant, with foundation mares purchased from the well-known Whitefield stud belonging to Messrs GM Baird.

Over the years the stud has produced many champion Highland ponies, bred for conformation, movement and temperament. To this day we still use Whitefield stallions, as having the characteristics we are looking for to produce active, trainable ponies.

Each year the foal names move on a letter ( a handy ready reckoner for a pony's age). This year we are on 'E' - that's the second time round the alphabet, making us feel quite old! (And no, we didn't skip awkward letters like 'X'!)

These days we just breed 2 or 3 foals a year, allowing plenty of time for teaching early manners. The foals are generally weaned from their dams around Christmas time.

Some of the foals are sold after weaning, some we keep for breaking and selling later or as future brood mares for ourselves. We sometimes have ponies for sale.

On the left is one of the 2008 foals - Elvira of Caenlochan, by Matador of Whitefield. This filly shows a lot of promise, with an excellent shoulder, straight active movement and a lots of character. She looks as though she should grow up to have a good length of rein, with the promise of a comfortable ride. Her strong solid colour is a little unusual in Highlands - many go grey as they get older.

She isn't going to be small though! Coming up for weaning, she is already almost the same height as her mother, who is about 13.2.

You can see an interesting characteristic of all foals in her - how she is growing at the back end first, or 'up behind'. Then the front end will grow to catch up; then the back end will grow some more. I've heard it suggested that this is because, in the wild, foals have to be prepared to run from danger (almost from birth) and because most of a horse's running power comes from the hindquarters, this is Nature's way of making sure they can always run. Sounds feasible! Most Highlands stop growing taller at about four, and then begin to broaden out.

In the winter, the ponies run on stubble fields, with additional hay when the weather is bad. This is a good way to overwinter native ponies, who do tend to run to fat quite easily if the pickings are rich! Over the winter we monitor their weight - failure to do this can so easily result in a bout of laminitis when the spring grass comes through. These youngsters look like they're hardly starving although our own 'Oliver' on the right would clearly like some more...