A Lesson from my Hill Bred Gems

As this year’s Hill Bred Gems Online Fell Pony Sale came to a close, I was laughing at myself for the lesson I’ve learned from my two Hill Bred Gems:  Bracklinn Phoebe and Drybarrows Imperial.  I bought these two fillies in the 2023 sale.  Phoebe was a yearling and Imperial a weanling at the time.  The lesson I’ve learned from having these two for more than a year now is that if I’m going to buy two fillies, be careful not to buy two aspiring herd leaders! 

Willowtrail Lucky Lad following his dam into the barn, while the three young fillies await further encouragement to do the same!

This lesson was made extremely evident the last morning of this year’s sale when it took three trips to get my herd of six in from pasture.  My two Hill Bred Gems as aspiring herd leaders refused to follow the older mares in.  I have been spoiled to often be able to halter one pony but lead in four or more ponies at a time from pasture to barn.  On this particular morning, I was obviously not so lucky!

I took the picture above on my second trip.  It shows my colt foal Willowtrail Lucky Lad following his mother.  I had previously taken his grandmother in.  In the background are Phoebe, Imperial, and yearling Willowtrail Amanda, another aspriring herd leader.  Strangely, I got those three to come in together by haltering Imperial, the younger of my Hill Bred Gems.  I have learned that while Phoebe is dominant in many ways, she will indeed follow Imperial to the barn most of the time. 

My ‘lesson’ about not buying two aspiring herd leaders at the same time is more humorous than practical.  All my mares try to dominate the others at some point until they (usually) get things sorted out.  I am grateful to have both Phoebe and Imperial here and to have the opportunity to learn from my Hill Bred Gems.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2025

You can read more stories like this one in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here and on the book cover.

Fell Pony Matrilineal Diversity – Part 2

I have a research project underway about the matrilineal diversity in our breed. It was inspired by Dr. Claire Winton’s observation that we have good maternal diversity now but we need to not lose it. (1) Of course, in order to not lose it, we have to understand where that diversity is! I quickly learned that I needed some help, so I had my software engineer add a feature to my pedigree database program to make my research easier. Because this research project is a big one, I have chosen to publish smaller articles as I proceed, rather than one large paper at the end. The first article was called “Mare Lines in Need of Conservation.”

Fell Pony mare Swindale Rose represents one of the mare lines that is now lost to our breed. Photo courtesy Ruth Eastwood.

Because my research about matrilineal diversity is based on pedigrees, the usual caveats about pedigree research apply. First, genetic diversity does not equate to pedigree diversity in our breed (see my article “The Bottleneck in Fell Pony History,” click here.) Second, the conclusions reached here are only as good as the pedigrees we have to work with (see a more complete discussion of this point in Part 1 of this research, click here). Third, some lines may have been let go for a reason. They may not have been of proper type or had a fault deemed too serious to allow it to continue in the breed, for instance. Unfortunately, in the case of mares especially, it is often the case that owners find they have to choose between working and breeding, and the choice of working can lead to losing a mare line as well.

I have now completed my analysis of the mares born in 1979 and 1980 that have contributed to our modern population. The new software feature allows me to identify all their female descendants as well as their female line back in time. I learned from this most recent work that I will likely need to look at an entire generation or 9 years total: 1976-1984. So far, though, some interesting findings have emerged:

1. Dr. Winton said we had good matrilineal diversity but need to not lose it. My analysis so far provides a cautionary tale: of the 72 mare lines born in 1979 and 1980 that contributed to our modern population, we have already lost 42% of them. It makes sense that we need to take care to not have that trend continue.

2. We truly have an international breed. Some of the mare lines that we are now most in danger of losing only have actively bred female descendants outside the UK.

3. It was necessary to add a ‘Watch’ category to the previous categories I identified. This category is for mare lines that are actively being bred but only by a single breeder. Fully a third of the mare lines I have studied so far land in this category. We all know how easily good ponies can be lost to the gene pool when a steward ceases breeding ponies. Table 1 below describes each conservation category in detail.

4. There are about 1/3 as many ‘source mares’ as total mares in 1979-80. I’ve labeled the furthest back registered mare in each line as the ‘source mare.’ It could be argued that we need only look at source mares when looking at matrilineal diversity. However, given that studies of our breed’s DNA say we have more diversity than studies of our pedigrees do, it seems prudent to focus on a slightly wider pool of female ancestors than might be suggested based on pedigrees alone.

5. So far, I have found 21 unique source mares behind 72 total mares in 1979 and 1980. The pedigrees, therefore, suggest that the mares in my study are quite related. However, I was just told a story about one of the mares in my study. A former owner of the mare explained in detail how the mare’s pedigree was likely not correct. Having a broader pool of mare lines to review, rather than focusing just on the source mares, is therefore prudent.

6. Only four of the source mares so far are from the formal Inspection Scheme; the rest were added to the registry before then. Only one of the four source mare lines I have so far identified from the formal Inspection Scheme has been lost.

7. Of the mare lines we have not lost from 1979 and 1980, the majority (79%) are in need of conservation work. Roughly a third are Critical status, a third are Watch status, and 10% are At Risk. See Table 2 below.

These mares are from the Watch List Wansfell Jasmin line

Here’s an example of some actionable information I’m hoping to produce from this research. Table 3 below lists Mare Lines with Critical status. Next to it are the female descendants that are thought to be still living and could continue the line. If someone in our community knows where any of these descendants are, perhaps they can find out if it would be possible to bring the mares back into the breeding population to continue the critically endangered female line.

