Chairperson’s Report
2023 has seen another year of major change and moving forward for the Society.
Your Council have worked tirelessly throughout the year, hosting and enabling lots of events; Andy Dell provided us with our SPARKS data enabling us to host a SPARKS seminar for our Members at Barnard Castle, April took the lead on explaining the system and the benefits of this tool for the Society. On the 1[st] April we had our well attended Roadshow at the Unicorn Centre, Stow, with the Dartmoors, Exmoors, Fells & Highlands. Thanks to Rodger James and to our pony providers Sarah Evans & Matt Mason, Megan Goff and Lynette Morrison. Lynette as many will know has also been busy with our merchandise sales. This day was both educational and enjoyable for Members and Non-Members of all the Breeds involved. The Roadshow was followed up for the Dales Society with April Lawn delivering a SPARKS presentation for our Southern Members and others that hadn’t been able to attend the first event.
Our Judges Assessment at Home Farm, Richmond went well with four applicants taken forward to probation, two have completed their probation requirements and have now been added to the B Panel, along with Lucy Jones who completed her requirements from the previous assessment. The other two from the 2023 assessment move forward to a second year of probations in 2024.
After that we had our Spring Stallion Show, Kate Waite & Co ensured the promotion of the Show, we saw increased entries and sponsorship, as well as the smooth running on the day! With Stephen Longstaff along with Ernest Coulthard and Charlie Parker taking on the lead for the set up and dismantling. A great Show and lots of camaraderie throughout. Thanks go to Kim Evans who stood in this year to take photos as Kevin Owens had prior commitments.
Jamie Cockbain represented the Society at the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Event at the RHEGED on the 18[th] May. So important that we are represented at such events.
Your Area Reps have been busy throughout the season promoting the Society in all disciplines as well as social events, including Lynsey Swales has endeavoured to get all on board with her “Have a Go Show” whilst Mary Roach with her photo Show has engaged with our International Members, both so important.
Ian Graham ensured a seam free handover to Lindsay Knight in her treasurer role.
July saw a huge change with the Society taking back full ownership of the admin for the Society from PLS. This has streamlined the processes and enabled us to return to a one stop service for our Members and others. Thanks must go particularly to April and Lindsay Knight for this but also to LVP’s Jill Graham and Jo Ashby who were also key in the planning.
Our 2023 Stud Visits went extremely well, thanks go to David & Irene Lovegreen, the Pennell Family and Helen and Mark Snowden for hosting and all supporting these, especially our President Jeff Daley who added value to the events.
Despite the weather our Summer Show was well attended, lovely ponies forward and numbers up on recent years.
Ian Graham delivered a joint trustee training event for the Dales & Fell Pony Societies on the 12[th] September. This was most informative and brought those present up to speed with requirements and these details have been cascaded.
At HOYS we had a good selection of Dales ponies forward and congratulations go to Ernest Coulthard for breeding Langrigg Thomas winner of the Dales Section, interestingly exhibited by a producer better known for having plaited show ponies, as well the Pennell Family for taking the Breeders award for the Dales. Thanks go to all who have shown our Dales ponies or taken part in events showing the Breed to be the true all-rounder throughout the Country during the year.
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The Dales Pony Society is a Company Limited by Guarantee, No. 0355410, registered at Companies House, Cardiff, and a Registered Charity, No. 1079619
Our 2023 Educational & Training Bursary Awards have attracted good support, thanks to Anna Pennell for promoting this competition , winners will be announced later in the Meeting.
April has worked tirelessly throughout the year including in more recent weeks a late notified requirement from Grassroots which she devoted many hours to ensuring completion and our compliance, huge thanks April!
Again, for this weekend it has been great to have so much support from everyone; Stephen Longstaff and Anna Pennell, we appreciate you organising the Supper Dance and Kate Waite and Richard for organising this morning’s Foal & Yearling Show, Colin Turner for judging this for us, and Lucy Jones for all the fabulous photos, and all taking part and spectating the entries were excellent!
