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Woodcroft Pony Stud is a small pony stud set up in a peaceful area in the Durham Dales in North East England. It is surrounded by picturesque faded heather, deep shady woods and within 10 miles of some amazing coastline. Long, sandy beaches which seem to go on forever with their peaceful surroundings. Golden sand and sapphire sea makes these beaches some of the most spectacular in Britain, maybe even the world. The nearby countryside is riddled with intricate bridleways and quiet country lanes that connect the local area. It is possible to ride to the golden shoreline or the heart of the pennine mountains from Woodcroft.
In 1999, a small stable began to appear. The old farmhouse was slightly modernised and the cottage was given running water, but they both kept all of their period charm. When the basic house was built, stable blocks were built out of local stone and fitted in perfectly. Woodcroft Pony Stud was combining old styles with modern technology to create a stable which had all of the old charm and fit in the local area perfectly, but still had all the modernisation to keep competition horses in top condition. This is what Woodcroft Pony Stud has always aimed to do, combine the best of the old with the best of the new to create perfect surroundings for rider and horse. Originally, Woodcroft was just going to be a haflinger breeding barn, but then we realised that a lot of British breeds weren't getting enough exposure in Equus Forever. Therefore, we bought some shetlands, dartmoors, connemaras and dales as well as owning some welsh and riding ponies, a sable island and a british spotted pony. For the new millennium, Woodcroft decided to specialise in preserving it's rare breeds and sold it's welsh and riding ponies as well as some of it's young stock. The breeds that Woodcroft now specialises in are:
As well as breeding and showing these breeds, the management at Woodcroft Pony Stud are very interested in artificial breeding techniques and research and develop ways of breeding. We are famous for our AI laboratory which is one of the best of it's kind and although we concentrate on breeding our own ponies, we also offer a range of breeding services to people who require them (See our List of Services for further details) In short, Woodcroft Pony Stud is on a mission to become the best pony breeding stable in EF. We want to make sure that one day, maybe even in 5 years time after most of the current members have quit, that the Woodcroft prefix shows a sign of high quality in ponies and we want to be able to say that it was us who introduced and preserved many rare breeds in EF. |