Note: Wansfell Jasmin line is a Watch List, not critically endangered line.

One of the mare lines listed in Table 3 is Wansfell Jasmin. Upon further study, I have determined that that line is in the Watch category because I am actively breeding mares in that line. I was surprised that at the moment I have the only actively bred mares descended from this mare. I thought a different mare in my herd was from a line in need of conservation, but I was wrong. I am now refocusing on doing what I can to keep the Wansfell Jasmin line going.

If you find out anything about any of the mare lines in Table 3, I would love to hear. If you have suggestions about how this information could be better presented, I would love the feedback. I expect to provide an article in some form for the Fell Pony Society newsletter this fall, so any help in improving the understandability of this topic is appreciated!

---

1. Winton, Clare, et al.  “Genetic diversity within and between British and Irish breeds:  The maternal and paternal history of native ponies,” Ecology and Evolution, November 2019.

Imperial is Maturing into Her Name!

Two-year-old Fell Pony filly Drybarrows Imperial, starting to resemble her name!

My two-year-old Fell Pony filly Drybarrows Imperial has me completely captivated at the moment. I purchased her sight unseen from her photos and videos on the Hill Bred Gems Online Auction as a weanling. She arrived here at nine months old and took a full year to settle into my feeding and management program. During that year, I assumed her breeder named her for her lineage. Her uncle is the highly regarded Drybarrows Dynasty, and Imperial seemed a fitting name for a relation to this stallion.

My Imperial’s maternal uncle, the well-regarded Drybarrows Dynasty in Cumbria in 2022. He was distracted by something when I took this photo so he’s turned his head away from the camera.

In the past several weeks, though, Imperial has shown me that her name is as much about her as her relation. She has a calm regal demeanor most of the time (she’s just two so can be forgiven for the occasional evidence of immaturity!) She makes a point of greeting me with a majestic manner, or if she’s at a distance, she lifts her head with that same stately look to acknowledge my presence. She’s very particular about how a halter is put on her head, as though it should only be done in a way that has ultimate respectability for her royal nature. If I ever have a stall in the barn open, she immediately enters and turns to look out over the yard as though she owns the place and is perfectly at home overseeing it!

IMperial acknowledging my presence one night at dusk (hence the blurry image!)

At this point in my Fell Pony career, I have a number of ponies that I have known for more than a decade and in some cases almost two. I therefore know them very well and I usually see in their offspring a similar temperament. As an outcross, Imperial is teaching me the joy of discovery of new Fell Pony personalities. It’s been an unexpected benefit of bringing in new blood!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2025

You can read about other discoveries I have made about the Fell Ponies in my life in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

The Bottleneck In Fell Pony History

This article was originally published in August, 2024.

In 2006, after less than a decade of stewardship, I wrote my first version of “The Fell Pony As a Rare Breed.” One of the sections in that article was about the bottleneck in Fell Pony history. This article is an update to that discussion because, as with many other aspects of the Fell Pony’s status as a rare breed, I have learned a lot of context in the intervening years about that bottleneck.

Defining the Bottleneck

What I learned back in 2006 was that today’s registered Fell Pony population is based on fewer than 70 registered animals in the 1930s, a very small foundation population indeed. Note that there were more ponies registered during that decade, but only sixty-three of them contributed to today’s population.

The chart above shows the size of the registered breeding population for the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s that has contributed to the current population, according to the pedigrees in the stud books of the Fell Pony Society. It is these small numbers of ancestors contributing to our much more sizable breeding population today (between 400 and 600 ponies since 2000) that lead some to ask why more people aren’t worried about the bottleneck. It’s a reasonable question. And the answer is that many people have been worried about the bottleneck for many years and have done things about it. And of course there’s always more we can do!

“Genetic” Bottleneck

First it’s important to understand what the bottleneck is and isn’t. Often, the bottleneck is called a genetic bottleneck. As students of Fell Ponies, however, we must be careful with this term. The chart above is based on pedigree data, not on genetic research based on DNA samples from actual ponies. In the Fell Pony, pedigrees and genetic research tell different stories. It is these different stories that have led me to view the bottleneck differently now than I did when I created the chart above.

The Story from Pedigrees

The story that Fell Pony pedigrees tell us is that we have a small gene pool, as the chart above suggests, because we had so few ancestors at one time. As we learned in the last installment of this series about the Fell Pony’s rare breed status, there is a 50/500 rule. Fewer than 50 breeding animals can lead to problems from inbreeding. Fewer than 500 breeding animals can lead to problems from genetic drift. (1) Even today the Fell Pony doesn’t have an effective population size of 500 animals. Foal Immunodeficiency Syndrome is sometimes given as an example of genetic drift which affects the future of the Fell Pony breed. The chart above suggests that the bottleneck from the perspective of pedigrees likely meant we were relying on fewer than 50 registered breeding animals in any given year during the 1930s. Therefore, one might conclude that our breed may have been ripe for problems from inbreeding.

The Story from DNA Research

On the other hand, the story that DNA research tells us is that our breed’s genetic diversity is relatively healthy. This is obviously a very different conclusion than what pedigree analysis tells us. In a 2019 paper by Clare Winton, et al., which looked at British and Irish pony breeds (2):

• “...the [Welsh] Section D and Fell groups had the highest number of haplotypes (25 and 20, respectively) and also the highest haplotypic diversity values, while the Fell had the highest overall nucleotide diversity…” Haplotypes are groups of genes inherited from one parent. Nucleotides are basic building blocks of DNA. Thus, Winton, et. al, called out the Fell from all the other breeds for its high diversity values at the gene level.

