Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2008 | Page 85

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Longstone Royal Messiah

such thing as social status is set in
stone. “After that, for me to come
into the horsey world, it was quite
something!” He is indebted to his
friend Ken Gill of the Pony Club.
“He helped me because I knew
nothing about it. I knew about
chippying and playing football.
Mad Morey they called me on the
pitch!”
His interest in ponies began
when his first son rode as a child,
and when he decided to take up
breeding it was typical that quality
was top of his agenda. He asked
his good friend Sheila Monk
(“the Rt Hon Sheila Monk, but
we are Sheila and Brian”) of the
Yaverland Stud for advice. “She
told me to go to the Rotherwood
Stud, near Ashby de la Zouch, and
to the Downland Stud, and get a
pony from each,” says Brian.
Rotherwood was his first stop.
He saw a beautiful colt foal, but
was strongly advised to get a
two-year-old. In the end they did
a deal and he had both. But he
is happy to admit that the expert
had been right. When he took
them, at a year and three years
respectively, to their first show, the
South of England, the yearling

came in fourth. “That was good,
I was happy. And then the other
one – first! I ended up reserve
champion! Sue said I went white,
like a ghost!”
That was just the start. The
following week, Brian took his
ponies to the Southern Counties.
“I was overall champion!” He
recalls the attention of the
paparazzi: “Click click click! I was
in Horse and Hound!”
Meanwhile, he had the other
recommended stud to visit,
Downland, and there found
Clementine, a beautiful filly who
was in foal. “And she bred me
seven top champions, one after the
other!”
As an outsider breaking in,
Brian’s take on being in “the
circle” is interesting. He compares
the horse world to any other, like
dog and cat breeding – “you have
to work your apprenticeship to
find out all the pros and cons.” He
had just won Supreme Champion
at Yeovil, but at the next show
he was warned against entering
because the show was being
judged by a certain woman who
was notorious for her particular
obsession. “You’re too light boned

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for her, she’s bone!”
Brian went ahead and entered,
making sure he led the pony
quickly to ensure they would put
on a fantastic show, but despite
having won “all over the shop”
that season, he was marked down.
In giving out the rosettes, however,
the judge took pains to explain
why she had marked the animal
down despite its obvious quality.
“I’m bone first,” she explained.
That was a while ago, and
Brian is wised up to the whys and
wherefores of judging. “Others
go for movement, but if the pony
has no manners that counts for

life

nothing.”
For Brian, the most important
thing is temperament. He is
breeding ponies for children and
needs to feel that a six-year-old
child would be safe in a stable
with one them. His days of being
a novice breeder are long behind
him, yet he is still ploughing his
own furrow to some extent. “I
breed Welsh section B ponies,
which I breed to keep the height
– they are 13.2 hands high – but
the money is in little kids’ ponies
that can see a child through from
four to 12 years old. A 13.2 pony
might only last a child a year. But
when I qualified for the Horse of
the Year show, and couldn’t make
it because of my heart condition,
the judge requested I came back
another time. She said we need
more ponies of this height.”
Ponies in the B-category are
pretty, so appeal to children,
but “go like ferries”, according
to Brian. A-category ponies are
small, but bolshy, and Brian
doesn’t like the practice of
crossing the breeds, as some do, to
keep the size down. “They get sold
to wealthy people looking to buy
‘leadrein ponies’ for their children.
But an A and B cross is the worst
mix. I always think ‘there’s a kid
going to get on that!’"
If it sounds as if Brian isn’t
taking the most businesslike
approach, that’s correct. He
doesn’t breed to sell. “I like to find
good homes for them,” he says.
“That’s my pleasure.”
Hard work and fair play have
made Brian Morey a contented
man.

Longstone Royal Celebration

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