The National Pony Society Scotland celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

The Scottish Committee was formed on October 5 1960 when a group of Scottish enthusiasts met in the George Hotel, Edinburgh with Commander Brown and Mr C R Driver (then vice-chairman of the NPS) who had travelled up from NPS headquarters at the invitation of Lady Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy following requests for a show in the north and more recognition for breeders and ponies in Scotland.

The closest NPS shows to Scotland were staged in York and in Northumberland which were deemed to be far enough north.

During this meeting the following committee were selected and the aim was to encourage and help all breeders in Scotland. It comprised of Mrs K V Runcie, Mrs C Thomson, Miss A R Ritchie, Lady Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy, Mr J Dean, Mr Ormiston, Mr Cheyne and Mr H McGregor.

On October 10,1960 a meeting of the management committee of NPS confirmed the Scottish Committee with Lady Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy as chairman and Mrs K V Runcie as hon secretary.

There were at that time, very few NPS members in Scotland, most of the studs being Shetland or Highland ponies. The owners, therefore, were members of those breed societies.

One of the first events held was study days to show people the qualities of all the native breeds.

Later the committee persuaded shows to put on mixed mountain and moorland classes to cater for the ponies with the result that nowadays, most shows have these classes.

At that time also, there were only a few classes for riding pony breeding and always ‘up to 14.2hh’, so shows were encouraged to put on classes for different sizes and also to split the youngstock classes by age.

As there were no motorways, it was very difficult for mare owners to send their mares away to stud and as a result they tended to send them to the nearest stallion.

The Scottish Committee introduced a stallion parade at Kelso Spring Sales in April 1963 by kind permission of Kenneth Oliver and with as many as 50 stallions paraded, breeders could choose a suitable stallion for their mare which in turn improved the standard of breeding.

Memorabilia will be displayed at all NPS Scotland shows this year and the committee are currently looking for old photographs or catalogues from the early NPS Scotland shows.

This year commemorative rosettes will be given to all exhibitors at the Summer Show at Strathallan Castle on June 12 and a celebratory lunch is planned on October 17 at Garvock House Hotel, Dunfermline.