News Archive

Wild ponies tamed by the Archers

It was good to hear on the news that four wild ponies used to roaming free on moorland are being trained to work with humans thanks to The Archers, a rescue centre has said. The Dartmoor Hill ponies arrived at the Brinsley Animal Rescue centre in Nottinghamshire last week having lived a solitary existence on the Devon moors.
George, Merry, Monty and a fourth yet-to-be-named pony had matted hair, swollen stomachs and were frightened of any contact with humans when they were found. The pictures on the news last night showed them responding to human care.

Rescued Horses Re-homed

It is good to hear that the horses which were rescued from Spindles Farm which has been so much in the news, are now being rehomed. They were unable to be rehomed until the horses had been made the legal property of the charities that cared for them. Redwings, the Horse Trust and World Horse Welfare had taken them and provided for them since 2008 when they were saved.

4dobbin Newsletter

Unlike other sites, we will not repeatidly fill your inbox with e-mails every other day, we will only send out a few every month containing things that we think you would be interested in, such as our special offers and exclusive promotional codes that will save you money, it really would be a no-brainer to opt out!

If you havent yet signed up, enter your e-mail address in the box on the left hand side of this page, you dont even have to be a customer to receive it.

If you are already a customer and you have decided against receiving our newseltter, you can sign up again by checking the box at the bottom of the page in the Billing/Delivery Details menu of the My Account Page.  

Hunting Ban Repeal?

Nick Herbert stated that there is a compelling case to get the hunting ban off the statute book.

This is what was said by David Cameron as part of his manifesto :-

If we are elected, we will give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote, with a government bill in government time. There will be no watering down or retreat from this pledge, which will be repeated in our election manifesto.

We look forward to hearing further news on this act and also on the agenda to promote conservation of wildlife and habitats against a background of biodiversity decline and growing pressures from development and climate change. They propose to continue to enhance animal welfare and  do far more to protect endangered species.

National Dressage Championship

This year's National Dressage Championships at Stoneleigh have been moved forwards a week (to 9-12 September) to avoid clashing with the Pope's UK visit.

Around 300,000 people are expected to converge on Coventry Airport - just three miles from the showground - to welcome the Catholic leader on Sunday 19th September.

British Dressage boss Amanda Bond commended: 'I'm confident that this years show will be better than ever despite our unexpected hiccup with Pope Benedict XVI!'

£132,000 scrap cost of North Wales Police horse unit

The five-horse unit was set up at a cost of £300,000 by former chief constable Richard Brunstrom.

A North Wales Police Authority report said many of the original objectives were "overly optimistic".

The force will save £870,000 in the next three years by scrapping the Wrexham-based unit.

The section was described as a waste of money by some politicians when first proposed by Mr Brunstrom, who has since retired.

The officers in the unit will be redeployed in the force and the horses will be sold.

Its work included providing support to neighbourhood and community policing teams, providing "high-visibility reassurance patrols", and public engagement.

It will be phased out this year.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Shannon had said the unit was made up of a highly professional team but the force could simply not afford it.

Sixty nations sign up to ride at the World Equestrian Games

Sixty nations have signed up to take part in the World Equestrian Games, taking place in Kentucky (25 September-10 October).

As well as teams from European nations, the US and Australia, competitors at WEG will be up against riders from Venezuela, Syria, India, Namibia and Malaysia, to name just a few.

A spokesman for WEG said: "With 60 countries expressing an interest in attendance at the Games, the World Games 2010 Foundation anticipates as many as 800 athletes could compete."

The world championships for eight equestrian sports will be contested at Lexington's Kentucky Horse Park. Final entries and individual athletes will be named in August.

Tickets for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are available for competition in all eight disciplines.

Grounds Pass tickets are also available. Visit www.alltechfeigames.com/tickets, www.ticketmaster.com, visit any local Ticketmaster outlet or call 1-800-745-3000.

Prince Harry's Polo Pony dies of a Heart Attack

Prince Harry was riding his 10-year-old mare Drizzle during an Audi polo event at Coworth Park, Berkshire on Saturday afternoon but she unfortunately died of a heart attack at the end of the match.

A source at Buckingham Palace said: "William and Harry are very, very upset - Harry was in tears. All the princes were very fond of her. It was not the end of the day that they had hoped for. It's been rather distressing."

Harry - who sensed something was wrong with his horse as the end of the match was nearing - managed to guide Drizzle to the side of the pitch to spare the crowds the sight of watching the animal suffer.

Drizzle was also thought to have been very special to Prince Charles, who had ridden her until he gave up competitive polo in 2005.

Both of the princes decided not to attend a lunch after the game because they were so upset.

MOT Changes for Horse Lorries

The Vehicle and Operator Standards Agency (VOSA) are implementing regulations from 1986 that specify the minimum clearance of the lorry bodywork from the road.

Many older horseboxes, for example those built on a Bedford TK or a Leyland DAF chassis, may not comply.

