© Suzanne Kempe
“To celebrate the wonderful dedication Dionis Macnair has given to our ponies, the 6.45 race on Saturday May 28th at Salisbury was named in her honour…where she judged the best turned out from the runners in the race and greeted the winning owners on the podium. Our sincere thanks to Wendy Gover Fromm who made this possible.
Dionis has lived in the New Forest all of her life and celebrated her 92nd birthday this year, she bred her first foal in 1947 with the renowned Beacon prefix. In 2006 she published a wonderful book entitled New Forest Ponies – an incredible record of her knowledge.
A passionate advocate of the New Forest and dedicating years of service to many organisations, Dionis was awarded her MBE in 2010 for her services to the New Forest. In 1973 she was the first, and to date, the only female elected Verderer to serve on the Verderers Court and only retired from the Court in 2020. She was Honorary Secretary of the New Forest Pony Breeding & Cattle Society for 33 years, served on the Commoners Defence Association, the New Forest Association and the New Forest Committee.
Dionis also held many roles beyond the Forest – a well regarded pony judge, the Mountain & Moorland pony representative on the National Pony Society and the New Forest pony representative on the BHS Breeds Committee.
Dionis kept a riding school in Burley for many years and rode in the annual New Forest Point to Point Pony Races and with many runners as an owner, encouraged lots of children to take part over the years on her ponies. Her Beacon Bramble won the children’s race twice and every one of her descendants who have entered the race have been either first or second – a record she is very proud of.” Lyndsey Stride
