Donkey & Shetland Pony Show

The Donkey Breed Society is the British Society for everyone whose love and interest in in the donkey.
Founded in 1967, the Donkey Breed Society seeks to encourage a fuller and more active life for those donkeys who are much loved family pets or companions to other animals, and has worked to achieve this on behalf of all donkeys for 43 years.

A donkey is not just an ornament for your paddock and remember a busy donkey is invariably a happier donkey, donkeys are related to horses and ponies, which are naturally native to lush grasslands, praries and sreppes. However, donkeys are adapted to the margianl desert land, so their food needs are less and their coats are not too weatherproof!
Due to their physical characteristics, particularly at the shoulder, donkeys are slower and less powerfull than horses, although they do have an initial turn of speed over a short distance.

Donkeys can be very long lived. Donkeys of 60 years old have been recorded, but normally a 40 year old donkey is looked on as being elderly. You can appreciate why we refer to ‘donkey’s years’ as being a long time (although this may also owe something to the length of donkey’s ears, a play on words). Of course ‘donkey work’ is always demanding and arduous. It’s not clear where the expression ‘talking the hind legs off a donkey’ comes from, though!

One of the favourate pastimes for the donkey owners is to bring their animals along to a show and parade them before a judge who decides which one best fits the criteria as shown in the schedule.

Saturday 10th July will see a host of donkeys of all shapes and sizes competing at the Bedfordshire County Show for rosettes and prizes from 10.30am.

Shetland Pony Show

Small ponies have existed in the Shetland Isles for over 2000 years. Various excavations on the island have revealed the bones of small ponies that existed during the Bronze Age and it is thought that ponies have been in domestic use since that time.
For centuries the pony cultivated the land, carried the peat from the scatholds and seaweed for the fields, and when roads were introduced in the mid 19th. Century took on another role of transporting their owners around the islands

When in 1847 children were banned from the coal pits the Shetland pony colts became in great demand and many had to exchange their freedom of the hills for the darkness of the mines.

Today the Shetland pony no longer has the hardworking life of it’s ancestors, as nowadays the main employment is all about pleasure as perhaps a child’s riding pony or carriage driving whilst many of their owners show the ponies in hand in breed classes. All of the Shetland Ponies here today are registered with the Shetland Pony Stud book society formed in 1890, details of which can be found on the website ;
 www.shetlandponystudbooksociety.co.uk

The Shetland Pony show here today, whilst affiliated to the Stud Book Society is being organised and run by one of the many Shetland pony groups that has been formed throughout the UK over the years and has always been a feature at this event, ever popular with the children and parents alike.

The PARKLANDS SHETLAND PONY SHOW GROUP was started by enthusiasts and supporters comparatively recently, back in 2001. It has become in a very short space of time a main feature for enthusiast’s in the Shetland pony competition calendar with sixteen in hand breed classes. Details about the group may be obtained from the secretary Mrs. Christine Boyle on 01462 454045 or e-mail : TooHoots @hotmail.co.uk