We’re raising our toddler on a farm — she thinks having a pony at breakfast is normal

Animals in the house can be a welcome distraction for a fidgety toddler (Picture: Tamsin Noble-Lewis)

Most toddlers have a favourite teddy bear, but 20-month-old Lula Noble-Lewis has Simba, a miniature Shetland pony.

‘She probably thinks that every house she goes to is going to have a Shetland,’ her mum, Tamsin, jokes.

The 31-year-old moved onto a 5.7 acre farm in the New Forest countryside with her husband, Jamie, in August 2024. Lula arrived at the end of the year.

But the move to country life was not an obvious one for Tamsin, who had built her career in the corporate world, only visiting the countryside to see her grandparents. Jamie, 34, on the other hand, grew up around animals.

‘I hadn’t been around horses un...