Equestrian Legend: Jennifer Edwards

This article is from the February 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

It is interesting how various horse breeds can captivate. Is it their looks, or perhaps what you want to do with them? But there always seems to be a reason why most people have a preferred breed. In the case of Jennifer Edwards from Marburg in Queensland, it is Shetland Ponies. There is a small group of Shetland enthusiasts in this country who promote the breed, maintain the breed standard, and we should be grateful to them, as without their passion as custodians of the breed, the small powerhouses of the equine world would cease to exist in the quality and quantity they do in Australia today. For many years and even today, Jenny has been at the forefront of the Shetland production and promotion, and her influential Moongalba ponies have claimed major Championships all over the country.

“As a girl I lived in Ascot, a suburb of Brisbane, and loved horses and had ponies, but sailing was what I liked to do,” begins Jenny. “And when I seriously got into the ponies, I pretty much gave up sailing, much to my husband’s horror.” However, Jenny married into a horse loving family. Her husband, Dr Vivian Edwards grew up riding and attended his first Royal Queensland Show (The Ekka) when he was seven years old. Dr Edwards grew up to be a Ring Counsellor of The Ekka, its honorary Medical Officer for 25 years, and was President of the RNA for seven years 2003-2010.

“In 1967 and living in Ascot,” continues Jenny, “my father-in-law (“Big Bill” Edwards, Ekka Ringmaster for 32 years) sent us a pony unbeknownst to us. He sent it to Vivian’s medical rooms on Wickham Terrace and it arrived in a great big lorry. Vivian looked out the window and saw this great big truck in the ambulance bay and out came a very small Shetland Pony. All my husband could do was get the truck to take it to our place, a half acre block. Vivian built the mare a little yard at the back of the house block and there she stayed.

“She kept growing fatter and fatter and we got the vet. I said, she must be in foal? Oh no he said. Two days later, out popped a foal. I was so excited and after a little while I said to Vivian, we need a stallion. So, we bought our first Shetland stallion, Laguna Rufus, a funny little chestnut fella. I knew nothing about showing in those days, but I said to Vivian, we have to show this pony. So, we took him off to Ipswich Show and of course, he was declared Champion and I was hooked!

“We had the stallion, the mare and the foal all on half an acre, so we had to move. We moved to another big place in Ascot on an acre and Vivian built some beautiful stables and we continued on there for some years and it was there that I made my mind up to start a Shetland Pony Stud and called it Moongalba after a favourite sailing spot of ours. Eventually the second Ascot property became too small and we moved to 400 acres at Marburg where the three ponies eventually turned into 129. I met a man called Sonny Dumke who bred beautiful Shetlands at his Riverlea Stud in Ipswich, elegant and good movers, just what I liked. That’s what I wanted and I decided to breed that sort of pony. We amalgamated our Moongalba Stud with Sonny’s Riverlea Stud in the 70’s.

“I did extremely well showing my ponies at all the Royals. I thought about going to Melbourne Royal the first time, whether it was worth the trip, because I was told Melbourne had the best Shetlands in Australia. But I went down and won with the lot! I thought the ponies I took down to Melbourne were outstanding and I kept going back. I have sold a lot of ponies to Melbourne including a couple of years ago, Moongalba Crystal that had been Supreme Shetland at Brisbane four years in a row. I had a lot of success showing the ponies in hand and in harness and mostly I showed them myself, but I haven’t shown a pony myself for about seven years. I loved it and I had the time of my life showing them.

“It was a wonderful sight looking out the kitchen window at all the ponies. Marburg was a very hilly property and the ponies did exceptionally well there. I have nine left, one mare and eight geldings and even in the drought we are experiencing at the moment they look magnificent; they are such good doers. Girls that were friends of my daughter, Penny, have children that come and ride the ponies for me. I have sold a few beautiful ponies to a girl who runs a riding school in the UAE and they have done very well over there.

“I bred some beautiful Welsh Mountain Ponies as well, that I got from Anne Clark’s Rahane Stud, but the Shetlands are my passion. I found that they had a beautiful nature, were easily trainable and intelligent. But of course a lot of the success is in the training as well as the intelligence of the pony.

“I did a lot of judging both open ponies and harness ponies. I have judged at Sydney three times since 1982, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra Royals and I loved it, especially Sydney. It was an interesting time to be judging horses. I judged the harness at Sydney for 14 days straight one year and I loved every minute of it. The classes were huge, the quality amazing and the atmosphere was very, very competitive.

“I have a very beautiful mare that I have been breeding every year, but this will be the last one. I don’t have a suitable stallion, as I sent my beautiful Dunray Lester to Melbourne a couple of years ago, so I am now fresh out. I get the odd call to sell a pony, but I don’t want to sell any more and I still have all my beautiful harness vehicles and harness that I will not sell, even though I get calls to do so every couple of months.”

Jenny has had five children, four of whom have taken on their parent’s enthusiasm for horses and ponies. Penny, now Penny Toft, was involved with showing the ponies and has been for some years now an Australian representative at international and FEI Endurance competition. Annabelle Johnstone was very successful showing her parents’ Shetlands and Tom Edwards has had great success showing hacks and ponies. Our youngest son, Ken, was grudgingly a good rider, but retired after falling and breaking his arm from a 12 hand Australian Pony ridden against his wishes when directed to do so by his father. Penny, Helen and Tom started the Marburg Equestrian Centre in the early 80’s and for seven years very successfully exhibiting hacks, pony hacks, led, ridden and harness ponies and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Royals and many agricultural shows across Queensland and New South Wales. And it continues with grandchildren in the ring and competitive arena, especially Alexandra Toft, now a third year medical student and successful international Endurance competitor in many countries, the first in Hungary aged 14 years, which Jenny proudly attended. Jenny has produced many successful ponies and many successful competitors. Certainly, the ponies have been a uniting factor in the Edwards household.

“Looking back,” says Jenny, “I wouldn’t swap a day spent with my ponies for anything.”

Article: Anna Sharpley.

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