and so it began

It all started by chance and the decision that my ID/TB’s were getting a little “too much” for me to show in my dotage. I needed to buy a companion for “Dan” one of my last homebred Irish Draught/Thoroughbreds, a beautiful but boisterous young colt. A quick flick through the Horse & Hound found an advert for a young Dartmoor colt and so it began.

Let me introduce Chiron Apollo (Hisley Sorcerer x Stonehealed Diana). “Polo” was and still is at 13 years of age a great little character and one of the most mischievous of all my boys. Tragically one night not long after his arrival, during a severe thunderstorm, he was involved in a horrific accident. He sustained very serious injuries to his chest.

Thankfully he eventually recovered (he went on to show successfully at a number of local shows some years later) and had begun to develop into a very handsome chap. Still entire, I saw an opportunity to continue the breeding I so much enjoyed but this time on a much smaller scale.

In September 93 and on recommendation I travelled to Dorset to meet Vanessa Parkinson, owner of the Stourton Dartmoor Stud. With Vanessa’s help we bought two beautiful broodmares and she is the one person to whom I will always be grateful and who I am happy to call a friend to this day.


First to arrive was “Annie”, Langfield Greensleeves (Langfield Canth x Langfield Greenfinger) followed by “Bracken”, Pindox Bracken (Brandsby Cyclone x Cownhayne Bossy-Boots) and so the Underhill Dartmoor Stud was born.

In the early days there were very few Dartmoors in the local area. We had great fun and some success at the local shows. The breeding (so much easier than the TB/ID’s!) produced four colts including “Aide” Underhill Adonis a handsome dark bay out of Pindox Bracken and Underhill Basil out of Langfield Greensleeves who has since been exported to Germany both sired by my first Dartmoor stallion Polo.

During 1996 we moved to Dunston Hills Farm. We had become so successful in “breeding” Dartmoors we had outgrown our previous home. There was much work to be done. Building stables and putting up fences to ensure the ponies were safe not to mention work on the bungalow where “the humans” had to live. This left us very little time for showing that year.

In May 1998 we made it to the Royal Bath & West. Underhill Adonis came 2nd in the 2-3 year olds while Underhill Casper (Polo x Bracken) took 3rd place in the yearlings. I was so proud. They both participated in the grand parade of Mountain & Moorlands, what a wonderful experience. The main arena was full of the most beautiful Native ponies, a sight to behold. Isn’t it a shame that it is no longer in the program of events. The rest of the season continued to provide us with some great results, helping to build our confidence in the world of Dartmoors.

The following year started well for us. At Badgeworth, a local show in Somerset, Casper won overall youngstock Champion and Aide was 1st in his class (4yrs and over). This result gave us the courage to enter the Midlands in-hand in June. On the day however our courage was found wanting. Assured by my son that Malvern wasn’t a million miles away we mustered what strength we could and headed off. What a shock. Aide came 2nd in the 4yrs and over and Casper came 1st in the 1,2 & 3 year olds as well as overall Champion! Later that season we also had some success at the Breed Show. Casper came 2nd in the 2/3 yr old colts and at one of our local shows Casper and Aide took Champion and Reserve Champion Mountain & Moorland in very good company.

Year 2000 at the Underhill Stud was a year for our mares and foals. We had 3 foals that year, Foxglove, Casper’s first foal out of Langfield Greensleeves, Forget-Me-Not out of Pindox Bracken (Bracken’s first filly after 4 colts!) and Firefly ”Fly” out of Malyons Cameo the new addition to our broodmares in 1999 and both by Polo.
At the Breed show, Cameo and Fly were placed 4th and 5th in the Open Broodmare and foal class, Bracken and Forget-Me-Not took a 3rd and Best Foal at Dunster and 1st in Best Broodmare and 2nd Foal at the Moorland show. Our season ended happily with Forget-Me-Not as Reserve Champion filly foal at Somerset NPA and Firefly as Reserve Supreme Foal at SWPA Poltimore. One of my favourite memories of the year however was with Casper at the SWPA Championship Show. Winning the M&M Junior Championship and then overall Mountain and Moorland Champion. I will never forget running around the arena to Tina Turner’s song “Simply the best” even now, the mere thought of it still makes me smile.

We were really looking forward to the following season when the foot and mouth outbreak hit the country. Like most people we knew, we stopped showing completely. Somehow the year off seemed to dampen our spirits and we seemed to loose all enthusiasm for showing.

In the following two years, which included some time out for me following a slipped disc, our only outings were a handful of local shows. Two key successes for me both by coincidence at Badgeworth include seeing Underhill Forget-Me-Not take 1st in the 1,2&3 year olds and go on to win the overall M&M youngstock Championship and then in the following year watch Casper win Best Home Produced followed by Reserve Champion in a selection of in-hand classes including Best Hunter Pony and Best Part Bred and then do one better by winning the Championship in the M&M classes.

2003 also saw the arrival of our first part-bred, Underhill Isabella by Casper out of Ffrethi Sincerity (Keston Fidelity x Royal Highlight). I admit I am completely bias on this point, however to me, Isabella is a great success. She is a beautiful bay filly but remains un-shown to date because I had forgotten how much I dislike plaiting!

2004 saw our small Dartmoor herd grow to approximately 16 ponies (although don’t tell my husband — he doesn’t count well and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him!) Some of our proudest achievements include;

Underhill Firefly at the age of 4 and still unbroken (did I mention I still don’t have grand children yet) did extremely well at local level with numerous 1st and 2nd place wins. He also took 6th place at Devon County, and the NPS and DPS Championship shows in top class company.

Underhill Imperial took 1st place as Yearling Filly at Devon County (despite being gently teased that bringing Somerset Dartmoors to Devon was a hopeless cause) and a 2nd at the Southern DPS.show at Wincanton.

We also won our first NPS Kilmannan Silver Medal Rosette at the NPS Area 25 summer show with Underhill Hamish and a fortunate Reserve Championship win for him at Dunster. I say fortunate as when asked by the judges to “show off our paces” as we left the ring, naughty Hamish decided it would be great fun to leap repeatedly in the air like a stag which I am later told resulted in the comment “Not quite like that” with mild amusement from the judge! Hamish also won the M&M Championship and Kraiburg qualifier at SWPA. At the Kraiburg final he came 4th. His winnings provided him with a new winter rug — thank you very much SWPA Kraiburg.

Hamish and Imperial are full brother and sister (Underhill Casper x Malyons Cameo) lets hope this continues to be a successful combination for us.

Now we reach 2005 and we are looking forward to the season ahead. We are keen to try our luck with the most recent additions to the Underhill family. Jasper, out of Underhill Catkin and Juno out of Underhill Forget-Me-Not both by Senruff Graduate. With a bit of help (on the plaiting) we may also introduce Isabella to the world of the In-Hand show. I still can not quite believe that 12yrs have passed since the arrival of Polo. All I know is that I have been lucky enough to breed some beautiful foals and have had some wonderful times with these ponies.
If ever asked to pass on any words of wisdom or advice to any new, “would be” Dartmoor pony owners they would be this …

Be warned – they are addictive.

Angela Banks 2005