• “Fell ponies displayed very high maternal diversity, with a broad distribution of haplogroups, and moderately high nuclear diversity.” Winton, et al, especially called out the maternal diversity of the Fell Pony breed.

• “The Fell and the Welsh populations have maintained the greatest maternal diversity of the ancestral British ponies…” It is striking to me that the Fell, a relatively rare breed, is compared to the Welsh, a relatively populous set of breeds, as having similarly high genetic diversity on the female side.

Why is it that our ponies’ pedigrees tell one story and DNA analysis based on their actual bodies tells another? The answer is that pedigrees in Fell Ponies are often inaccurate and are often incomplete. Hence, drawing conclusions based strictly on pedigrees must be done very carefully. The reasons for inaccurate and incomplete pedigrees stem in part from how past stewards of our breed tried to address the low numbers of registered ponies in the early twentieth century.

Globetrotter Moth is a product of the Grading Up scheme. His mother is a great granddaughter of an inspected mare.

The Bottleneck and the Inspection Scheme/Grading Up Program

The Fell Pony Society had several schemes in its first few decades to increase the numbers of registered ponies. One of the longest running schemes was inspection of ponies of ‘Fell type.’ Owners would identify ponies and then officials from the Fell Pony Society would inspect them and recommend them or not for registration. The Inspection Scheme was in place in various forms from 1912 to the 1970s.

The Grading Up program was implemented towards the end of the Inspection Scheme era, in the 1960s and 1970s. In the Fell Pony’s case, grading up meant putting registered stallions to inspected mares as well as those mares’ daughters and granddaughters. All male offspring had to be gelded. After three generations, the offspring were considered fully Fell. Prior to the Grading Up Scheme, stallions who had been inspected could contribute to the future of the breed immediately instead of three generations hence. Inspection and grading up schemes are common methods used by rare breed enthusiasts to conserve and expand breed numbers.

Bowthorne Matty has two unknown ancestors six generations back, circa 1948. Those branches in her pedigree are empty on paper but add diversity to her genetics.

A consequence of the Inspection Scheme was of course that the inspected ponies had incomplete pedigrees. Sometimes the sire was known and sometimes neither the sire or dam were known. In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, roughly 60 ponies were brought into the registered population to contribute to today’s Fell Pony population. (3) Because we don’t know the ancestors of those ponies, we don’t know if or how they were related to the other ponies in the breeding population. The ‘bottleneck’ says that we had just 63 registered ponies in the 1930s. Yet, the inspected ponies that were brought in of course had ancestors, even if they were unknown. Those ancestors would add to that small population of 63 ponies. We will never know how much they would add, but since our genetic diversity is higher than what our pedigrees suggest, they must have added diversity. And for that, we can be grateful to the Inspection Scheme and the many people who did that hard work (to read more about the Inspection Scheme, click here).

The Bottleneck and the Enclosure Scheme

The Enclosure Scheme was another scheme implemented by the Fell Pony Society to increase numbers of registered ponies. In place from 1945 to 1976, the Enclosure Scheme was unique to the Fell Pony breed. The Enclosure Scheme involved the Fell Pony Society securing land where a stallion could run with a herd of mares during the breeding season. The stallions were chosen at the Stallion & Colt Show each year, often by people planning to send mares to the enclosure for breeding.

Sometimes the Enclosure Scheme is said to have caused the bottleneck in the Fell Pony’s history. However, you’ll note in the chart above that a small breeding population pre-dates the Enclosure Scheme, so while it may have been a contributing factor, it wasn’t the only factor.

Three consequences of the Enclosure Scheme could have led to a narrowing of the number of Fell Pony ancestors in pedigrees. The first is that several stallions stood for more than one year in the enclosures, giving them the opportunity to sire many foals in a short period of time. It was also the case that large numbers of mares were served by the enclosure stallions in any given year, further allowing the genetics of those few stallions to be widely dispersed. Finally, several of the enclosure stallions were related, potentially further narrowing the number of ancestors in the breed. Yet the question remains: why is the Fell Pony’s genetic diversity healthy when the Enclosure Scheme seems to have concentrated genetics?

Globetrotter Hummingbird is a descendant of Linnel Romany II, one of the Enclosure stallions during the 1940s. Photo courtesy Libby Robinson

Pedigree Accuracy

One answer is certainly that our pedigrees are not accurate. While it was several years into my Fell Pony stewardship that I learned about the Enclosure Scheme, it was on the first day that I met a Fell Pony that I was told that Fell Pony pedigrees aren’t accurate. Since then I have learned many things beyond those related to the Enclosure Scheme that support this assertion. For instance, I’ve been told that one of the stallions in every modern day Fell Pony’s pedigree was not actually bred the way that his pedigree states. I have been told by more than one person that pedigree substitution, though obviously unacceptable by most standards, has nonetheless been practiced in our breed’s history to bring ponies (especially stallions) of good type into the breed that otherwise would be unavailable for pure breeding. If these newly papered animals were actually of diverse bloodlines, then they would have contributed to the relatively healthy genetic diversity that we have in our breed today. We can be thankful that breeders took the risk to bring these ponies into our breeding population.

