TYNEDALE spirit has helped the second Native Pony Festival celebrate another successful year.

The show was first held last year, organised by a group of Tynedale equestrians passionate about native ponies.

Held in Throckley, near Heddon-on-the-Wall, the festival attracted more than 150 competitors at its second outing on Sunday, June 28.

Organiser Juliet Rogers, from Steel, said: “The committee are all from the Tynedale area and work extremely hard to bring it together.

“It was terribly successful this year and there were lots of people travelling long distances, just like last year, but this time there were more of them.

“There was a worry that numbers would be down because there were so many events on that weekend, but that proved not to be the case. The success is all down to word of mouth.

“We’ve benefited from former Northumberland County Show secretary Gaynor Scandle working with me, because she has been fantastic at giving advice.

“The long-term plan is to host Horse of the Year Show qualifiers, as there are currently none in the North-East at all,” she added.

“But we have to prove ourselves to be a very successful show to justify getting that.”

Heavy rain in the run-up to this year’s show almost saw the organisers draw in the reins.

Fortunately they were blessed with good weather on the day, which saw competitors travel from as far as Lancashire, Cumbria and Scotland to support the festival.

Tynedale’s own native pony runners and riders made a strong contingent, securing top places in the competition.

For the second year running, Cargarsar Silver Phantom, a five-year-old Welsh Section C stallion, won the reserve champion place.

Owned by show chairman Sara Dowdeswell, from Hexham, he swept up rosettes, winning the In hand Championship, the Novice Ridden Championship and the Overall Ridden Championship with his rider, Sophie Dowdeswell.

The supreme champion was Castle Hill Echo, a three-year-old Dales filly, owned by Glenis Cockbain from Carrock Stud in Keswick.

In the Novice Working Hunter Pony section, reserve champion went to three-year-old fell pony Linnel Tiger Lily, bred by the Charlton family from the Linnels Stud in Hexham.

The youngster was produced on the day by rider Sam Brown from Preston, and also won the intermediate workers class.

Show secretary Chris Grant, from Heddon-on-the-Wall, also celebrated success with his pony Dunedin Rhionna, securing the reserve novice champion position.

Classes on the day included working hunter classes, in hand classes and ridden classes for all breeds.

The show received praise from fell pony judge Russell Sutcliffe, from Lancashire, who applauded the “incredibly high” quality of ponies on show, describing it as “the best collection of ponies seen at any show this year”.

Show secretary Chris added: “Small events like our show rely so heavily on volunteers, stewards and sponsors to make the day a great success and this year everyone exceeded themselves and we cannot thank them enough.”