The ‘Behind the Brand’ series shines a spotlight on some of the companies exhibiting at The National Equine Show 2026 – digging deeper to reveal the stories behind them.
Crafty Ponies UK is an award-winning brand that has revolutionised the soft toy market, producing educational soft toy ponies designed to teach children horsemanship skills through imaginative play. The toys include miniature equestrian equipment and detailed booklets to help children learn practical riding skills.
You’ll find Crafty Ponies at stand C100 at The National Equine Show 2026.
We sat down with Karen Clithero, co-founder of Crafty Ponies, to discuss the brand’s evolution and get a sneak peek at what they have in store for The National Equine Show 2026.
1. How did the business start?
The Crafty Ponies business started in 2010, but the Initial idea for the business began a lot longer ago when I was running our riding school Hebden Bridge Equestrian Centre. I was watching the children (and adult beginners) struggling to learn how to run up stirrups and put head collars on. I remembered how my children had learned to do many foundational horsemanship skills by playing with the soft toy ponies and realistic working tack I had made for them when they were very small (around 1992). When my children got their first pony, they knew the basics of tacking up, grooming, names of the equipment etc. through playing with these first toy ponies and equipment.
In 2010 we brought out a Craft Kit which we made into a soft toy pony with tack, this is actually how we came up with the name Crafty Ponies!
We took it to a few horse shows and people loved the finished product but we did not have the time to make it so eventually we brought out our ready-made Crafty Ponies in 2015.
2. What would you say was your biggest obstacle in the start-up phase?
I would say probably cash flow is the biggest obstacle, and learning the various processes involved in making the craft kit. For the ready-made ponies, definitely cash flow and quality control.
3. Where or who do draw inspiration for the brand from?
Inspiration comes from our customers and their requests for new colours, products etc. We enjoy going to the horse shows and meeting our customers face to face, it is great to hear their stories and how the children play with the ponies and what and how they learn.
I have also worked with horses and competed on and off throughout my life as well as establishing and running the riding school for 15 years, these experiences help me make up the fun stories for the social media posts.
4. What does success mean to you and do you have some specific success stories so far?
When we set up Crafty Ponies back in 2010 our strap line was ´bringing families together through creativity and play´. I think that we have achieved that to a degree, and this makes me very happy. I enjoy helping people learn in a fun way and I think and hope that Crafty Ponies accomplishes this to some extent.
Our international distributor put a lot of time and effort into entering the Netherlands ‘Horse Product of the Year’. This is a major competition with many qualifying rounds and the final three contenders had to present the product in front of an audience and a panel of judges. Rob won with our newly released Anatomy Pony and won thousands of pounds of advertising, a magnum of champagne and a huge bouquet of flowers! I think this was around 2019.
I also nearly went into brain melt down producing the booklet for the anatomy pony, but it was worth it as the vets and horse physios and Pony Club teachers love its simplicity but very accurate and detailed teaching of the anatomy of a pony.
5. What advice would you give another brand who was just starting out in the equine space?
Make sure that you love your product because you will have to put a lot of time, effort and money into getting it out to potential customers and helping them to understand why it is such a good product.
Get the design registered, you can do this yourself by contacting the IPO office of the government. It will not prevent you being copied (a copier only has to change five things, i.e. colour, fabric, slight shape changes etc to get around your design) but so long as you keep yourself in front of your customers they will know that you are the designer and the copier is the copier, just out to make a quick buck! Do not bother about copiers, there have always been and will always be, copiers. Don’t get upset or angry that is a waste of energy, keep positive and happy and keep going forward.
6. How long have you been involved with The National Equine Show and what aspects do you particularly like about it?
We have exhibited with the National Equine Show since it first started. The NEC is easy to access, and the team enjoy the duration that it is just two days. Josh and Tamzin also particularly enjoy the awards night with complimentary drinks!
It is a fun social get-together for the traders. We feel well looked after and if we need anything at all Liz, the Event Director is happy to help, we find this a very friendly show. The admission cost to get into the show is reasonable too, with affordable offers.
Tamzin also says that the admin for the show is straightforward and she feels appreciated by the event managers. The fact it is a two day show with reasonable working hours is a big plus too!
7. Why is exhibiting at the Show important to you?
The National Equine Show is our first show of the season and is a fun and easy show to kick off the season. We like the opportunity to showcase new products to our customers too.
8. Do you plan to launch anything new at the show this year or have any exciting developments with the brand?
We are hoping to have new products on a container arriving in time for The National Equine Show 2026, but we will have to wait and see!