There are at least two ways that inaccurate pedigrees may have resulted from the Enclosure Scheme in particular that could have resulted in increased genetic diversity for our breed while at the same time lower diversity in our pedigrees. First, when two different stallions were run on the same enclosure, it might not have been clear which one settled a particular mare since it was long before parentage confirmation via DNA testing. This confusion about sires could have happened, for instance, when two Linnel stallions ran at different times on the Nettles enclosure in 1945. While Linnel Raven II is behind every modern day Fell Pony, Linnel Romany II is behind less than a quarter of modern ponies. If a pedigree for a particular pony says it was sired by Linnel Raven II but it was actually sired by Linnel Romany II, that could increase the genetic diversity of that particular pony but the pedigree diversity would remain low.

The second instance might have come from a practice described by Elsie Dargue in Sue Millard’s book Hoof Prints in Eden about the Enclosure Scheme: “There got to be too many people popping mares in – it didn’t matter what – and scooting off with them before anybody came!” (4) The Fell Pony Society required mares to have a permit to be on the enclosures so that breedings could be tracked, which explains why people might ‘scoot off’ before anybody found out about illicit breeding. I can think of two possible reasons a mare owner might sneak their mare onto the Enclosure. One is if they couldn’t get their registered mare bred another way. And two is if their mare was bred by an unregistered stallion but they wanted the foal to be registered. If they could say the mare ran with the stallion on the Enclosure, whether they snuck it on or not, they could get the foal registered since at the time registration paper work was accepted very much on the honor system. It’s the second case that could have resulted in increased genetic diversity for the breed via the unregistered stallion while having less diversity in pedigrees which showed the Enclosure stallion.

In the context of the bottleneck, then, the lack of pedigree accuracy means that while pieces of paper say that our ponies are highly related, the reality of that relatedness might be something totally different because their ancestors aren’t who the piece of paper says they are. The genetic data we have, of course, supports this conclusion.

Sleddale Rose Beauty has a pedigree that is only complete to five generations. Some of her ancestors during the 30s, 40s, and 50s are unknown.

---

Incomplete Pedigrees

As described earlier, the aim of the Inspection Scheme was to increase the number of registered ponies by bringing unregistered ponies into the breeding population after being inspected. In most cases, the ancestors of those unregistered ponies were unknown. The consequence of that lack of information means that our ponies’ pedigrees, if we go back far enough, are not complete. For instance, my first Fell Pony mare, Sleddale Rose Beauty, had three inspected ancestors five generations back. Therefore, her pedigree was complete only to five generations. Before that, some of her ancestors were unknown.

A research paper on effective population size calculated the average equine generation to be 9.6 years. (5) This number closely corresponds with what I learned about the average length of the Fell Pony generation when populating my database back in time. (6) Let’s take Beauty as an example of how incomplete pedigrees is related to the purported bottleneck. Beauty was born in 1987. Since her pedigree is complete only to five generations, then her pedigree is incomplete before about 1939 (= 1987 - 5 x 9.6). That date is at the end of the decade when the chart above indicates we had a bottleneck. Some of Beauty’s ancestors, therefore, were unknown during the supposed bottleneck. They obviously existed and contributed diversity to Beauty’s genetics but they didn’t contribute diversity to her pedigree.

In another example, the pedigree for my current stallion Globetrotter Moth is only complete to four generations. He was foaled in 2022, so his pedigree is complete on one branch to only 1984 (= 2022 – 4 x 9.6). In another branch it is complete only to 1961. Therefore, many of Moth’s ancestors were unknown during the 1930s and 1940s when we supposedly had a bottleneck. It turns out that more than 95% of pedigrees of modern day Fell Ponies were not complete during the 1930s and 1940s. (7) If most of our modern ponies did not have complete pedigrees during the supposed bottleneck, then we can’t say for certain who all their ancestors were during the 1930s and 1940s. If we can’t say who all their ancestors were, we can’t say with any authority how healthy their genetic diversity was based just on pedigrees. We are fortunate, then, that Winton, et al, gave us the extraordinarily surprising information that, especially in our mares, we have healthy genetic diversity.

Conclusion

It is very important to recognize that Fell Pony pedigrees are not useful in determining the health of the genetic diversity of our breed. Our pedigrees are inaccurate and they are incomplete, so no conclusions based on them can be drawn about genetic diversity. On the other hand, we are indeed fortunate that some research has been done that suggests the genetic health of our breed, at least in the females, is relatively healthy. However, that is not to say that our breed is out of the woods from a genetic perspective. As I laid out in the last article in this series about effective population size (click here if you’d like to read it), the size of our worldwide breeding population based on pedigrees is still below the threshold that scientists consider healthy.

Where, as Fell Pony breeders, should we be putting our energy to improve our breed’s future genetically? I had one new prospective breeder tell me a few days ago that they wished to avoid using FIS carriers. I explained to them that that is not the wisest choice for our breed. Winton, et al, said as much: “The Fell ponies face the challenge of reducing the proportion of FIS carriers in the population, but great care must be taken to ensure unique ancestral maternal haplotypes are not lost in the process.” We must not eliminate carriers from our breeding population without extremely careful thought.

Here are some things that we can do as a worldwide breeder community; there are likely even more to be found:

1. Identify rare lines in the worldwide Fell Pony population that are worthy of conservation and use them in a conservation breeding program that ensures their continued presence in our breed.

2. Ponder the meaning of having maternal diversity and where to put efforts regarding conserving the different genders.

3. In Holland and North America where populations seem to be diverging from the UK population, look at how diverse our female lines are relative to the worldwide population and make adjustments accordingly.

4. Support additional DNA research when possible to give us additional information about our breed’s genetic health.

Regarding #1, I have identified overall rare lines in our breed and posted my findings on the internet (click here to read more). It is interesting to note that the majority of the ponies are female, as Winton et al suggested. I suspect there is more to learn about maternal lines, so I have put #2 on my to-do list!

