Exmoor Pony Star 2025 Nominations

Votes must be received by 11.59pm on Saturday 28th February 2026. To vote, please go to www.bit.ly/exmoorponystar

 

Anchor Lullaby

I would like to nominate Anchor Lullaby, as she continues to be an 8-year-old childs best friend. She has taken her little jockey from jumping tiny tots to open tracks in less than 18 months, and in less than two years as a partnership, they became Hoys winners and reserve champions, also topping some of the trickiest and highly contested tracks of the season.

Anchor Lullaby (a.k.a. Lulu) continues to advocate the versatility of Exmoor ponies, having qualified for three classes at HOYS. She qualified in the open with Mum on board, and in the junior workers and first ridden with her little jockey, Alice. They won the only first ridden qualifier they had ever contested at the great Yorkshire show, one of the most prestigious qualifiers of the year, not to mention topping three hoys qualifiers in the junior WHP class. She was also nominated for and went on to win the showing world Wpcs native pony of the year award. Lulu loves jumping, and eating and is a happy and loving childs pony.

 

Badleybridge Margot

Margot exceeded all our expectations this year, our plan this year was for my eldest to ride Margot in the lead rein classes but due to my eldest having a massive growth spurt last minute we swapped my 4 year old Penny on for the ride. (Penny was still early stages of learning up downs so it was nerve wrecking for me) We had no idea how Margot would cope at the big shows in the busy atmosphere with over 30 ponies in classes as she hasn’t done it and let’s face it sometimes we just don’t know what our ponies will do despite training!!! We can but hope but ultimately, they have their own brain. but she looked after my daughter impeccably. We had so many compliments and we can go into this next year feeling a little more confident.

It might not seem much to many but it was a complete unknown for us. We are new to lead rein showing and I was so proud of my little team and for that Margot is my star pony.

 

Holmwood Red Truffle

Truffle, as he is affectionately known, was our first and only home-bred foal. He was a tiny foal, and only grew to make 11 hands, unfortunately for him he had the mind of a 16.2hh Olympic event horse, always thinking he could go faster and higher. In turn, this meant we never found a small enough rider that was able to keep up with his enthusiasm for life.

Due to his loving nature he was a wonderful pony to represent the breed on the RBST stand and did this many times at The Royal Norfolk Show, as he was easy for my mum to handle on her own and loved meeting the crowds of people.

Truffle spent his whole life with his mum, Frithesden Chickadee, until the day she died when he was 25. As his mum grew older her sight was very poor, but Truffle never left her side, always making sure she knew where the gate was, and taking her in and out of the field and stables. When his mother died in April 2025 we worried about how he would cope but he took on a new role, which we never thought would happen. A 3 year old filly came to us and he immediately adopted her. Even though she was much bigger than him, he showed her the route through the woods and over the stream to the fields and brought her back every evening, waiting patiently if she faltered or got left behind. Now he has officially taken on the role of ‘Uncle Truffle’ as he teaches a yearling colt how to live on Exmoor.

To add the icing to the cake of his 25th year of being wonderful, he gave my two sons their first taste of riding and handling an Exmoor Pony at the Autumn Show, making his lead rein debut with George and winning the junior handler with Archie. He didn’t put a foot wrong and looked after the boys brilliantly. So for us, Truffle is an Exmoor Pony Star.

 

Lily Laskine

Lily Laskine is a very talented Therapy Pony who joined CHAT,  our Animal Assisted Interventions project 2 years ago.  (Our previous Exmoor Pony Wally/Walnut, bred by Peter Dean, “went over the rainbow bridge” the year before and only an Exmoor Pony would fill that gap!)

I’d paid the deposit for Lily without seeing her when the lovely lady who bred Wally texted me to say she’d checked the Exmoor Pony Stud Book and did I realise that Lily Laskine is Wally’s only registered offspring?

I’m a great believer in Fate/Destiny so feel it was meant to be!

Lily is my riding-pony.  (I’m 70!)  but more than that she is kind, intuitive and loving. She senses if I am in pain from Osteoarthritis and cuddles me.  If I’m sad she looks directly into my eyes and starts licking my cheek gently which makes me giggle.

Her greatest achievement is she senses if a CHAT student is Neurodiverse/Autistic and subtly let’s me know. She seems to understand.  I even wonder if she might be on the Spectrum herself!

Lily leans down to engage with a 3 year old or snuggles under the arm of a stressed teenager.  She understands.

One of her many little mannerisms is to stick out her tongue and loll it over the sign of her mouth!  She knows it makes us laugh!

So far I have fallen under her belly 3 times (I have Joint Hypermobility so often fall without warning.) and she simply stops and leans down to check I’m okay!  Many horses would spook but she doesn’t, bless her.

Bereavement is a major issue for many of our students and their families and Lily engages particularly well with those experiencing trauma/grief.  She senses so much.

Already Lily has helped so many people and we hope that, like her Dad Wally, she is with us to work her magic for many years to come!

