Hello Ladies, thank you both for taking the time to reply to me. Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you both, I have been doing my research and I have to confess I fell down a rabbit hole looking at New Forests! I have to be honest, I had never considered them, you don't really see them around, but we have gone back to Connies as that is the breed my daughter has her heart set on.
I should have explained a bit more about our situation - we have our own land and a small herd of Native ponies, the youngest being six. We have ruled out anything younger than two, as you are right, they need to be around youngstock their own age, so now we are looking at two to three year olds. We have backed and brought on younger horses before as well as re-starting a couple of rescues. We love the whole herd dearly but a few are quirky, to say the least, and this is why we are looking for a youngster as we do get tired of undoing other people's mistakes and in the case of the rescues, abuse!
I talked to my car-mad husband about the sales and he said, don't do it! Things move too fast and unless you are very experienced, it is too risky. So I had a look round at breeders and it turns out there is a lady not far from us who comes very highly recommended. A lot of people were singing her praises on H&H and say she turns out lovely, old fashioned types of Connemara with a bit of junk in the trunk and fantastic temperaments. We gave her a call and it turns out she has two rising three geldings ready to go next year, but they are not letting anyone onto the stud at the moment as she is busy with weanlings and I t the impression that unless she knows you very well, she can' be bothered going through the faff of rounding them up from their winter grazing and getting them ready for viewing with the very short days, in case you are a tire kicker. This gives us time to really think and put some money aside. Her prices are reasonable and after looking at the prices achieved for three year olds at the recent sales, after transport, accomodation and food, we wouldn't be saving much if anything. We're Irish and have family in Galway but I really don't want to stay with them!
A three year old would be great as it would be getting into proper work by the time she leaves uni. If she decides she wants to go to Brazil and save monkeys, she has a younger sister who will more than happily vault into the saddle! I did ask her if she really wanted to commit to another pony and she said, "I'm a horsey girl, this is what I do!". We shall see. In the meantime, she has a few weeks to think about going to see these geldings, as the breeder said to give her a call in January, so we have that in our back pocket.
maxelly thank you for your lovely words about her mare. She bought her for a few hundred pounds as a project from the field. Her old owner had died and her widower had kept her but knew nothing about horses and as persuaded to sell her on. My daughter planned to bring her on and sell her to fund a Connie but fell in love within a week. Not only was she the nicest little person btu she could jump like a stag and was honest and hardworking. She has left a big hole.