---

1. Some say the minimum population size relative to genetic drift is even larger than 500.

2. Winton, Clare, et al. “Genetic diversity within and between British and Irish breeds: The maternal and paternal history of native ponies,” Ecology and Evolution, November 2019.

3. Morrissey, Jenifer. “Inspection Schemes and Grading Up,” Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, 2013, p. 56.

4. Millard, Sue. Hoofprints in Eden, Hayloft Publishing, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, 2005, p. 115.

5. Leroy, G., Mary-Huard, T., Verrier, E. et al. Methods to estimate effective population size using pedigree data: Examples in dog, sheep, cattle and horse. Genetics Selection Evolution, 45, 1 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-45-1

6. Original research as a byproduct of the Pedigree Information Service of raresteeds.com. Foals were entered in the database from 2000 back in time. When I reached 1993, sires and dams for foals from 2001 to 2003 were already entered, indicating that the breeding population was captured by a ten-year window of foal registrations.

7. In my pedigree database, the 1992 foal crop only includes ponies that contributed to the modern day population. Of those ponies, 95% had pedigrees that were five generations deep or less, which meant 1942 or more recent.

Mare Lines in Need of Conservation - Part 1

I have previously explored the relative rareness of the Sleddale mare lines (click here). I had a very personal interest in the topic because I have a Sleddale line mare. In the process, though, I was reminded of Dr. Claire Winton’s conclusion that the Fell Pony breed contains good maternal diversity that needs to be retained. It made me wonder what mare lines we have that are most in need of conservation. When I started trying to answer that question, it quickly became clear that it’s a big project, so this is just part one!

Where to Start?

To begin with I needed to decide how far back to look. I decided roughly four to five generations or around 1980. This date puts me after the Inspection Scheme mares were born, so I would have parentage information for all the females foaled after that year. This date also puts me a generation or more back past ponies that are still living so I could get a feel for if we have actually lost any mare lines. I have already learned that the answer, unfortunately, is yes.

The Usual Caveats

This project of course relies on pedigrees, so the usual caveats apply. The results of this research are only as good as the pedigrees we have to work with. There are numerous reasons why they may not be complete, such as the Inspection and Grading Up Schemes. And human error means that honest mistakes are made. We also know that some pedigree substitution has been done in the past, which has created better genetic diversity than our pedigrees say we should have. The bottom line as always is we are fortunate to have a registry, The Fell Pony Society, that tracks our registrations and pedigrees.

The venerable mare Lunesdale White Rose is well represented in the modern population. One question that needs to be answered about her line, though, is whether that's entirely through her male descendants and whether her female line is in need of conservation. I have since been informed that her female line is well represented in the breed’s population. This photo was taken in 2005.

The other thing that we have to take into account when looking at rare lines in our breed is that some lines may have become rare for a reason. Perhaps they weren’t considered proper type. Perhaps there was a temperament issue. Perhaps they didn’t have good reproductive histories. We may never know the exact reason, but long time breeders make selection decisions all the time about what lines to continue and which to let go. Preserving rare maternal lines isn’t easy!

Redhouse Dusty is another example of a Critical status mare line with a few aged but living female descendants. Photo courtesy Ruth Eastwood.

The Process

My pedigree database contains ponies who were registered worldwide from 1993-2007 and 2017-2018 and all their ancestors as far back as we know them. When I entered the 2017 and 2018 foal crops, all of the ancestors of those ponies were already entered, meaning that my dataset already contained the entire modern breeding population. In addition, my database is a useful subset of the stud books of the Fell Pony Society because it only contains, prior to 1993, ponies that contributed to the modern population instead of all ponies that were registered, some of whom have no modern descendants. For some years, my dataset is more complete than the Fell Pony Society's Grassroots database.

For this project, I am identifying mares foaled in 1980 and surrounding years. My goal is to create a list of all mares foaled in that period that contributed to the 2017 and 2018 foal crops without making the list any longer than I need to. Then I will identify if and how those mares’ lines have continued into 2017 and 2018, the most recent years for which I have worldwide data (since it takes more than 100 hours to enter a stud book into my data base, I don’t do it every year.)

The next step will of course be to see which of those 1980s-era mare lines continued into the modern population through female lines. There will obviously be mares that are well represented through their male descendants. Lunesdale White Rose is one example. She’s behind nearly half the ponies in the 2017 and 2018 foal crops, but in previous research I have done, the vast majority of that representation has been through male lines, not female. In this research project, I will find out if White Rose’s female line is in need of conservation.

Gibside Sally is an example of a Critical status mare line in need of conservation. She had just one filly foal, in 2006. That filly foal is still living and while aged, is worth considering bringing into the breeding population if possible. Photo courtesy Ruth Eastwood.

What I’ve Learned So Far

The list of 1980s-era mares I have generated so far is dividing itself into the following categories:

• Lost: Mares who do not have any descendants in the modern foal crops (2006, 2007, 2017, 2018). We have lost these mare lines either because they only had male offspring or their female offspring were not retained in the breeding population. One mare in this category is Gibside Dinah, foaled in 1980, who only left one male registered descendant.

• Critical: Mares who have female descendants into 2006 and 2007 but not into 2017 and 2018. These lines need to be investigated further to see if it’s possible to bring them back into the breeding population. These mare lines might be deemed Critical in the terminology of rare breeds conservation. Gibside Sally, foaled 1982, is an example of this category. She had a filly foal, Gibside Black Lace, who was foaled in 2006. Black Lace has not had any registered offspring and according to the Fell Pony Society database Grassroots is still living. At her age it could be difficult to bring her into the breeding population to continue Sally’s line, but it would be worth considering trying. 