The rules are a bit confusing and even those who prepare horseboxes for MOT did not realise that the changes were being imposed. 

Modern horseboxes have storage spaces under the chassis level which brings this clearance within the rules, but older boxes do not as standard.

The rules are being enforced from the 1st May 2010, that there must be no more than 550mm height from the ground to the lowest edge, when a 3.5-12tonne vehicle is unladen. The sideguards must be continuous with no protuberances or this would be MOT failure.

4dobbin Phase 2 Launch

We have just updated the 4dobbin website, or as we are calling the update, 'Phase 2' . It contains much more functionality than 'Phase 1' of the new site which was launched back in November 2009. We have been preparing Phase 2 for months and would be happy to hear your comments. You can leave comments on our new 4dobbin Blog by clicking here.

You may have noticed many of the new features already, but I willl just take a few moments to explain them for those of you that have not.

Home Page Changes
Recently viewed products - We have now added a section on the home page to show you the last 5 products that you have viewed on the site, so if you want to find something again that you were just looking at, this is where to go! If you do not like this feature, it can be disabled by clicking the 'Whats This' link in the recently viewed product section.

Special Offers - You will also notice that we have added a section to show all of our items that are on offer or at a reduced price. There is only enough room to show five on the home page but you can click on the 'View all Special Offers' button to see everything at once.

Latest News - Here you can keep up to date with all of the latest equestrian news. If you follow the link, you will be able to read more news or you can browse our News Archive to catch up on whats been going on.

Gift Certificates - We now have the ability to sell Gift Certificates on 4dobbin. These Certificates are the perfect equestrian gift and there are many different themes to suit the occasion. All you need to do is fill in how much you want to send and enter a personal message before entering the recipients e-mail address and choosing when you want us to send it, it really couldnt be easier!

Branch Finder - This handy little tool will help you to find out about the details of your nearest Chandlers (Farm Equipment) Ltd branch for those of you that would rather browse the store than the internet.

Product Page Changes 
Add to Wishlist - Spotted a product that you quite like? You can now add it to your Wishlist for later!

Tell a Friend - Have you ever come accross something that you just have to tell a friend about? Well now you can tell them about the products on 4dobbin by clicking on the 'Tell a Friend' link on the product page.

Ask a Question - We have now set up a system so that if you have a question about a given product you have seen on 4dobbin, you can ask us about it, one of our highly experienced members of staff will get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Read Reviews - This tab shows all of the approved reviews about the selected product. Only the three most recent reviews are shown but  there is an option so that you can easily read all reviews for that product.

Write Reviews - Have you had experience of using any of the products seen on 4dobbin? We would love you to write a review to help other customers to make their decision. (All reviews have to be approved before appearing on 4dobbin)

Related Products - This one has took quite alot of time and thought! You can now see other products related to a selected product on 4dobbin. Most other sites use an automated system, but we have took the decision to set ours up manually so that our related products are more useful and relevant to what you might want.  Only the five most relevant items will be dispayed on the product page but you can view more by clicking on the 'View all Related Products' button.

Other Changes
Articles - We will be keeping this section upto date with equestrian related articles and in depth product reviews.

Promotional Codes & Order Discounts - We have now set up a system to issue Promotional codes and Order Discounts which will be given out mainly through the News Letter but we will also give them to our loyal customers too from time to time. Keep an eye out for these codes to save yourself some money!

Wishlist - Are you trying to think of what to get someone? Try entering their e-mail address on our Wishlist finder where you will be able to choose from a list of items they have on their Wishlist. Once you have purchased something from a Wishlist, it will be removed but they will not be able to see who has bought it for them. You can have it sent to you or you can even send it directly to them. Start your own wishlist, have you spotted something you like you can add it to your own wishlist and hopefully, someone will buy it for you!

Remind Me List - You were previously able to set a reminder for a product that was out of stock so that you would be notified when it comes back into stock. We have noticed a few problems in the way that this used to work and have now updated this to make it more efficient. You now have the ability to view any items that you have set reminders for from the 'My Account' page.

Multiple Shipping Options for International Customers - We have now added multiple shipping bands to our international shipping destinations so you now have a choice of having your order sent on a fast service or an economy service

Change of e-mail address - We have noticed that a few of our customers have changed their e-mail address and have then re-registered on 4dobbin with a new duplicated account. We have now made an alteration so that you can change your e-mail address, so if you now use a different one, you can change it in 'My Account' so that you can receive order details and news letters to your new e-mail address.

As you have probably noticed, we have put alot of effort into the production of 4dobbin and this level of commitment will never decline. I wouldnt mind guessing that it wouldnt be long untill we start thinking about a Phase 3, and we are already working on loyalty schemes! If you have any recomendations as to how we can improve the new features on 4dobbin or have any suggestions for future additions, please let us know by sending an e-mail to information@4dobbin.com. We welcome and look forward to reading your comments.