YOU don't have to love horses to enjoy the Native Pony Musical Ride which will be one of the highlights of this year's Malvern Autumn Country and Garden Show.

Accompanied by some of Britain's best loved gardening tunes and musical scores, native ponies will be put through their paces at the Three Counties Showground today and tomorrow.

The idea was conceived by four keen riders from Gloucestershire who had had enough of all the hard work and stress associated with competitions and showing.

They wanted to enjoy themselves and have some fun but did not want to stop working with their equine friends.

Anne Whittle, who helped found the musical ride, spent a lot of her spare time showing working hunters.

The performances are so popular they are in constant demand at venues all over the South of England - from Badminton Dressage Championships, Gatcombe Horse Trials, Riding for the Disabled, West Wiltshire Equestrian Centre and the Frampton-on-Severn Family show. They were also the main attraction at this year's Cotswold Hunt open day.

"Between the original four of us we had two black Fell ponies and two grey Highland ponies," said Anne. "One day, we started messing about and practising to some old-style music and decided it was a way of having fun with the ponies and highlighting our wonderful native breeds."

The musical ride is about 10 minutes long and is usually accompanied by Irish and Scottish music.

This is the first time the ride will be put to a gardening theme and Anne says the signature tune for the popular BBC television series Ground Force is bound to be included.

The ponies - a delightful mix of Highland, Fell, Dales and Connemara - will be performing a mix of movements from complicated scissors and wheels to doubles.

Surprisingly, the group doesn't have the chance to practise together very often but, when they do, they meet at Janet Macdonald's home because she is a freelance riding instructor and has her own menage.

There have been remarkably few disasters, says Anne.

"The ponies aren't machines and sometimes they react differently to things. For example, we might have a new pony which doesn't like being the centre of the wheel formation but we are lucky and no one has ever been kicked! These native breeds have brilliant temperaments and, however much they may have been distracted outside the ring, once the music starts up and they start performing they work beautifully. It's a joy to watch and is a real crowd puller."

All the ponies have normal tack including double bridles. Their riders wear jodphurs and polo shirts. The whole thing is done at a sitting trot.

There are eight members of the team at the moment, but that figure might increase to 10 next year, says Anne.

She rides her own 14.2h grey Highland mare called Nashend Royal Cygnet. Nashend qualified for the ridden Mountain and Moorland Class at the Horse of the Year Show in 2000, when the event was held at London's Olympia.

"I have ridden since I was a child but when I had my son, who is now 13, I bought an Exmoor pony and showed him in-hand," explained Anne. "I have now got two Exmoors and an in-foal Fell pony too".

Anne has had great success with her Exmoors including Ridden Champion at the Exmoor Breed Society Show. Another, Hawkwell Hercules, was Ridden Performance Pony for the country.

Anne is also a member of a quadrille team which just missed qualifying for Olympia this year - the team came fifth in 2002.

Members of the Musical Ride include Judy Groves, who rides Linnel Cragsmen, a 14h Fell pony who has done 70 days hunting and has had a lot of success in the working hunter pony classes.

Caroline Carrington rides a 14h brown Highland called Kingtonwick Quail. He has hunted with one of the country's smartest packs, the Beaufort. He is no stranger to Malvern as he recently came second in the Working Hunter Class at the Highland Pony Show which was held there. He also does a lot of long distance riding and pony club work.

Cathryn Jefferd will be riding Joharmorag, a 14.2h rare Highland breed from the Western Isles. He is a "mouse dun" colour.

At the time of writing this article, Janet Macdonald who choreographs the ride, had yet to find a mount because her own pony has gone lame.

"Joharmorag had never performed on a showground until two weeks ago," said Anne. "She is broken to drive but is performing very well."

Brungrang Douglas, the second "mouse dun" coloured pony in the ride, is the 14h mount that will be ridden by Jackie Muggleton, a special needs teacher. Malvern will be her debut as part of the musical ride team.

Jane Beverley Jones breeds Connemaras and she will be riding Leamtynaghs Rock, a 14.2h grey. She also sits on the judge's panel for the Connemara Society.

Nashend Seawillow, a 14.2h dapple grey mare, is the seventh member of the team and is on loan to Nancy Tickle. The mare - together with Anne's pony - was bred at the Nashend Stud by Clive and Penny Smith.

Last, but not least, Teresa Dawson, who lives in Stroud, will be riding Heltondale Russell, a black Fell pony who is normally used by his owners for driving.

"This is a new lease of life for me," says Anne, who admits that all the riders are aged between "30 and 60". She works night shifts as a nurse to help pay for her horses.

"My husband is extremely supportive. But we are a popular attraction and we are a real crowd puller. Places always ask us back," added Anne.