• At Risk: Mares who have only one or two female descendants into 2017 and 2018. These lines need to be investigated further to ensure they aren’t lost to the breeding population. These mare lines might be deemed At Risk because they could easily drop out of the breeding population and be lost forever, reducing the maternal diversity that Dr. Winton found notable. An example of this category is Church Farm Gypsy, foaled 1982. Gypsy has a single female descendant in the modern breeding population, Raeburnhead Lexie. Lexie had a filly foal in 2016: Parcpenrhyn Maggie. It would be worth investigating whether this line can be brought back into the breeding population.

• Common: Mares who have multiple female descendants into 2017 and 2018. Drybarrows Purple Heather is one example of this category with multiple female descendants in the modern breeding population.

Drybarrows Calista and Willowtrail Mayflower are descendants of the well represented Drybarrows Purple Heather mare line.

I am grateful to Dr. Winton for pointing out the need to conserve the maternal diversity in our breed, and I look forward to continuing this research project.

Fell Pony Color Distribution in North America

When I got a question about the color of Fell Ponies in North America, I remembered a feature in my database software that would be useful. It tells me how many of each color we have on this continent, broken out by gender. My database is currently populated through the 2023 stud book; the 2024 book just came out and I haven’t received mine yet.

Bracklinn Phoebe is a three-year-old grey Fell Pony filly.

Table 1 below shows the Color Report for North America through 2023. It indicates that black remains the dominant color in the North American population, and grey is a distant second. It also shows that the female breakdown mirrors the overall population. However, there are more black males gelded than colored males by comparison to the total population, begging the question of whether color is affecting choices to keep male ponies entire. And it looks like I have some research to do to resolve the color of the ponies in the ‘Unknown’ category.

As I have contemplated this question of color, I have been reminded that pedigree research, including color, is tricky terrain. In my over-twenty-five-years of studying Fell Pony pedigrees, I have noticed that no two databases contain the exact same data. Even the Fell Pony Society has differences between their on-line and paper data! The paper one, for instance, didn’t include color in the 1998 edition, while the on-line one has color for ponies born in that year. And the on-line one doesn’t have many of the older ponies that are in the printed stud books. My database is complete every year for the North American population, but I only populate the worldwide population about once a generation (8-10 years). Given that every database is different, for me, it’s always important to do apples-and-apples comparisons. I did an original research article about greys ten years ago, so it needs to be updated. I will update it using my database and not a different one. More soon!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2025

What Fell Ponies Have Taught Me About Wild Horses, and Vice Versa

It was a cool overcast early spring day when I joined a couple of dozen other people to round up some wild horses. I felt it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I admit when I came home I was on a high after spending all day outdoors outside the reach of phones and the world wide web and watching the movement of equines.

My Three Sisters herd traversing the hill at high elevation.

When I was once again connected to the greater world, I was asked if the wild horses had taught me anything about Fell Ponies. For me, it was actually the other way around. All of my time with Fells running on a large landscape taught me a lot about how the wild horses would and did move as we tried to encourage them to go where we wanted. I knew I didn’t need to be up close but instead be a presence in an area to keep them heading away from me. I also have learned that my ponies can see and sense my location usually long before I know where they are, so I am lucky if I can spot them. Fortunately I have a few ponies who like to let me see them before hiding again with their herd mates so I know roughly where they are.

Willowtrail Spring Maiden barely visible on the ridge. As soon as she felt me see her, she returned to her herd out of sight. I was thankful to know where they were!

My ponies have also taught me that going across and up or down rough terrain is no issue for them, unlike the humans trying to follow them. I can’t count the number of times my ponies have - after I have greeted them on the hill - headed down towards the barn at a speed and on a path that I would be afraid to try to copy. I also am always aware that while my ponies will give me an opportunity to halter them and lead them down, they will also occasionally - if I don’t take advantage of the offer on their schedule - head away from me with focused intention at a moment’s notice. I watched the wild horses make similar decisions when they didn’t like the options they were being given by the humans in their landscape. To be fair about my ponies, as often as they head away from me on the hill, they will also walk with me to the barn untethered.

Wild horses moving away from me like they were supposed to.

Upon a few more hours reflection on the roundup day, I did discover one thing the wild horses taught me that I could use in my stewardship of my ponies. It was the timing of foaling. They were choosing March and April, and I have been trying for April and May. I can see the logic in their choice, given the persistent drought conditions we find ourselves in here and when adequate green grass is available to nourish lactating mares.

While it may have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience rounding up wild horses, I came away firmly with the realization that my ponies give me similar experiences regularly. I count myself very fortunate indeed.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2025

Where are the Sleddale Mare Lines?

For the past two falls, our friends Paula and Torrin have visited Willowtrail Farm to go on pony rides with my ponies and me. This winter, Paula asked about a spring ride. I said I was interested, but I was uncertain which pony I would have available. In the past, Willowtrail Wild Rose has been my primary mount. She and Torrin were well acquainted from having ‘roomed together’ when I owned them both, so those were companionable rides from many perspectives. But Rose is one of my broodmares, and I had planned to breed her this year. While Rose seems to prefer working to being a mom, I have asked her to be a mom in the past because she is out of a Fell Pony line that I have considered rare. The last Sleddale pony was born in Cumbria in 2004. Mr. Harrison, the last member of his family to breed Fell Ponies, passed away in 2013. Rose’s mother was my first Fell Pony, Sleddale Rose Beauty.

