8th  November 2024

Dear Members,

It has been a busy Summer and Autumn and I hope you have all had an enjoyable and fruitful time with your ponies. A lot has happened since my last report. Back in August we held our 41st Breed Show, kindly organised by Countess De La Warr & Mrs J Jones. We were blessed with lovely weather and the South of England Showground is a beautiful location.

The breed show ‘baton’ has been passed to Mrs M Davenport and Mr N Buffery for 2025 and is being held at Weston Lawns, Warwickshire on Sunday 17th August. Breed shows are a prestigious but expensive event to run, so sponsorship is very much welcome, please contact Mary or Neil directly.

For 2026 the Breed Show will be heading to Orkney for the very first time.

At the end of 2024 we say goodbye to four council members, we thank Corinna Seipp, Sheena Anderson, Marion Matthews and Lisa Hunter for giving their time and contributions towards the society and the Shetland Pony breed.

The new council members for Shetland are Carole Laignel and Janice Priest. Following the AGM there was a request to rerun the election for England, but following a question from a member, the society solicitors have confirmed that our constitution does not permit such a rerun. This means two England seats will be vacant for 2025 and will be included in the nominations for positions starting in 2026, for the full 3 year term. Council has reviewed the processes around elections and steps have been put in place to ensure their smooth running in the future.

Another area raised at the AGM was the increased charge for VVE for colts under three years of age. Following comprehensive discussion council decided to revoke this additional charge. The Society will focus efforts on education to encourage people to breed from animals that have good conformation and display all the aspects of the breed standard.

October has been a busy month for society sales, this year we have had Lerwick, Aberdeen, Worcester and Kendal, for the first time. There have been difficulties with securing dates for 2025. Lerwick & Aberdeen won’t be confirming their dates until the New Year and our ‘usual’ Worcester date with McCartneys is unavailable due to clashes with other breed sales beyond our control. When this came to light at the end of September, council made the decision to go with the dates proposed by McCartneys of the 4th & 5th October 2025 in order to fit all four sales in the calendar for October 2025. Since this decision was made all the sales have taken place giving an opportunity to reflect on their varied success with low numbers sold through the Junction 36 sale.

While Junction 36 is an excellent venue it was agreed, with the auctioneers, that keeping this sale in the calendar for October next year would not be sensible so any sale would not be under the auspices of the Shetland Pony Stud Book Society. This has meant it possible for the Worcester show and sale to move to the weekend of the 25th & 26th October. Please rest assured that council are acting with the best intentions on the information available at the time. It is only after reflecting on each sale that a decision can be made on what the next year will look like.

I would like to remind all members of the society about their requirement to adhere to the social media and internet policy and any breaches of this are being noted.

A new initiative for 2025 is the introduction of society bronze medals, these will be available to affiliated Shetland groups for a nominated show in 2025. The medals can only we awarded to society members, you will need to show your membership card to the show secretary so please keep your membership card safe and to hand so you don’t miss out on these lovely additions. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Nick True and his family for the generous sponsorship of these medals.

At our recent council meeting the position of Vice President elect for 2026 was duly elected and I can inform you that Mr Nick True will be taking this position.

Finally, we’re finalising the Autumn 2024 magazine and these should be arriving with you in early December. It might be a bit early to wish everyone a merry Christmas – but a bit of holiday cheer wouldn’t go amiss!

Kind regards,

Julian Walters

SPSBS Society President