Pony Express - June 2025
- emmam345
- 1 hour ago
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No. 203 - June 2025OUR NEWS May was an extremely busy month at Broadlands …!   Kingsley Kingsley attended the Alresford Watercress Festival and the Ropley Pram Race. Thankfully for everyone the weather stayed dry and he proved to be a popular attraction at both events. Our first time at the Pram Race, and it was a fun morning for everyone. A huge thank you to all the volunteers who turned out to help.  ~ Kim Tea at Three On Friday 23rd May we held our first Tea at Three of 2025. It was a wonderful afternoon with lots of visitors enjoying meeting the ponies and enjoying tea and cake. The children enjoyed the Hobby Horse Obstacle Course and the colouring stations. Please keep Friday 27th June free for the next one.   ~ Kim
Replacement Fence   After many years of repair upon repair, the old passageway fencing needed to be replaced. Over the past five weeks the Broadlands volunteer Maintenance Team have replaced the old rotting posts which supported the four metal gates, along with 340 metres of fence posts and modern electric rope (not tape). There were multiple reasons for deciding to adopt the new electric fencing concept:Lower cost; it required 65% fewer posts and zero wooden rails. ECO friendly; less timber, less preservative, reduced use of lead acid batteries and electric for charging.Quicker to install; and will require little or no maintenance. The electric supply for the rope fencing comes from two solar powered energisers. These save on charging and lifting heavy lead batteries. The entire project has been funded by generous donations received from the following supporters, Furniture Resurrection, Alton, The Alton Lions, Four Marks News & two private donations. A sincere thank you to these supporters from everyone at Broadlands for their support and generosity. Finally, a big thank you from myself to the Broadlands volunteer Maintenance Team for all their hard work over recent weeks to complete this project to a great standard. ~Tony
Congratulations! A big congratulations to a couple of our Broadlands Team members - Paige and Freya who have been recently nominated for RDA Awards.  Paige has been Nominated for RDA Coach Mentor of the Year, and Freya has been Nominated for RDA Young Coach of the Year.
We will keep our fingers crossed for the final results, and a big thank you to anybody who nominated them.
PONY NEWS Spring Has Sprung (sort of!) and we are now heading into Summer
The horses are starting to shed their winter coats, signalling the change of seasons; though we’re still crossing our fingers for some much-needed rain to help the grass along. The mares have come into season, but the geldings remain none the wiser of all the drama!
Kingsley, the Shetland, is gearing up for a busy schedule of village fêtes and fundraisers—he’s got his sparkle (and his mane) on standby. Meanwhile, Harry decided he couldn't wait for the grass to grow in the paddock and made a daring escape through the fence to reach the lush patch on the other side. Safe to say, he’s not winning any awards for patience this summer!  Mia and William can often be found in their stables snoozing of an afternoon, can you tell the difference?
  KITTY CORNER Hello Again Friends!  If a new horse arrives at Broadlands, Paige and Freya (our People) have already checked they will be suitable for their important job, and that they will fit in with us ponies. You may recall new horses are kept in their stables along with us during the day to get used to the ponies, the humans, and all that goes on in the yard. At night, they will have their own space near the herd, so they can be carefully introduced.There will be some sniffing, snorting, squealing and stamping of feet with greetings over the fence at first. Then, if we ponies and our People think the new horse is going to fit in, they are allowed into the paddock for a short while to meet the herd close up. Our People watch carefully to make sure the new horse won’t get kicked, bitten or badly bullied (as if we would do something bad like that?) and can stand up for themselves. Again, there could be some sniffing, squealing and jumping during the introductions, but if things work out alright the newcomer will join us. We do silly fun things together, like pretend nipping, sniffing, squealing and racing around with an odd joyous buck or two, to workout the new horse’s position in our herd. Really, we are very welcoming group. It’s all very technical and the alpha mare sorts it all out for us. Once a horse is accepted and given their position, we all calm down and we can groom a friend (this is when we use our front teeth to scratch out the worst tangles, help remove moulting hair and scratch any itchy patches). Sometimes, we stand head to tail swishing flies off each other and generally being good buddies. Once the summer fly rugs and fly hoods come out, we are grateful. We do have fun though getting the hoods stuck on branches, tearing our rugs, and of course taking the mickey out of those who have the stripy zebra rugs (the pattern is supposed to confuse flies). Of course, if we have pale skin some of us need sunscreen too, just like our riders wear. Our kind People apply this for us.Love Kitty
MEET THE BROADLANDS TEAM~ PAIGE ~ I was first introduced to Broadlands by my sister-in-law when I moved to the area from the New Forest. At the time, I was only looking for a part-time role to fit around my growing freelance grooming business - but haven’t things changed?