Paula and Torrin ahead of Rose and me just passing Milepost 8 on the Mickelson Trail in October 2023.

It occurred to me that I was making an assumption that Sleddale lines are rare based on just the anecdotal information above, so I decided I should be a little more rigorous to help my decision-making about Rose. When I interviewed Mr. Harrison in 2011 for an article in the Fell Pony Society of North America magazine about long-time breeders, he told me the ponies he was most proud of breeding were the Sleddale Rose and Sleddale Beauty lines. Sleddale Rose X was the supreme champion at the 1979 Fell Pony Society breed show, with a Sleddale stallion and mare winning the progeny classes at the same show. (The article I interviewed Mr. Harrison for is a chapter in the new book The Fell Pony’s Enduring Stewards, available internationally by clicking here.)

Sleddale Rose Beauty with me and her daughter Willowtrail Wild Rose.

To investigate the ‘rareness’ of the Sleddale Rose and Beauty lines, I used my Fell Pony pedigree database. Use of pedigrees comes with the usual caveats about Fell Pony pedigree research:

• The data is only as accurate as the information breeders provide. I have found errors over the years and corrected them when I have sufficient information.

• Some entry errors occasionally occur in the stud books of the Fell Pony Society. I have informed the Society of these errors, and they have corrected them in their database, as have I in my database.

• Anecdotal evidence says that pedigrees have been put on some ponies who would otherwise have been unregisterable as purebred Fells. Therefore, any descendants of those ponies have pedigrees that are inaccurate. Not everyone knows which ponies these are, so it’s important to remember that there’s more to selecting a pony for any use than just the piece of paper with their name on it.

• We are lucky to have a registry, The Fell Pony Society, that tracks pedigrees so that we can do research like I do to make decisions informed by the pedigrees we have.

I extracted from my Fell Pony pedigree database all the foals registered as born in 2017 and 2018 and descended from Sleddale Rose (registration number 8285) and Sleddale Beauty (registration number 8286). I chose 2017 and 2018 because they are the most recent years for which I have worldwide data in my database. In my various research projects, I have found those years to be a good proxy for the entire modern breeding population of Fell Ponies.

Sleddale Rose and Sleddale Beauty are half-sisters on their dam’s side, Sleddale Daisy II. Rose was by Swinburn Boy. Beauty was by Storm Boy. Beauty was one of five mares born in 1940 that has contributed to our modern population of Fell Ponies. (1) Rose was one of six mares born in 1941 that has contributed to our modern population of Fell Ponies. (2)

Sleddale Rose is behind every foal born in 2017 and 2018 except one pony; there were 690 foals born in those two years. Beauty is behind 97.8% of the foals born in those years based on pedigree data. Certainly from this high level pedigree data, Sleddale lines don’t seem particularly rare. But I also knew that some very popular stallions - Lunesdale Jerry being one example - have these mares behind them. In Jerry’s case, Sleddale Beauty is on his pedigree. Jerry is behind greater than 95% of the foals in the foal crops I am studying.

In 2019, Clare Winton, PhD, published an article on the genetic diversity of British native ponies. In it she said, “Ancestral maternal diversity was maintained by most populations, particularly the Fells and Welsh ponies, which exhibited rare and ancient lineages…. The Fell ponies face the challenge of reducing the proportion of FIS carriers in the population, but great care must be taken to ensure unique ancestral maternal haplotypes are not lost in the process.” (3) Winton’s findings of important ancestral maternal diversity in the Fell Pony, and the importance of conserving it, encouraged me to focus on the Sleddale mare lines.

Willowtrail Wild Rose and Willowtrail Henry in 2019

My next step was to find the unique mares that produced foals in 2017 and 2018 (I took out the second instance of mares who had foals in both 2017 and 2018). These steps left me with 530 unique mare lines to investigate. In the end, only 48 of those mares (9.1%) were descended through their female line from either Sleddale Rose or Sleddale Beauty (click here to see the list). Here was the first confirmation that my Rose might be important genetically to the Fell Pony breed.

My next step was to look at how much fan out there is in this population of 48 from the original two mares. Not much in the first generation it turns out! Sleddale Beauty had one daughter who contributed to the 48, Sleddale Beauty II. Sleddale Rose had two daughters who contributed to the 48, Sleddale Rose III and Sleddale Rose IV. Of the 48, 19 are descended from Beauty II, 16 are descended from Rose III, and 13 are descended from Rose IV. My Rose is descended from Rose IV, who has the fewest descendants of these three first generation descendants of Mr. Harrison’s revered mares. Once again, my Rose looks interesting genetically within the context of the worldwide Fell Pony breeding population.

The family tree below shows how the mare lines descend from Mr. Harrison’s two favorites towards today’s pony population. The numbers behind each pony name indicate the number of dams descended from her that produced in the 2017-18 foal crops. For instance, Sleddale Rose III has 16 unique female descendants that had foals in the combined 2017/2018 foal crops. Rose III’s daughter Sleddale Rosette has six, and Rosette’s daughter Sleddale Rosette II has the same 6. Rosette II had three daughters that had two lines each: Sleddale Rosette VII, Sleddale Rosette XIV, and Sleddale Rosette VIII. The tree in most cases does not go all the way to the mares of the 2017-18 foal crops because that would have gotten TOO complicated! The ponies shown in red are resident in North America; some are deceased. In the Rosette lines, for instance, you see only one pony in North America: Lunesdale Shamrock. Her daughter Littletree Babysham had a foal in 2017. Littletree Babysham’s daughter Dreamhayven Decadence is also actively being bred though she had no foals in 2017 or 2018.

