Our horses and ponies

Part of our family

Our horses and ponies

Horses and ponies are a huge part of life at Stampley Moss Farm. Above all else, they are part of our family.

We are incredibly fortunate to have our horses at home with us, where they are part of everyday life on the farm. Some have been with our family for more than 20 years. We have seen horses through their ridden years and retirement and, sadly, eventually said goodbye to much-loved old friends at a very grand age.

Whenever circumstances allow, ours really is a home for life.

The Family Behind the Herd

At the heart of it all is Louise — mother of all things and lifelong animal lover. If it has four legs and needs looking after, there is usually room for one more somewhere!

Anya is a competent, if not always the most daring, rider. At 5’11”, her height inevitably has some bearing on which of our ponies we can ultimately keep. Her real passion is the Connemara, a breed which is rapidly becoming a firm favourite of Louise’s too. Although, judging by the photograph below, perhaps we underestimate the “daring” part…

Anya enjoying a rather different sort of hack while abroad.

Emilie is a calm, quiet and beautifully balanced rider whose particular love is the Welsh pony. This is perhaps slightly surprising, as the occasionally dragon-like nature of a Welsh pony couldn’t be further removed from Emilie’s calm, organised personality — but somehow the combination works!

Rhys likes the ponies, although these days perhaps rather more in principle than in practice. His very first pony is still here — a 12hh, 2004 model who has been part of the family for years and whom Rhys now largely doesn’t bother with! The pony, naturally, remains firmly part of the furniture.

And then there is Craig, who manages remarkably well not to become exasperated by the family’s collective love of horses and ponies. He has his favourites, although his selection criteria are fairly straightforward: generally the calmer ones that are happy to stand and have a cuddle.

Craig knows not to ask a lady her age — or how many dogs or horses she has!

Between us, we’re probably not the most conventional equestrian family, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Growing up at Stampley Moss

Over the years we have bred a small number of youngsters of our own, as well as welcoming horses and ponies into the family for all sorts of reasons.

There have even been a few surprises along the way, when mares we have bought have subsequently turned out to be carrying a little passenger we knew nothing about!

One of the greatest pleasures of having the horses at home is watching youngsters grow up in the fields around us. We get to know their individual characters from the beginning and watch them develop from gangly foals into their own little personalities.

We tend to retain our females and have been lucky enough to have different generations of our ponies living here together.

Unfortunately, we can’t keep every youngster.

Being a particularly tall family means that some youngsters simply don’t mature into a suitable size for us to ride ourselves. We also generally retain our females, which means that occasionally one of our young males will need to find his own family.

When It’s Time to Say Goodbye

Parting with any of our ponies is genuinely very sad.

When you’ve watched an animal being born or have raised it from a very young age, cared for it every day and watched its personality develop, it is almost impossible not to become attached.

But we’ve also discovered that letting one go can have a very happy ending.

We have been absolutely delighted to watch some of the ponies we have previously sold go on to thrive and excel in their new homes. There is something incredibly rewarding about seeing a pony we’ve loved and raised form a wonderful partnership with somebody else, enjoying new adventures and fulfilling its potential in a home perfectly suited to them.

Those experiences make the difficult decisions a little easier.

As our youngsters mature, occasionally one may therefore become available to a new home. These are our own horses and ponies — bred, raised or owned by our family — rather than ponies bought in for resale.

We aren’t interested in moving ponies on quickly. Some have been here for decades and others will undoubtedly never leave at all!

For those that do become available, finding the right home is enormously important to us.

Ponies occasionally available

Any horse or pony currently looking for a new home will be introduced below.

We’ll tell you as much as we can about them — their age, breeding, height or expected mature height, temperament, handling, experience and their life with us.

We believe in being open about the ponies we have raised and getting to know prospective new owners. We want both pony and person to be happy with the match.

We’re never in a hurry to part with them, and the right, lasting home will always matter far more to us than simply finding a buyer.

And once they’ve left Stampley Moss, we still love hearing about them.

Few things make us happier than receiving photographs and updates and seeing one of our former youngsters out enjoying life, being loved and, in some cases, achieving far more than we ever imagined when we first watched them wobbling around our fields as foals.

They may move on to new adventures, but we’ll always remember where their story began.

A Note for Guests Staying at Stampley Moss

Guests staying with us will often see our horses and ponies grazing in the surrounding fields and paddocks, and we hope you enjoy having them as part of the scenery during your stay.

Our horses and ponies are privately owned family animals and are not part of our glamping or camping experience.

For everyone’s safety and for the welfare of our animals, guests must not enter fields, paddocks, stables or other equestrian areas, and must not approach, touch or feed any of the horses or ponies — including over or through fences.

We do not offer riding, grooming, handling or pony experiences as part of a stay at Stampley Moss Farm.

Please enjoy watching them from the designated guest areas and give them the space to simply enjoy being at home too.

Part of our family