I’ve always had a background in farming and horses, having grown up as a young commoner with family ponies running free on the New Forest. I studied Ecology and Conservation at Sparsholt College, originally dreaming of a career as a Countryside Ranger.
In 2018, I jetted off to New Zealand to groom for the Master of the Rotorua Bay of Plenty Hunt. Meeting Dave and Pauline felt like landing on my feet. I had the most amazing year hunting, bring on a young horse and working on their sheep farm.
When I returned to the UK, I took on a role working for a private family near Beaulieu, caring for their four children and 12 hunt horses. We spent countless hours hacking across the forest with picnic stops and competing in local cross-country events.
In 2021, I moved to my partner, Adam’s, family farm, bringing along my young thoroughbred, Frankie the donkey, and my two dogs (now three!). When I’m not at Broadlands, you’ll find me on the farm with the cattle, walking the dogs across the South Downs, or riding my horse, Clover. I’m proud to be part of the Broadlands team and recently joined the Hampshire County Coach team! ~ Paige Centre Manager
Alton Victorian Cricket DaySunday 22nd June - Volunteers needed! We are excited to be the beneficiary of the Alton Victorian Cricket Day this year. They aim to help us fund a new pony and train it to RDA standards. In return, we are supporting their Committee by:
We hope our friends and volunteers will assist. If you’re interested in serving drinks or managing stands, please participate in our straw poll for volunteers. If you are not a current volunteer, but would be happy to help please contact Paige at office@broadlandsgrouprda.org.uk.
Can you help?EVENTS: We have a host of off-site events coming up over the summer where we will be asking for volunteers to come along and help. Little Kingsley often comes to these events, which are a wonderful opportunity to make people aware of Broadlands and the work we do. If you are able to come long and help for a short time at any of the events please do sign up. If you missed the email with the links to Strawpoll to sign up for specific events, just contact the Broadlands Office. ADMIN: Holly is looking for some voluntary assistance with general admin in the Broadlands Office! We are looking for some help on an ad-hoc basis to assist Holly with data entry, filing and general administrative duties. Little experience required but a good sense of humour is a must! Will be paid in tea, cake and laughs! Please drop Holly and email for further info: office@broadlandsgrouprda.org.uk BBQ: Our current gas BBQ is no longer functional, and we’re looking for a replacement to help us continue hosting community events and group activities. If you have a working gas BBQ that you no longer use—or are planning to upgrade this Summer—we would be very grateful if you would consider donating your old one to Broadlands. Even if you’re unable to assist directly, please consider sharing this message with friends or family who might be able to help. Please email Tony: tony@broadlandsgrouprda.org.uk, or call the office at 01420 375767. THANK YOU!
OUR EVENTS
 Broadlands Summer PartySat 20th June Tickets for the Summer Party celebrating 70 years of Broadlands are now available. The event will take place at Wivelrod Barns, using both a marquee and the barn. Your ticket includes:
Drinks will be sold from two bars:
No raffle or auction; fundraising is included in the £60 ticket price, with exception of the drinks bars. We hope to see you there!
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All’s Well That Ends Well… “Ask me to show you poetry in motion and I will show you a horse!” ~Unknown
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