About Us

Magic Ponies story

Magic Ponies provides exceptional service for Pony Parties, School fetes, events and home visits. If you are looking for that Magical Pony experience, our Shetland ponies are the perfect solution!

You may recognise our Ponies from Pony Magic Surrey, who have been providing pony rides in Surrey and London since 2010 with Gemma Serdet. The founding Branch of Pony Magic in Hampshire continues to go from strength to strength. Having worked with Gemma for almost 10 years… Lara Bekker took over the Surrey Pony Magic legacy and re-branded to Magic Ponies in 2020. Lara’s passion for Horses started at the age of 8, when she had her first Pony Ride. Our aim is to re-create the magical experience she had when she first sat in the saddle, to all of our riders!

Since 2020 Magic Ponies has gone from success to success offering services such as 1-1 pony experiences, pony membership packages and seasonal events. Lara adapted the business due to the challenging times in 2020 and has since had huge success with onsite and offsite bookings. In 4 years, Magic Ponies has built an amazing reputation and In October 2024 Lara adapted the business again to solely focus on the uniqueness and success of Magic Ponies mobile bookings.

Meet the Ponies

Dexter

‘Cheeky Dexter’ is a firm favorite among the Magic Ponies team. He has been doing pony rides and Parties since 2011 and has given so many children their magical pony rides.

Merla

Merla is our beautiful black Mare. She is so sweet and gentle with the children. Merla and Dexter are best friends and are usually our ‘pony party’ ponies as they are a great team!

Doodle

Doodle joined us in May 2021 after being semi-retired for the last couple of years. His owners decided that it would be better for him to have a little job and he has been just amazing

Dolly

Dolly joined the Magic Ponies team in July 2022 from a local riding school. She is the fashion queen of ponies with her amazing wardrobe and is loving her new job role!

Meet the ponies in person

Book your pony party or event now!

Book Now

Pony Welfare

We understand everyone who is visiting this page is more than likely to be an animal lover! We want to assure everyone who makes a booking with us that the ponies welfare is our main priority. The ponies are like Lara’s children and get looked after with the highest standards. Our stables are inspected by the local council on our Licencing visits and the ponies have a vet visit (at least yearly) to ensure they are suitable to provide pony rides. Some of our ponies have this job as a second lease of life. The regular riding keeps the ponies fit as like humans, they need regular exercise. The ponies all have a tailored diet, exercise and management programme. At each event and party we ensure that the ponies are happy and have access to forage and water. Most of our 2024 business changes had the ponies in mind as they are getting older and we are getting busier! Please do feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about the ponies and Lara would be more than happy to answer.

Meet the Team

Owner

Lara

Lara started riding at age 8 at a local riding school after attending a birthday pony party there. She worked her way up and her dedication and passion was very clear from a young age. She was lucky enough to get her very own horse when she was 13 and now continues to ride regularly and compete. Lara’s background is in Residential sales and hospitality, as well as being a successful hairdresser and maintaining her client base she has had since she qualified. Lara acquired the business and original ponies Dexter and Merla in February 2020 and Magic Ponies was born.

CEO/Business partner

Bruce

Bruce is the Magic Ponies mascot. He is Lara’s pug who comes regularly to the stables, you may even see him out and about in the Horsebox too! He is very kind with children but he thinks he’s the boss of the ponies! (They don’t agree!) Bruce was born in a house with young children and will always give our riders a cuddle!

Weekend staff

We are lucky enough to have a great team of teenage helpers who regularly help out with our weekend/holiday pony parties and events! We are so excited to give them the opportunity to grow with the business and maybe one day have more responsibilities!

Brooke

Brooke is Lara’s right hand woman. From helping with the day to day looking after of the ponies to being in sole charge of pony rides at events and fetes. Brooke lives locally and has 2 of her own horses. Her passion began from a young age and passes that on to every rider who visits!