By a strange coincidence, I met for the first time the two women who gave me so much practical help after Juma was killed. The first was Nicola Stephens who was the expert witness who gave me an independent valuation for Juma for the insurance company. Her credentials were perfect with a curriculum vitae that includes three-day eventing, showing and judging, as well as running her own sales, competition, and livery yard. Not only does she run semi-feral ponies on the Forest herself, but she has bred, brought on and sold ponies and horses for all disciplines. Her advice and eventual valuation were very helpful to me.
Yesterday I went to meet Beverley Molter who has become well-known for her calm and effective approach to ponies. She had invited me to come and see her ponies and we also put the world to rights for several hours. At the time of Juma's death, she was very supportive and again helped me with my insurance claim.
Beverley has managed to collect - and now breed - some of the finest New Forest ponies I have ever seen. She buys them privately and through the sales and brings them on slowly until they are ready to be sold. As well as good conformation, they all have excellent temperaments.
Her five-year-old stallion, Mallards Wood Highlight (Frosty) has recently come fourth at the New Forest Breed Show and claimed the prize for the best Novice Ridden Stallion. He is by the renowned stallion, Applewitch Pure Magic. I spent many minutes giving him a lovely hug and stroking him in the stable and he was super polite about it all. Like all of her ponies, he lives out 24/7 only coming in for work and rest.
Flight of the Falcon (Fidleywood Falconer), Hollyhatch Heydey (Portmore Thunder Cloud), and Blueberry Blizzard (Brookshill Brumby) (l to r).
Why did I need help with my claim? It turned out that I was no longer a member of the Commoners' Defence Association who have their own solicitor, and the valuations given by the Agisters had not caught up with the significantly better prices that were being achieved at the on-line sales. These began during the pandemic and continued whilst repairs were made to the Beaulieu Road Sales Yard which had been set alight by car thieves. All of the money which I got for Juma has been promised to the organisers of the Feasibility Study into road safety cameras along the B3078. I certainly didn't want to keep it and would much rather have my pony back.
