HAVING recently visited the show and sale of registered pedigree Shetland ponies at Lerwick on their home islands, I have several observations and all positive.

The hospitality and welcome we received on Shetland was second to none, as was the pride taken in this year’s crop of foals. Magnificent animals, from miniature to standard, every single pony at the sale was beautifully presented and extremely well handled.

I referred on social media to the pedigree sales as a ‘sale of passion’ and they truly were – both in the vendors standing 100% behind their produce and believing passionately that their ponies were the best on the market.

But there is also the heightened level of energy that comes from loving what you do – in this instance breeding and selling foals and creating new lines.

The Pony Breeders of Shetland Association has its own voluntary evaluation scheme which enshrines and preserves the quality of breed characteristics and includes a vet check. The uptake of the scheme is almost universal on the islands.

These producers are being responsible – four or five years ago there were 250 ponies and foals forward at these sales; in 2016 there were 67.

Of the 67, almost 40 were sold and of these sold, a quarter were an internet sale. So, there is proof of hugely responsible breeding taking place as fewer foals are produced and there is no evidence of dealers.

‘Ibidder’ the internet sales put the eyes of the world on Lerwick last week and we saw wonderful ponies go for top dollar to Holland, Belgium and elsewhere in Europe.

The internet is a mixed blessing – on one hand the ponies the beloved pride of Shetland were so beautifully presented and handled as a result, while on the other, people can sit at home anywhere and buy.

This not only denies them the hospitality and beauty of the islands – or the overpriced flights – but it takes funds out of the locality as people do not stay and eat.

Talking of eating, the millionaires’ shortbread at the Shetland Mart was second to none, as was the fish and chips. Plus, you could travel to Shetland every October for 50 years and not get the weather we had were blessed with.

The BHS is alive and well on these islands and, after our trip, there were a few new members and our vet talks ably delivered. Jenny Croft, for Loch Leven Vets, seemed to hit the spot with grass sickness coming out as a hot topic.

Elsewhere, we delivered CPD for the BHS accredited professional coaches at both the Scottish National Equestrian Centre and at the beautiful Darkdeer EC in the peat lands of Balnain, Glenurquhart.

The course was delivered by Becky Johnson and had one main message – in a sport like ours, which is risky and shared with a sentient animal (the horse), you have to have equestrian knowledge first and foremost and be more than competent yourself.

Then, and only then, can a riding teacher safely deliver effective training, coaching or instruction. The BHS has been delivering equestrian qualifications since 1948, so we are about to have a special birthday for our great improvement movement!

Recently, in a sombre moment in a Fife field, we all looked on as a pair of magnificent plough horses were uncoupled from their machinery and symbolically harnessed to a WW1 gun, as the Cupar and District Pipe band played the ‘Battle of the Somme’.

Soon it will be 100 years since the guns fell silent in that place – the heritage of the horse continues to shape our lives in such a positive way.

From the tiniest on Shetland to the amazing working Clydesdales that made our working horse day a success, October has been a month of celebrating Scottish breeds in all their variety.

Vets, farriers, ploughmen and coaches all play their part in that world as do educational charities like BHS!