Spotlight on Rhonas Thomson

Maritime Reiner

Rhonas Thomson inspires and motivates everyone she encounters! She successfully runs Sumac Farms in Trenton Nova Scotia where she manages, breeds and raises top bred reining prospects and looks after boarders and lesson horses. Sumac has also housed TS Performance horses for the past 8 years. I've witnessed the many talents of Rhonas first hand over the years, as a scribe at our local shows, as a participant at Sumac Slide and accompanying friends who have purchased Sumac bred horses. There is nothing this lady cannot do.

To say she rides reining horses does not begin to describe her ability to continually win and place in open classes against tough competition on horse after horse. This is not a fluke.

So, I had to ask how our little part of the world was lucky enough to land this fantastic horse woman from the Shetland Islands and how she became so skilled in the craft we all love.

Rhonas was born into the horse world. Her mom and close friend, Mrs. Brooker had formed Broothom ponies before she was born. She remembers getting her first trophy on the lead rein, also known as lead line at age 3 at the Horse and Pony Event in Lerwick, Shetland.

At around age 7 she and her sister raced the Queens car their Shetland ponies. She was supposed to be on the lead line but her pony had other plans. She held on and saw the Queen use her personal camera to take a picture of the cute kids on their Shetland ponies!

She and her sister Heather started riding their ponies to school when she was around 8 years old, sometimes racing the school bus. The ponies spent the day in the garden of a house by the school with a little shed for their saddles.

Rhonas, Heather, their mom and her mom's best friend Mrs. Brooker of Broothom ponies began travelling to Scotland and England to horse shows, competing in all different disciplines, showing, dressage, show jumping, working hunter, gymkhana games, steeplechasing and even fancy dress, sometimes several times a year. They trekked 40 minutes to town to catch the 6pm ferry, then sailed overnight to Aberdeen arriving at 8 am the next morning. They then drove for 8 to 14 hours to their destination with ponies and 3 dogs in tow. In later years they were joined by many other 'pony mad kids' with sometimes as many as 8 ponies.

When she was 9 she and Heather started going to Pat Leivers Shetland Pony stud in Leicestershire and showed many different ponies all through the summer holidays and competed against many other breeds of horses and ponies.

The next 5 years were spent showing horses travelling through Scotland and England. Mainly Shetland ponies but later a Fell & Connemara pony. Qualifying to go to the Mountain and Moorland championships at Olympia International Horse Show each year was always a high accolade. Showing was very tough competition and she qualified two years in a row on two different ponies.

Rhonas also qualified for 4 years racing in the Shetland Pony Grand National, which is a Shetland Pony steeplechase where they race 2 & ½ laps of a 5 jump course. A fiercely competitive, fun, entertainment event which raises money for sick children's hospitals. Rhonas, her sister, mom and Mrs. Brooker travelled and showed at the biggest shows in the country, the Royal Highland, the Royal Welsh and the Royal(English). She met Princess Anne who was eventing competitively at the time, and toured her personal stables Gatcombe Park. Rhonas was on TV at least twice on her pony, seen in popular children's shows 'Blue Peter' and 'Saturday Superstore'. She toured the army barracks and stables of the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery in St John's Wood in London and hung out with the world's leading show jumpers at the time!

Rhonas was also at the International Show Jumping show at Olympia in London in 1983 when the IRA carried out a car bombing outside Harrods department store not far from the venue. They were always on alert for such incidents at the show. There was a code unknown to the thousands of spectators, "Staff Call 100". The kids knew if they heard the code, they were to head straight to a "bunker" office in the basement of the building and the adults were to report to the stable area immediately in case of evacuation. They heard that call a couple of times and learned there was a device found by the sniffer dogs in the stands on one occasion.

Rhonas and Heather on their ponies

Rhonas went to Community College and started a business course after secondary school, but she knew after about 6 months that it wasn't for her. So she headed to Perthshire, Scotland to work and train horses full time. She started The Youth Training Scheme program where she got on the job training from qualified instructors. This is where she started studying for the British Horse Society exams.

