LAST October, a roan New Forest stallion shone the brightest in the mountain and moorland (M&M) supreme championship at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), pipping 21 other native ponies to the title.
The pony in question was Andrew Vine's home-bred Vynnes Magical Edition (Mr Ed), who was making his first appearance at the final under the expert guidance of breed enthusiast Pin Smith.
“Back in the day, the New Forest used to play second fiddle to the Connemara, but not any more,” confirms Pip, who first took a Forester, Nick Williams’ Peronne Palaver, to FlOYS in 2006. “It's taken a while, but the quality of our breed representatives is so much better and we're now able to produce our ponies for a job, thanks to breeding improvements.
“There are