My special thanks go to our President Jeff Daley, my Vice Chairman Ernest Coulthard, our Life Vice Presidents, April Lawn who is inspirational, all the Council Members, Lindsay for all her work on our finances, Penny Eminson for heading up the upcoming Year Book ably supported by April and Anna, Area Reps, Sarah Evans for the very popular Annual Points Awards ably assisted behind the scene by Matt Mason and to you, all our Members who have continued to support the Breed/Society over the last twelve months.
We have lots already planned for 2024 so watch this space.
I am SO proud to say that I am Chairman of this Society.
Thank you
Honorary Secretary’s Report
What a first year in post it’s been. The Society has seen another year of significant change in 2023, but I do believe firmly for the better. I didn’t envisage this time last year that I’d also be undertaking the passport administration work for the Society that Pedigree Livestock Services were previously delivering. However, it became clear early on that lots of efficiencies could be made by bringing this work back in house. The main benefit being to give Members back one point of contact, to ensure dealings with the Society are as timely and productive as possible.
I continue to encourage members to get in touch with me with any questions, not forgetting the vast community of other Officers, Council Members and Volunteers within the Society, that are always willing to assist in varying matters. I’d like to thank all of the Members of the Society that help in their roles, big or small, it is all hugely appreciated and the Society simply wouldn’t exist without you.
Spring was incredibly busy, with the final in the series of the educational Native Pony Roadshows held in the South, a fantastic experience for members and non-members to learn all about the breed. There was also an Assessment Day for new Judges, along with introduction of the SPARKS breeding tool at Breeders’ Conventions; and the publication of the all new Society Yearbook, reflecting on the year gone by. The Yearbook has given us a splendid account to display on our shelves for years to come, here’s to many more editions and with particular thanks to Penny Eminson and the yearbook team for the hours spent producing it. Events continued as we moved into Summer with fantastic entries at the Society shows, well attended stud visits and busy area events across the Country.
Working successfully across other rare equine breeds, the SPARKS genetics breeding tool was kindly run for Dales Ponies for the first time by its creator, Andy Dell. Based on genetics conservation tools used for rare species by zoos across the world, it provides a genetics tool for Dales breeders to maximise the retention of genetic diversity within the breed and to slow the level of inbreeding.
Working as one tool alongside the good decisions of breeders for usual breeding traits such as type and movement, the tool has potential to be incredibly powerful in aiding the survival of our much loved breed. To date over 300 mare sheets have been requested for mares of breeding age, a fantastic figure and if just a
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proportion of these use recommended future mating matches, we are on the right steps to securing the breed’s future.
2024 will see the first foals born through mating choices aided with the SPARKS tool. This will provide us with our first set of reliable figures; however, there are some indicators we can already consider. Foal registrations for 2023, which had no access to SPARKS data, so far show just 25% of foals being born through SPARKS recommended matches, with 75% of foals born being of a higher inbreeding rate than is desired or causing genetic dilution within the breed. When we look at mating records received so far in 2023 for potential foals in 2024, we can see over 40% of matches are using good SPARKS recommendations, plus far fewer highly inbred matches. For any of you that missed the Breeders’ Conventions, an article will be included in the new yearbook or don’t hesitate to get in touch for more information.
Our 2022 stud book, Volume 41, is available to buy this evening. In 2022 we registered 117 ponies to our UK stud book, these registrations consisted of: 35 Section A colts; 59 Section A fillies; 5 Section A geldings; 11 Section B fillies and 4 Section B geldings. There was also one Section X colt who was out of a Section X mare and two Section X fillies, one out of a Section X mare and one by an unlicensed stallion.
Overseas registrations consisted of: 3 Section A colts and 3 Section A fillies in Europe, with 6 Section A colts, 8 Section A fillies and 1 Section B gelding in North America. This brought total registrations of pure bred Dales ponies across the world to 138 ponies in 2022. 11 registrations entered our part bred register during the year.
There was a clear skew of female registrations to male in 2022; skews in sex born can be caused by high inbreeding rates within a breed and is something we need to keep a close eye on moving forward.
