Find out why this champion filly is turning judges’ heads
Dainty filly Outlook Rejoice is one of only 90 Dartmoor ponies in Australia. Find out what makes her so special.
THE win by a dainty Dartmoor filly, Outlook Rejoice, at the Northern Victorian Foal Show attracted a lot of attention, as the ancient breed is now listed on the world’s rare breeds register.
They still run wild on the Moors of Britain, but there are just 500 registered ponies in the world and 90 in Australia.
They were used in medieval times for carrying heavy loads of tin from the mines across Dartmoor. When the mines closed, some were kept for farming, but most were turned out on to the moor.
The first attempt to define and register the breed was in 1898, when they were entered into a studbook started by the Polo Pony Society.
Filly owner, Riding Pony breeder, Karen Parrish, has been a fan since 1998-99.
“I was concentrating on breeding lead rein and first ridden ponies and I saw all these little kids at Olympia and HOYS in the UK riding these amazing little ponies and they looked so confident on them, even on stallions.
“I found they were Dartmoor Ponies, and my pedigree search and pony matching began.”
Karen bought a colt, Senruf Mayday Imp UK (x Shilstone Rocks D Day) in 2000 from Audrey Billeau in Queensland. He had been imported with his mother. “I also bought a half-sister to Mayday and a beautiful mare, Glynton Park Julie by one of the UK’s most successful sires, Langfield Canth who had come to Australia.”
The stud was dispersed except for Senruf Mayday after the tragic Black Saturday Fires in 2009.
Karen kept two partbreds, but the longing for another purebred was always there, so in 2020 she bought a beautiful mare with a filly foal at foot from Outlook Stud to have as her foundation stock and the romance with the pony breed will start again.
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