We have owned Shetland ponies since 1980 when Elaine got her first Shetland pony at age 5. She got another Shetland pony when she was 10 called Robins Brae Firva. They competed both locally and on the UK mainland which included wins at Olympia Horse Show in London in the Shetland Pony Grand National in 1987 and 1988.

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The Merkisayre Shetland Pony Stud was then formed in 1994 when we started breeding. We are experienced breeders and have sold ponies to various countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Ireland and the UK. We have had numerous wins in the show ring and we've won many championships at shows including the SPSBS Shetland Pony Breed Show where our 3 year old filly Merkisayre Dion won supreme champion. Much to our surprise and delight, we won supreme champion again when it was held in Shetland for the second time 10 years later in 2019! This time with Merkisayre Julian a 3 year old colt who is actually out of the same mare that Dion is out of, called Merkisayre Dioran. 

 

One of our notable achievements for the stud that we are very proud of, is that we have a couple of ponies racing in The Shetland Pony Grand National as it will always be close to our hearts.  It all started with Poppy Dadson who was the first to qualify for Olympia in 2018 with Merkisayre Sea Duble where she went on to win a couple of races. Duble has been winning ever since with the same owner, Lianna Dadson who is Poppy's mum but now with other young jockeys as Poppy has sadly outgrown him. The other one to join Duble is Merkisayre Sir Padre (Paddy) who will be joining Sea Duble at the London International Horse Show (the new Olympia) along with all the other ponies and jockeys.

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After George built an indoor riding facility, we set up the Shetland Pony Riding School in 2012 where our instructors have taught young children to ride and care for a pony ever since. This is now our 12th year of the riding school which is primarily for local children.

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This brings us onto The Shetland Pony Experience which was started in 2018 when we opened our doors to Shetland's visiting tourists to give them the opportunity to have a unique, hands on experience with our friendly Shetland ponies. Our visitors get to handle and lead the ponies while learning all about them. We  have been blown away by the response of our visitors and have received a lot of positive feedback over the years from our happy customers, often saying it exceeded all their expectations or that it has been the highlight of their trip, which we are always very pleased to hear.

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