The Oracles are a group of friends, that are kind enough to share their time, expertise, experience and opinions to help us improve the lives of our rescue ponies and better manage our land.
Kim McLeod
Kim is our mentor, she helped start our fostering project and continues to be a great source of knowledge and support. She is a shoulder to cry on when things get tough, but her no nonsense attitude is empowering. She is always there to help in emergencies.
Started riding: Around 13-14 yrs, then at 36yrs old.
Owned horses/Ponies: Currently Kim owns a Shetland (Eric), Welsh section A (Tom Jones), Irish Cob (Branston), Irish sport horse (Murphy).
Competition: Kim has taken part in sponsored rides and low level dressage.
Approach to training: She followed Monty Roberts in the past.
Sarah Daniell
Sarah is the founder of the charity Pukka Ponies, where our foster ponies come from. I would describe Sarah as a gutsy lady with steely determination. She has vast experience in handling horses with different temperaments and those coming from distressing circumstances.
Started riding: Around 7 years old, she learned on a lovely old new forest called Snooker, who belonged to a friend.
Owned ponies/horses: Sarah got her first pony Blue when she was 15, he taught her loads!
Competitions: When Sarah was younger she used to enjoy cross country, show jumping and hunter trials. Since becoming a parent however she does much less now, she occasionally go out with a bloodhound hunt for fun (anti-fox hunting with a passion).
Approach to training: Sarah has learned the “traditional English” methods at college but over the years she has learned and seen many different methods of training. Sarah personally use a mixture of those but she does like natural horsemanship and believes that positive reinforcement is the way forward for training.
Stephen Yeardley
Stephen looks after our dog Rocky whenever we are away. We refer to him as the Staffie King because Staffies just love him. Stephen also has a great understanding of horse behaviour and is a great problem solver.
Started riding: At 31 yrs.
Owned horses: Piebald (Milburn) &Jutland (Gallacher).
Competition: XC, TREC and Endurance.
Approach to training: Both horses were trained at Westcourt stables in Pewsey and Stephen continued to train them following Gary Witheford’s method.
Carolyn Roberts
Carolyn along with Stephen looks after our dog Rocky. I would describe Carolyn as a kind, gentle soul. Carolyn’s greatest attribute is that she helps me refocus. When I get fixated on getting jobs done quickly, Carolyn reminds me what it’s all about, “being with the horses”.
Started riding: Around 5yrs old.
Owned horses: Carolyn loaned a pony (Mali) whilst in secondary school
Competition: She has entered small local shows (working pony category), XC
Approach to training: Follows natural horsemanship