STAR proved to be a good stallion and an excellent stockgetter passing onto his offspring many good points such as a fine pony head; plenty of bone and a very good temperament.

Unlike some stallions he was never rough with his mares and we never knew him to harm any.

Although, as I say he was always good with both our own mares as well as those that were visiting, he did however develop one annoying habit that earned him the nickname of "Gate Basher".

If he decided he would like to be somewhere else he would walk up to a gate and push with his chest until he either broke the gate or it burst open so that he could pass through.

We never resorted to putting barbed wire on the gates as we believed because he was so determined he would end up injuring himself.

The best we could do was to fasten a good larch pole across the gateway about the height of the gates top rail.

If he pushed in the middle he could even break a larch pole up to nine inches thick.

As far as I remember that was his only bad habit except that you had to watch out for him standing on your foot.

That was bad enough if you were wearing clogs and got stepped on but if you wore wellingtons, that was something else.

If you looked at him when he stood on your foot, you would swear he was laughing all over his face.

And so the time came, as it inevitably does, when Star had to move on as he was coming onto his own stock.

He went on to continue as a breeding stallion when I part exchanged him with breeder George Cowen for a young Fell pony stallion called Charlie Drake.

Charlie was by the well-known stud pony Heltondale Sunny Boy who when he was in the hands of top breeder Bert Morland won the Stallion Show against some formidable competition.

Charlie got his name out of the blue, so to speak.

Miss Peggy Crossland, secretary of the Fell Pony Society at the time telephoned his breeder and said "You didn't include a name with the registration papers for your pony, so what shall we call him?" His breeder glanced at the television and Charlie Drake was on at the time, so that's how he came to get his name.

Charlie was well put together and very short coupled (short backed) just as a Fell Pony should be.

He was black with a small white patch on his forehead.

He was also a "wakken" sort of a pony which meant you had to watch him or he would have you over; if you wanted to put a halter or a bridle on him you had to corner him up in a yard, but once you had hold of him he was fairly tractable.

I mentioned Miss Crossland who was a lady that dearly loved her ponies and in fact lived for them, so imagine her surprise when she was visiting friends in Kendal and her sister ran to tell her to return home as there was a RSPCA Inspector waiting to see her on a matter of cruelty to one of her ponies.

I remember the pony well; he was a white gelding, which she kept in a field near home where the grass was better than on the higher land and where he was handy to feed with hay and oats.

And so Peggy Crossland drove quickly home to find out what it was all about.

She was met by the inspector who explained that because a lady had made a complaint it was his duty to investigate.

"Well what did she say was wrong?" asked Miss Crossland.

"Oh" said he "she reckoned it looked lonely".

Peggy, who told me the story herself, said words failed her.

A better carer of ponies you would never find anywhere, yet because of someone's ignorance she was put in a position she should never have been in.

You will remember me telling you there are three sorts of folk.

Them as knows and them as doesn't know but there's also them as doesn't know but think they do.

Poor Peggy suffered from one of the latter.

I expect the inspector was rather embarrassed too.

Thought for the Day: The chief hazard of jumping to conclusions is the high percentages of misses.