 

Subhainn

1991-2025

When Suzy arrived in Northumberland in the winter of 1999, I was not expecting her  to turn into an out and out superstar who would help me achieve one of my childhood dreams. An unbroken 8 year old, along with her 2 year old daughter Bramble, they came down from Scotland to be handled and sold, needless to say I bought them both !

Suzy exceeded all my expectations, was a pleasure to break in with the most lovely willing attitude, just the occasional grumpy mare moment, and by the spring was starting to make her mark in the show ring, working her way quickly through the novice ranks and showing promise in the workers. We took a gamble later in the summer and headed south to the Midlands to contest the Olympia qualifier and couldn’t believe it when we were awarded the coveted ticket. The long trip south in December was worth every minute to ride in that fabulous arena  and very proud to be awarded the Exmoor best of breed. Despite limited outings in 2001 due to foot and mouth disease, she qualified for Olympia again and in 2002 qualified for HOYS. She won several EPS performance awards, enjoyed a varied life of hacking, jumping and dressage as well as showing.

Suzy went back to brood mare duties in 2003 and gave us some super ponies over the years notably Oswald, Cuthbert and Billfrith who all made their mark in the show ring, She only had one filly with me, Nameless who also had a filly, Skeney Scar to carry on the line.

Suzy spent her retirement conservation grazing on the coast latterly at Embleton Quarry, a beautiful quiet space, where she quickly amassed a large fan club, she was the easiest pony to have around, apart from the occasional grumpy face, she was never sick or sorry, even at the end at the grand old age of 34.

Subhainn truly was one of the best ambassadors for the breed, she was a prolific winner in hand, ridden and workers. She was also my best friend for over 25 years and her memory lives on in her son, granddaughter and a great grandson who was born the day after she died.

 

Tawbitts Alfred

Alfred or Alf as he was well known, was the most fantastic all round pony I’ve ever known. Unfortunately he unexpectedly passed away on the 24th of August this year at only 13 years of age, we found him sleeping peacfully in the field.

Alfred go thrown into ridden life at 5 when he was sent up the road from Luckwell Bridge, our home yard, to be broken in for me. This was the day after Dunster Country Fair when Gill and Jacky told me they were getting him broken in for me. I was so excited! In just 4 short weeks he was ready to be ridden away…

It wasn’t easy at the start we both were getting used to each other but very quickly we became a great little pair. He would do most things I asked him to with a few small hiccups!

In the 8years I had him he became an absolutely amazing pony who had his heart on his sleeve and would do anything I asked of him. His most favourite thing was to go hunting, we had lots to learn together and a few issues with braking but he was just so sure footed and looked after me. The show ring wasn’t his forte, he liked to hack, hunt, jump, showing in hand he loved. His title of Champion Exmoor Pony at Porlock Show has been running for 2 years straight now!

He was happy to ride out with any other pony and in 2023, my partner found his new pony: Greystonegate Elm, Alf and Elm bonded instantly and became the best of friends, they achieved lots of fun rides as a pair, went to Wales for the Welsh Area show and did amazingly! We soon got known with our local pack of Foxhounds as “The Exmoors” with lots of supporters always looking for us and making sure they got plenty of fuss.

Although he has passed away his memory lives on and he is missed terribly everyday. We grew up together and he taught me so many different things, but most importantly he taught me that a best friend isn’t always a human ❤️he will always be a star to me, and I hope others can see why too.

He was just the best little brown pony I couldve ever asked for, rest easy my boy, Tawbitts Alfred.

 

Withypoole Summer Solstice

Hello, i would love to nominate my pony Withypoole Summer Solstice also known as Olive to be the exmoor pony star of the year because she’s absolutely one in a million!

She’s truly changed my life, i struggled with my mental health for 5 years since i was 11 – and then Olive came along and saved me. I didn’t think i would hit the point of doing my GCSEs, however i passed my GCSEs and i opened my results in the stable with Olive and we shared that beautiful moment together. Olive has given me a purpose to wake up every morning. She makes me proud everyday, she loves to please and takes all new things in her stride! From fancy dress, to fun agility classes to just the small things like resting her head on my shoulder and sleeping. She’s shown me i’m her safe person, and she needs me just as much as i need her. She’s taught me that bestfriends don’t need to be humans. She listens when i talk to her, even if she does laugh sometimes! And she seems to know exactly when im having a bad day because she is extra loving and gives me a hundred kisses! And she lets me dress her up! I never quite understand how much happiness you could gain from a pony, until i got an exmoor.

Olive has gave me a new lease of confidence in life, and has brought out the best side of me that i never knew existed. She isn’t yet 2, so she’s still learning herself however it’s like she’s been here before as she’s so intelligent. Number 10 is now a very lucky number for us, as that was her inspection number. Olive has lots of friends, she loves her little piglet and goose friends. Olive makes everybody who meets her smile, by just being her. Everybody says they want to see her again as they forget about all of their problems when they’re with her!

She is truly my one in a million pony, and i will be forever grateful for the impact she has on my life every single day. We have many more milestones to meet..this is just the beginning of our story and we are so ready for the next steps. I wish she could talk to me one day so i could tell her how loved she is and how grateful i am for her!