Every inch that the grass grew, and it did grow many inches, it became clear to us that we needed to address grazing. Neither of us fancied cattle, goats (according to John) are a headache, by then the grass was too long for sheep. We had heard about conservation grazing. This did appeal. In April 2014 we had six Exmoor ponies munching away, courtesy of the Moorland Mousie Trust. 

At this stage only the three woodland areas were fenced. The ponies were free to roam everywhere else and as they are browsers as well as well as grazers, they did a fabulous job opening up and improving access to some of the denser scrubby areas. We learned that six ponies were too many as the paths they had created began to become mudslides. We kept on with two - one who gloried in the name Ganymede (cup-bearer to the Gods) and one whose name we never knew and we therefore called Anonymous. The others went to RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve. Ganymede and Anonymous left in April 2015 and we took a pony break. 

In Autumn 2015, just as Clare was leaving for a few days away, she thought to ask John what he would be up to while she was away. “Going to look at a Fell pony in Cumbria,” he said. Until this point he had carefully concealed not only his love of the Fell pony breed, but his desire to own one! When John met Paul it was love at first sight. When Clare went to see him shortly afterwards, she too was Felled. Paul, then a 6 year old gelding and therefore in his adolescence, arrived Roadhead on 21st February 2016 and has been great fun and a great challenge in equal measure. John’s plan had been, and remains, to train him to haul timber out of the woodland areas where any other access is difficult. After a couple of falls and several months of recuperation, (and Clare wishes to say at this point that riding Paul had not been part of the original plan) John wisely decided to terminate his equestrian dreams and desire to relive his pentathlete past, and to get on with the logging. Huge sighs of relief from Clare.

We went back to the Moorland Mousie Trust in Autumn 2016 and borrowed two ponies - Sox and Snippets - to graze off the Wildflower Meadow after it had been cut. Job done, we moved them both onto the Top Grazing as field companions for Paul. This threesome didn’t quite work, so Sox left on 20th December, leaving Snippets and Paul to themselves. Unfortunately Snippets had Sweet Itch and his need to rub was at cost to some of the fence posts. He left to join other Exmoors grazing land near Tarset, and William joined Paul on 25th September 2017. 

We would like especially to thank both Sally and Becky from Codlaw, for their invaluable help, patience and guidance with all of the ponies, but particularly with Paul. 

Eilidh, daughter of a choir friend, has recently joined the equestrian team and is already proving her worth. Thanks are due to her too.

Our equestrian ventures have no doubt amused and entertained our more horse-knowledgeable friends. It has also prompted Clare to issue the ultimatum, “No new projects” to John, with the threat that any such ventures might lead to the venturer being called a divorcé. 

Click here to read blog posts about Paul and his pony friends or here to see more photos of Paul.