The name “Seldom Rest Farm” first came about in 1937 when our grandfather and father came from Montreal, Canada to buy a 147 acre farm in Morgan, Vermont - despite the admonition from their friends in Canada that if they moved out to the country from the city they would be “bored”.  A short time later, after a visit to the farm, these well meaning friends declared that they would have to go back to the city to get a rest, stating that they “seldom rested” while at the farm. 

  My sister Kathy and I wanted a pony from the time we could first walk or talk.  We got our first pony, a Shetland, when I was 4 and Kathy was 2.   Thus began an obsession that I’m sure our parents never imagined with the purchase of that first pony.  We rode every chance we got and read everything we could get our hands on that pertained to ponies and horses and it wasn’t long before we were bitten by the “show bug”, even selling night crawlers to fisherman in order to raise money to buy our first “show saddle”.  Fortunately, for us, our parents were very supportive and never tried to discourage our passion for ponies.  This passion of course, now included many a weekend attending local horse shows.  As time went on, we continued to have Shetlands and pinto ponies and also began showing hackneys and welsh for friends in our area.  By the early 70s, our younger brother, Doug had developed quite an interest in riding.   From the many good experiences with Welsh ponies we had ridden and shown for others along with all we had read on the breed, we decided that we should buy a purebred Welsh pony for him.  In 1972, after checking out an advertisement in the “New England Horsemen’s Yankee Pedlar”, we visited Mrs. Caroline Stevens at Edgewood Farm in North Andover, Mass. where she bred Welsh ponies under the “Edgehill” prefix.  We were especially impressed by her lovely seal brown stallion, “Farnley Farisee” (Farnley Gremlin X Bowdler Brownie) who had an unbelievably kind disposition.  We ended up buying a beautiful 2-year-old bay filly, “Edgehill Fair Easter” (Farnley Farisee X Liseter Twinkling Star).  True to Welsh type, we found Easter to be incredibly intelligent and easy to train.  After working with her for a few weeks she was able to longe on voice command alone.  People would stop their cars along the road to watch her work, freely moving around us, following our commands without benefit of halter or longe line.  Tragically, Easter got out of her fence and was hit by a car and killed 2 years later.  Naturally, it was back to Edgewood Farm for another mare.  As fate would intervene, I spotted a gorgeous, bay 6 month old stud colt named “Edgehill Fair Santes-Helper” (also by Farnley Farisee and out of Coed Coch Santes) who had been slated to be given away in a promotional raffle of Mrs. Steven’s farm.  We immediately fell madly in love with this charming little fellow and knew we had to have him.  So, primarily because of our tragic loss of Easter, Mrs. Stevens reluctantly agreed to sell us Santes-Helper.   She even “threw in” a 3 year old mare, “Edgehill’s Esquisitta” (Curles Mischievous Storm X Rositta of Lloccam) because they felt the mare was a bit crazy and they could not handle her.  What a way to start a Welsh breeding program!  Obviously we did not have a clue as to what we were doing.  Fortunately, we had two good ponies and Esquisitta, with time and patience proved to be a lovely mare that could be easily ridden and handled by children and when bred to Santes-Helper was an extraordinary broodmare for us.  Bred to Santes-Helper 13 times, all of her offspring were champions and supreme champions.  “Quita” is still hale and hardy at the age of 33 and a precious part of our breeding program.  She had her last foal 5 years ago and is happily enjoying her retirement “just being a pony”.  Santes-Helper has far surpassed all of our expectations both in the show ring and as a sire and he continues to inspire us at the age of 29.  We find that he has more energy now than our youngsters!!  Owning Santes-Helper and Quita convinced us that there is nothing quite like a Welsh and has provided us with a great foundation which we continue to build on to produce beautiful ponies that love people, are sane, sensible, willing and eager to please and excel in many disciplines.  We can’t imagine life without a Welsh pony in it! 

Our Breeding Program

Santes-Helper has truly proven to be a superb sire for us, producing champion offspring and offspring who, just like their sire, are especially prized for their intelligence and good disposition.  Many of his offspring (including stallions) have been used in our riding program, which includes working with handicapped children.  We have retained 4 of his daughters who are used in our breeding program. 

In 1994 we were fortunate to be able to purchase Twinkling Superstar of Penrhyn after being thoroughly impressed by his offspring and purchasing two of his daughters.  Our thanks to Helen and Guy Clardy of Clarwood Welsh Ponies for this special opportunity.  He is one of the top sires of Section A ponies in this country. Crossing the offspring of Super Star with daughters of Santes-Helper has provided us with a "golden cross".  

The third addition to our breeding program was the purchase of Asgard Silver Dollar in 1995. Silver Dollar possesses all the requirements we look for in a breeding and performance pony having a tremendous amount of substance, bone and extraordinary action as well as a kind disposition. His first foal crop was born in 2000. His foals possess conformation, movement and best of all, intelligence and exceptional dispositions.  Silver Dollar was unanimous Section A stallion Champion and Section A Champion under both British judges at the American Nationals in Tulsa in September of 2000. Our thanks to the Lapicola family of Asgard Welsh Stud for producing this outstanding stallion and providing us with such opportunity.  

By utilizing the bloodlines of these three great Section A mountain ponies sires we are confident that we will continue to produce people loving ponies that are easy to train and that can compete in the highest level of competition.  We invite your inquiries. We usually have trained ponies and young stock for sale.  Santes-Helper and Silver Dollar stand at stud to a limited number of approved mares.  Unfortunately, Twinkling Super Star of Penrhyn had to be put down in the summer of 2000.  We have retained 7 of his most beautiful daughters and currently have 3 of his sons available at stud.  You can request our latest video which features all of our stallions and broodmares as well as their offspring.  Our "family album" featuring the "Pappas", the "Mammas" and the "Babies" featured on this web site will show you why we are excited about the future.