Manorian Mischief (Wolsey Black Diamond x Waterside William II) was born in May 2003. She was going to be called Minerva but within a couple of days it was obvious that she was more a Mischief than a Minerva. She is a wonderful pony, that we love dearly, but can be quite a Diva at times. We started showing her in 2004 as a yearling and could never have imagined how well she would do over the following years. In 2004 she won 3 Championships as a yearling, 2005 2 Championships, 2006 6 Championships, 2007 8 Championships. In 2008 she was broken to ride so only did a handful of shows but continued her success being Dales Champion at Ponies(UK) and Dales Reserve Champion at the NPS Championships. She was Supreme Champion this year (2009) at the Cumbria Dales and Fell show which really thrilled us.

Her greatest achievement was at Ponies (UK) in 2007. She has been Champion Dales Pony at Ponies (UK) for three consecutive years now, but in 2007 she was crowned the Supreme Mountain and Moorland Pony during the evening performance. It was a total shock as a number of professional producers were in the final and it was a “Welsh” judge. The first six are called out in reverse order and when they announced the 6th to 2nd without her name being called I thought her chance of being in the final line up was over. You can imagine the joy when the commentator then said, “and the Supreme M&M of 2007 is the Dales Pony, Manorian Mischief”. The stand where I was sat, with friends, just erupted and when Ian and Mischief did the lap of honour everyone was screaming. We will never forget the electric atmosphere of that night. Mischief absolutely loved it and the Diva in her came to the fore big time. She is the only Dales Pony ever to have won this prestigious Championship.

She is now ridden by Rachael Dunn and is doing really well under saddle. Hopefully, with a bit more experience, she will one day qualify for Olympia, which would be another dream come true.

Ian and Norma Thompson