Sunday 31st December - All 9 seen

The ponies were all together in the area to the right of the gate into the Test Track section of the site at noon today.  Two ponies were lying down resting, five were standing relaxing, and the other two were munching on gorse from the bushes.  The darker newbie pony had been lying down in some mud at some point, as her right hand side was dirty.  The ponies were all happy and very relaxed today.  They were also very friendly, with me receiving a warm welcome from them all.

After about fifteen minutes, the ponies wandered off into the wooded area behind where they had been standing and started to graze.  They were enjoying lots of holly leaves, gorse and an assortment of other leaves.  They headed west, keeping close to the racecourse fence line, before re-emerging.  When I left them at 13:15 they were all grazing around the pond.

The ponies were all good today.

Hoping everyone has a very Happy New Year.

9

 9 spotted way down by the gate to the Test Track.  All appeared well.

Friday 29th December - All 9 seen

After being lucky enough to find the ponies effortlessly on my last two visits, I was due a more challenging look, and today didn't disappoint.

Seven ponies were happily grazing on the north-east side of Brock's Hill at 14.15 this afternoon.  One pony was grazing in the pasture, three were munching on gorse from the bushes at the side of the main path, and three were eating on the slope of the hill itself.  They were all happy and were enjoying the sunshine.  Over the next forty-five minutes, the ponies continued to graze, slowly making their way along to the gorse bushes near the main entrance around ///purple.exotic.design.

I then embarked on a very long and fruitless search of the rest of the site, looking for the missing two ponies.  That included the very waterlogged north-east corner.  After having no success, I circled back around the first seven, who were still eating gorse.  It was getting dark, but I searched some more and eventually found the pair grazing around ///irrigate.stars.rams at 16:20.  They were both absolutely fine, with the tan pony coming over to say hello.  Looking at the amount of mud on their feet, they had been over in that north-east corner.  They continued to eat and didn't appear to be in any hurry to get back to the others.

The ponies were all good today.

Friday 29th @11.30

We could only find six of the nine today.

They were standing about at the base of brocks taking in the sunshine. 

All looking very healthy and content toady. 

Thursday 28th December - All 9 seen

The ponies were grazing in the south-western corner of the site at 10:45 this morning. All nine were happy and relaxed. There was lots of gorse being eaten again today.  All the ponies were very friendly and wandered over to say hello. The new tan pony was particularly friendly today and was happy to stand and receive a head rub. 

The ponies happily grazed until I left them at 11:30, when there was a heavy and unexpected downpour.

Wednesday 27th December - All 9 seen

The ponies were all grazing in the south-western corner of site at 11:40 this morning. They were all enjoying lots of crunchy gorse. The ponies were all rather wet, but were happy and relaxed. They all wandered over to say hello. Around noon, a particularly noisy family out on the main path seemed to spook the ponies, causing them all to scarper into the trees at the far south-west corner. They quickly came back out and started to graze again. They all appeared calm and relaxed again when I left them around 12:20.

The ponies were all good today.

Tuesday 26th December (Boxing Day) - not sure I saw all 9

The ponies were in the thick gorse on the western slope of Brock's Hill at 1045 today. Counting proved very difficult as they were in the gorse on both sides of the path up the hill and kept moving about so that I could not be sure that I hadn't counted some already.  I could see seven in one go but by the time I tracked down two more I couldn't be sure I hadn't counted them before.  We went away for an hour into the other enclosure and when we came back there were seven on the north of the path easily visible.  They all seem well and the ponies I recognised as newbies were happy with me wandering around to inspect them.

Six of those visible when we returned...

Sunday 24th December - All 9 seen

The ponies were all grazing in the far south-west corner of the site at 11:00 this morning.  Initially they were all deep in the gorse bushes munching away happily.  However, they slowly started to come out and say hello.  The new darker coloured pony was very friendly today.

The ponies continued to graze for the next hour, slowly moving north-east towards the main path.  They were mainly nibbling on grass and gorse.  They were all happy and very relaxed.  The newbies appear to have been welcomed into the group, which was great to see.

The ponies were all good today.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Friday 22nd December - All 9 seen

Spent a lovely hour and a bit with the ponies from 11:30 this morning, and met the three newbies, who are gorgeous.

All nine ponies were happily grazing in the far south-west corner of the site.  They were enjoying lots of grass and gorse in the sunshine.  The ponies were initially in little groups, but all came together near the corral.  The newbies seemed to be settling in really well, with only a couple of very minor skirmishes as they all continue to get to know each other.  They were very friendly and, after a short while, came over to say hello.

The original tan pony had been rolling around somewhere, as she had lots of dirt on her back, but was happy for me to brush it off before she got her ear rub 🙂.

The ponies continued to happily graze, making their way over to the main path where they started to munch on gorse.  They then followed the path down to the side of the racecourse, before I said cheerio.

The ponies were all good today.