Here are some photographs of Peter and Olivia (the "P&O" bit) taken just after they arrived at Highercombe in the snows of February 2009.

By way of contrast, below are individual photographs of Peter (on the left) and Olivia (middle) taken on William's birthday 3 January 2010. Besides the fact Peter has outgrown Olivia, you can tell the difference by the fact that the female poses for the photo nicely, but the male is more interested in eating, even off the frozen ground!! Although their winter coats are more than adequate for what ever the weather throws at them (Exmoor Ponies grow a second/double fur layer in the winter) they are still happy to go into the stables at night time - or perhaps it is the thought of the Pony nuts and hay. Then 3 days after the left hand photos were taken, we experienced another snow storm. The photo on the right shows Peter and Olivia eating emergency rations (haylage) from a wheelbarrow. The amazing thing about "exmoors" is that any snow that lands on their backs just stays there and doesn't melt due to their second layer of fur which gives them excellent insulation.

STOP PRESS - September 2010

We are delighted to announce the arrival of "Princess" born to Olivia on Sunday 12th September.

Here a couple of photos for you to enjoy, mostly in chronological order, so you can see how Princess has developed over the time. We have been able to get hold of her and she is now quite comfortable being petted and stroked and her mother is quite happy for us to be around her. As for her father, he is now more attentive and nudges her every now and then, but in the begining mum would not let him anywhere near and played merry hell when he came near, backing this up with a good kick or two.

 

 

Just 1 day old and all legs!	Life doesn't get much better than this - though we had to "nudge" her to make sure she was okay!

 

Now just 1 week old and tummy beginning to fill.

This was taken 6 Dec 2010 when Princess just 12 week old. See how she has now got a nice thick coat.	Chickens move freely around the ponies and always on the lookout for scraps.	The "advance" party looking for food.

Stop Press - September 2011

We are again delighted to announce the arrival of another foal - Prince Benedikt, who arrived late afternoon Friday 2 September. Fortuitously we had a group of experienced riders in residence who were able to offer advice on whether to assist Olivia or not. In any event poor Olivia had quite a large audience watching the actual birth of her second foal, but took it all in her stride. Our only intervention was to ensure the sack was split and nassal passages clear, else Prince Benedikt was up on all fours (a little shakely) within 20 minutes of being born.