BECAUSE of his breeding and his confirmation, Charlie Drake was soon in demand as a stud.

He was also a pony who was always in tiptop condition, with his dark coat shining like glass.

He did however develop a trait, which we did not like, and this was a fault we were unable to break him of, because you never knew why, or when it was likely to happen.

For no reason at all he would take spite on certain mares and go for them quite savagely with his teeth.

The only thing you could do short of permanently muzzling the entire was to take out from his enclosure any mare you saw him take a spite on.

From memory and over a period of three years there were three mares and one filly he was bad with and because he was kept under close observation we were able to remove the unfortunate beasts as quickly as possible.

But having said that, any mare he was rough with soon took itself off as far away from him as possible.

He did improve but we always kept a watchful eye on him.

As time went on, I exchanged him temporarily with Jane Glass of Wymeswold for her stallion called Waverhead Rob.

Rob was a shade bigger and also thicker than Charlie was, and as he was used to being shown, he was much quieter to handle.

Rob had also won many prizes at the shows.

Because Miss Glass was both keen and experienced at showing ponies, she took Charlie in hand, brought him out and entered him in the show at Royal Ascot where he was the Champion Senior Pony Stallion.

He had apparently behaved impeccably before the judges.

I believe his success may have been reported in the Westmorland Gazette at the time.

Somewhere we have a photograph of him wearing his sash of honour, but like many another photo, it will turn up when we're not looking for it.

Waverhead Rob went back home to his owner Jane Glass and Charlie Drake was sold while he was down in Leicestershire.

There was little interest in young ponies unless they were broken to ride or drive just at that time so we dispersed most of our ponies and the last one died some years ago, but I still like to see them especially in their natural habitat.

Fell Pony numbers have increased over the last few years and I reckon they'll be around for a long time to come.

Thought for the day: When a small boy puts something down in black and white, it's apt to be a towel.