She continued going to the Olympia horse show annually, and during that time she met Princess Diana and the two Princes, William and Harry. Diana truly was a lovely person. They continued to meet at other events. Rhonas recalls the two boys (Princes) running down the stable to hug the Shetland ponies and her mum nearly told them off! You don't mess with this family's four leggeds. They also met the Duchess of York and her two Princesses, who were keen to pat and cuddle the ponies.

The Shetland Pony Grand National raised money for children's charities which Rhonas actively participated in. They toured the 'VIP boxes' high above the arena where everyone was dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns. They would meet disabled and sick children from different organizations. Rhonas liked seeing them smile when they saw ponies. They would see the same sick children from one year to the next, and then sadly, they'd be gone.

After The Youth Training Scheme program she trained as a working student at a horse-training yard in Angus, Scotland, with BHSI Sarah Houstoun, where she continued to take the British Horse Society exams. She als had the opportunity to travel to Gloucestershire where she rode top quality dressage horses, and learned from the best riders and coaches.

Rhonas later returned home to work in the family business a Riding and Trekking Centre which took tourists from all over the world to see Shetland from horseback and with the breeding Shetlands and the pony club. She travelled to Norway and Holland delivering sale ponies and began teaching kids and preparing them for shows. One of her students qualified a pony for the big class at Olympia and then a year later the younger sister qualified again on the same pony!

Rhonas was referred to a winter job one year in Fife, Scotland to care for racehorses, brood mares, hunt horses and show ponies. The interview was a day to remember. She was asked to saddle up an 18 year old chestnut hunter and ride him out on the trail with the business owner who was riding a thoroughbred Steeplechaser. They started out by chatting about her experience as they rode down the lane, then they turned into a 30 acre field and without warning were charging at mach 10 up the hill. At the top the 'boss' took a sharp left turn and they bombed down the other side. As she prepared for another turn, to her surprise the leader guided her horse over a 5 bar gate and into the woods, so she followed and held on. After ducking a few branches and coming out of the woods on the other side, the 'boss' pulled her horse up and said "Well you can ride! That's good". She later learned the horse she rode had competed at Eventing Championships at the Burghley , one of the world's top courses. Then it was back to working in Shetland for the summer.

In 1997 Rhonas and her friend Emma were looking for adventure! Australia. They referenced the Australian Shetland Pony Stud Book list of studs/breeders. For 6 months they travelled Australia and New Zealand meeting some "fair dinkum" awesome people! They stopped at one breeder for an afternoon visit and stayed for six weeks including spending Christmas there.

Upon returning back to Scotland Rhonas went back to work in Angus schooling dressage and event horses, started ponies and horses, with a little buying and selling on the side with Sarah Houstoun BHSI. While there, she got a call from some Canadians who had purchased some of their ponies. They rarely were contacted after selling ponies abroad, but these buyers wanted Rhonas to visit and see how the ponies were doing. Rhonas had always wanted to visit Canada, as her grandmother had made films here. She arrived in Nova Scotia in May of 1999 to stay for a week. Her luggage went to Amsterdam, and when asked about her luggage she replied "I didn't know what to bring so I didn't bring anything!"

She stayed at the farm for the week and with not much to do she started the Shetland gelding in harness and by the end of the week he was pulling the antique little buggy. Rhonas also rode the Quarter horses, something she had always wanted to do. As a kid Rhonas had played at being a cowboy.

When the owners asked what she thought of the farm, she replied honestly that the farm was beautiful but the horses and ponies could use a little help. Little did she know that a few days later she would be offered a job! She replied she had her job to go back to. On return to that job, having seen the pictures from her trip her boss said she should take the opportunity, so lucky for us here in Atlantic Canada, she did! In September 1999 Rhonas moved to Nova Scotia with her trusty 10 year old Irish Setter x border collie mix 'Coco'.

Read about the Nova Scotia chapter of Rhonas. With all this experience, she's just getting started!

Lisa Spidell, from the memoirs of Rhonas Thomson ~ March 15th 2021