Our breezy Wild Pony Whispering Walk!

The Wild Pony Whispering Walk, scheduled to take place on Friday 9 August, came complete with storm warnings and the promise of wind, rain and even some lightening! Nevertheless, the weather forecast showed a promising window of a few hours which didn't look too bad.

Emailing around the people who'd booked onto the walk, nearly all the participants were keen to do it. So we decided to go ahead. Early morning brought a torrent of rain as we prepared the four Exmoor ponies taking part. This included, of course, Monsieur Chapeau who is the star of Wild Pony Whispering and now six years old. He was joined by his well known chum Imperial Topaz , along with Monty and his daughter Princess Khaleesi.

After being separated from the big herd for a week to help them get used to working together as a group and familiar with the Core Connection Exercises that enable them to bond with their handlers - they were ready to meet the visitors.

Loose schooling the ponies that morning, I marvelled at how quickly they remember the nuances of these interactions and soften their boisterous behaviour, from running most of the time in a big and almost semi-feral herd. This was apparent when Millie went out to groom them at liberty and they stood quietly around her as she smartened them up. Some considerable smartening up was required as, although we'd given them all a good wash the previous day, they'd decided to have a good roll in copious amounts of sand which, as you can imagine, took a bit of brushing out. The ponies can migrate in and out from barns to pasture as they wish. Soon we had four smart ponies, their handlers had arrived and it was time to meet the Wild Pony Whispering walkers.

Despite frequent showers and a stiff breeze, the worst of the weather held back as we made our way from the farm, out onto the Dunkery Commons and through the Luccombe Plantation, up onto the moor. It was a robust climb up to Dunster Path and over towards Webber's Post, where the spectacular views across Cloutsham Ball, the Horner River Valley and up to Dunkery Beacon, never fail to amaze and delight locals and visitors.

Here, we enjoyed a bite to eat and some very kind walkers had brought apples for the ponies. Nick arrived with chocolate, flapjacks and millionaire's shortbread and made himself very popular!

As the clouds threatened a rather larger dumping of rain, we made our way through the forest and meandered down hill all the way back to the farm, for a welcome cup of tea.

It was a wonderful group of walkers - some horsey and some not - who were keen to understand more about Exmoor ponies and captivated by their characters and intelligence. It's great for people to have the opportunity to get to know the Exmoors up close and experience their alert, enquiring, mischievous and characterful temperaments.

Thank you to everyone who came along and I appreciate the book sales and support for the Exmoor Pony Project .

Dawn's Books: Signed copies of Wild Pony Whispering, Wild Stallion Whispering and Wild Herd Whispering are available at our Online Store here - or otherwise, they're available nationally in bookshops, including Waterstones, and online.

You can follow the Exmoor Pony Project on Facebook

Millie grooming the Exmoor ponies before the walk - as you can see, she's done a great job!

Kate and Topaz practising their liberty connections

Enjoying the walk

A video clip of Exmoor Pony Project volunteer Kate connecting with Topaz before the walk