The Long Journey from the Shetland Islands.

These little ponies come a long way from the Shetland Islands.  The Shetland Islands are the most northerly part of the British Isles.  When looking at the weather map on the television they are the small bunch of islands almost off the top of the map.  They are level with Bergan in Norway, a long, long way north.

Every October we (my friend Vanessa and I) make the trip up to the Shetland Islands.  October is the month of the Shetland Pony Sales at Lerwick.  This is where the foals born that year, are brought together to sell.  The foals are not just rounded up off the hills and taken to the sale, the vast majority of the foals have been weaned and handled, being halter trained, wormed and eating hard feed.  This does seem to make the whole sale process far easier for the foals to cope with, and they arrive at their final destination looking well.  All the ponies on Shetland belong to someone and the breeding is carefully monitored, with the breeders taking a passionate interest in their ponies.

We travel to Shetland a few days before the sale, to allow time to visit the Studs and see the foals at home before the sale.

We love our time up there, the scenery is spectacular, the people are very welcoming, with frequent invites into homes for tea and biscuits, and inevitably talking ponies.  As well as visiting the studs on the mainland we always go to the very top of Shetland, the most northerly island in the British Isles, the Island of Unst where there is quite a large selection of shetland pony studs.  In Shetland the weather can be everything all in one day, snow, hail, rain, cold, warm (yes, even in October), and usually windy, frequently gale force.  When you see the environment these ponies are born into, they need to be tough and that comes through in their characters as well.

The foals start their journey the day before the sale, being transported to Lerwick from their homes, some of them can have a trip of a couple of hours or more.

   Those from Unst have to travel on two ferries to make their way down.  The foals from the Island of Foula which is 20 miles west off the coast of Shetland now travel approximately a week before the sale and are kept at a stud close to Lerwick, before continuing their way to the mart the day before the sale.  One year the foals from Foula failed to make the sale in time due to the frequent rough seas around Shetland and the foals had to return to stud, to be kept a whole year and sold the following October, hence now they travel a week earlier just in case.

The evening before the sale there is a show where breeders select some of their best foals to put up in front of a Judge from down South.  This is another opportunity to catch up with the foals and some more breeders, also to meet the regular visitors to the sale every year.  We are a very loyal and passionate group of people.

Sale day arrives and there never fails to be a true feeling of nervousness and excitement.  There will always be a few special foals you have your eye on (even though you should not be buying any more for yourself).  There is always anticipation as to what the prices will be this year.  They have been quite variable over the years.  You always hope for the prices to be better for the breeders as they have such a struggle, and they need reasonable prices to keep going.  Without the breeders in Shetland, what will happen to the true shetland pony.  However the higher the prices, the less option we have to purchase the ponies we would like.

The sale seems to be over all too quickly.  The ponies that are leaving the Shetland Islands are all marked with a paint mark on a particular part of the body.  Mine are marked with a ‘blue shoulder’, this way all the same marks are put together and my ponies travel together and can always be reunited easily if they are separated.  We often sort the ponies out ourselves before leaving the sale yard, just to make sure ours are all correct and accounted for.  This colour coding does seem to work very well and it is probably the best way to sort the ponies causing the least distress as they can be spotted easily.

Now the next stage of their journey begins, weather permitting they are collected by horsebox from the mart and taken to the port.  If bad weather is predicted then the ponies will not be allowed on the ferry, the decision is often made quite late in the day as the weather in Shetland is so variable at short notice.  If they are delayed then they are made comfortable at the Mart for the night and they travel on the next day.  The can cause problems if enough time is not given to delay the transport coming up to collect from Aberdeen.  At the port the ponies are loaded on to what is called a GLT, this is a pen on wheels that is towed on and off the ferry making it easier to move the ponies about and saves the ponies moving themselves.

The ferry takes all night to reach Aberdeen, approximately 12hrs, and it can still be quite a rough crossing, however I think the ponies seen to manage it better than their human companions.  Hence we always fly now – we had one rough crossing too many.  Arriving at Aberdeen, the GLT’s are taken to holding pens under cover where the ponies are unloaded and given a chance to receive fresh water and more hay and a few hours rest before being collected by their new owners.  We hire ‘Eric Gillie’ to collect mine, he also collects for a few other owners who are heading south, this way it keeps costs down as they travel as a shared load.  It is luxury transport, designed for racehorses, padded partitions, quiet, comfortable, airy and a smooth ride.  They travel from Aberdeen to Kelso, approximately 4 to 5hrs I believe.  Kelso is just over the English border, still in Scotland.  Here they rest for usually about a couple of days.  They mostly eat, drink and most of all sleep.  On Monday they make the final leg of their long journey, back into the horsebox and down to Bedfordshire in England, they leave usually between 8-10 in the morning and arrive about 4-6 in the afternoon, 8hrs later.  They always arrive looking very well and calmly make their way down the ramp and out into the field.  It is a credit to ‘Eric Gillie’ that they always look so well.

I give them a couple of days to chill in the field before doing anything with the new arrivals.  They will frequently be seen all laying flat out in the field, quiet and relaxed and catching up on some sleep.