9 UK stallions were licensed in the year, one of which under a provisional licence under our licensing of colts out of Section B mares policy. All of these stallions were tested clear of FIS. Our current rate of FIS carriers amongst the population of ponies tested is 14.6%, slightly higher than last year’s 14%. However, this figure is becoming less of an indicator of FIS prevalence in the breed as targeted tested of potential carriers is undertaken to a greater extent.
152 transfers of ownership were submitted in 2022, less than 2021 following a peak after covid restrictions were lifted, but still a good figure. The market remains strong for well-produced all-rounders and I’m always receiving calls and messages from people looking for their next pony. Many of these calls are from people new to the breed and looking for their first Dales, it’s always nice to see a transfer come in from a new member keen to join the Society. Membership figures remain similar to 2022 at just over 500 members this year.
I look forward to meeting more of you in 2024 as I’m slowly putting more names to faces. It promises to be another busy year for our much loved breed.
Treasurer’s Report
Against a background of 10% inflation and continued pressure on the personal finances of those who wish to keep ponies we have maintained our finances, and in many cases increased them throughout the year. The work put in by volunteers to run and support the shows, stud visits, social occasions, educational talks, promotion of the breed at various venues and the judges means that we are able to keep as high a profile as possible.
Our income comes from our membership with extra support in the form of a grant from the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB). Without either of these sources remaining secure we would not be able to run the Society or provide passports for ponies. Membership has remained fairly constant over the years with 511 members joining or rejoining this year which is a rise of approximately 20 members over 2022. However we do know that membership fluctuates by this amount yearly and remains relatively stable. The grant from the HBLB this year was £9,500 and is used to support the work of promoting and supporting the breed, some of which is paid to breeders in the form of premiums to help them maintain and improve the breed.
Our reserves are untouched this year and are there to ensure the work of the society could continue in the event of a crisis. The pandemic was such a crisis and we were lucky that we came through that period without having to
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use reserves to any great extent. Compared to many other Pony Societies we carry very low reserves. However as a Charity we aim to use all of our yearly income to support the work we do over the year. This means that members know their money is actively used to support them and the activities we run over the year.
Income this year has risen considerably over 2022. We made a real effort to get sponsorship for all of the classes at the breed shows and for the first time in many years the shows did not make a loss. We also changed suppliers for rosettes and sashes saving us money. With more entries at the shows we also made more money on raffles and sales, and social events were well supported this year. We had a larger number of foals registered and more transfers went through. This reflects a more secure and stable market as the pandemic recedes and things return to a more normal way of working. The HBLB grant also increased by £500 this year. We also carried out an insurance review and were able to lower the premium without loss of cover.
Having finished last year’s balance sheet with a small loss this year we have made a larger loss now standing at - £1722.80. This is despite all the good work carried on by members to raise funds. The main areas where our budget has increased are to do with the way we now run our services. We decided to move away from PLS who were providing our registration and membership services and take those services back in-house. This meant an increase in the Honoraria we paid to the Honorary Secretary to reflect the increase in work. We expect this to save us money in the 2024 financial year however and provide a better service to members. Other costs have also increased including printing, consumables and particularly postage which has gone up considerably. We hope that having the Secretarial service in house will cut down on any duplication that may have occurred when we were contracted out. This is where the main effects of inflation can be seen.
We aim this year to keep a keen eye on running costs and will be looking to make savings where we can. We will continue to build up our DNA database and will be using the HBLB grant to support this. Premiums awarded to mares having foals this year will support matings designated green or yellow on SPARKS to support our aim to protect the genetic diversity in the breed.
Council have considered our financial position this year at some length and this has led to the conclusion that we need to increase our fees. We have already notified members of the increase in membership subscriptions for 2024. From January 2024 other fees and tariffs will apply to many of the services we provide to pony owners and breeders. We have tried to keep the rise as reasonable as possible and have compared ourselves to other societies to make sure we are in line with what they charge.
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