Regarding my Rose’s importance genetically, it is interesting to see that five of the 13 descendants from Sleddale Rose IV are in North America. Rose isn’t that interesting, then, in the context of North America. It can be argued, however, that any representative of these lines is important. For perspective on the prospective importance of all Sleddale mare line descendants, of the Sleddale line dams contributing to the 2017/18 foal crop, 5 of the 48 have only had colts. So that means only 43 of the 48 have contributed to keeping these Sleddale mare lines going.

For an additional perspective, there were 26 Sleddale descent filly foals born in 2017/18. Three of those fillies are already deceased. Another 18 have not been bred yet, and two more have only had colts. So only 3 of 26 or 11% of the 2017/18 Sleddale-line fillies have contributed to keeping the lines going so far, not very many at all. The good news is that I know of at least more that is in an active breeding program now.

Here are some other interesting observations about the family tree:

• A few breeders have multiple descendants of Mr. Harrison’s revered mares. These include the prefixes Brackenbank, Carrock, Deepghyll, Lunesdale, and Clifford in the UK and Laurelhighland and Dreamhayven on this side of the pond.

• Two of the 26 fillies in the 2017/18 foal crops have produced foals for the Lammerside stud, including three fillies, keeping those lines going.

• The North American population, at this point, has representatives of all five of the third-generation descendants of Mr. Harrison’s favorite mares except one: Sleddale Beauty VI. That line is currently being kept going by the Brooksan stud in the UK.

• I only identified one Sleddale mare line descendant in The Netherlands. Karla van de Veenhoeve is descended from the Sleddale Dainty XI line, one of only two of the 48 Sleddale line mares in that branch of the tree.

• Three mares behind other female lines of Fell Ponies came up repeatedly in my research and are much more numerous:

  • Lady of Heltondale, an unregistered fell mare is behind a lot of mare lines, including some found at the Wellbrow, Rackwood, Greenholme, Heltondale, and Drybarrows studs.

  • Sarah of Lownthwaite is behind not just Lownthwaite but also Heltondale lines.

  • Dinah by Hardendale Model is behind Heltondale (Dot of Keld Head) and Bybeck lines and perhaps others.

Willowtrail Wild Rose and Willowtrail Lettie in 2022.  Courtesy Paula Guenther.

When I go out to see my Rose shortly, I will look at her with increased understanding. I haven’t yet made up my mind about whether to breed her or have her available for riding (she has made it clear she doesn’t wish to do both at the same time). I also don’t know how I will come to my final decision. It is entirely likely, of course, that Rose will express her opinion on the subject, either by choosing to conceive or not if I do decide to try to breed her. At least I now have more information to help guide my decision-making process and hers!

---

1. My pedigree database contains ponies foaled before 1993 only if they contributed to the modern population (ponies foaled from 1993 to 2023). A hand count of the entries for 1940 found only five mares including Sleddale Beauty.

2. Same as #1 above except in 1941 a hand count of my database found six mares foaled in 1941, including Sleddale Rose.

3. Winton, Clare, et al. “Genetic diversity within and between British and Irish breeds: The maternal and paternal history of native ponies,” Ecology and Evolution, November 2019, p. 1352, 1365.

What Lead Mares Do

One morning, my lead mare Bowthorne Matty didn’t greet me at the gate at the barn like the rest of the herd.  Since it was a very cold morning, I assumed she was in the barn sunbathing where I couldn’t see her, so I proceeded to spread hay.  Sure enough, she emerged and joined the herd a few minutes later.  Except as she approached, something looked odd about one of her front legs.  She wasn’t showing any indication of injury in her gait, but I was concerned.

Matty’s ice-covered leg puzzled me when I first saw it. But in the end, I was grateful again for her as a lead mare.

When she got closer, I saw that she had an unusual coating of ice from the knee down.  I was puzzled, but I had an idea but needed to finish spreading hay first.  When I investigated a few minutes later, I found out I was right.  She had broken the ice in the waterer to enable the herd to drink.  I finished opening the waterer a few minutes later.

Matty Got her leg wet opening the waterer on a very cold day. I finished opening it a few minutes later.

I have learned over the decades that my lead mares have lessons to teach me.  Matty has a behavior that conflicts with my idea of a leader.  Recently, though, I have come to see the wisdom of it.  All the ponies in the herd defer to Matty, except one.  Matty will share piles of hay with all the ponies and often engage in mutual grooming with them.  But that one pony pushes Matty around, tries to corner her and kick her, and generally is disrespectful.  That pony is the bottom of the herd otherwise, so I have always wondered why Matty doesn’t stand up to her and put her in her place.  I’ve concluded it’s about picking battles you can win and not wasting energy on ones you can’t.  Contrary to me seeing it as a sign of weakness that Matty doesn’t assert herself with the bully, it’s actually a strength.  It’s not a loss but a victory to not take on something that’s unconquerable as well as unnecessary. The bully isn’t a threat to her leadership; the rest of the herd doesn’t engage with the bully either.  I applied this strategy recently when I felt bullied myself, and there is definitely peace in being able to walk away and get on with what’s really important to me.

There’s no question about it:  I couldn’t do all that I do without my lead mares. 

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2025

There are more stories about what I have learned from my ponies in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

The Benefits and Joys of Patience

A Fell Pony colleague told me they’d received a very handsome offer for a well-trained gelding that they own. They came very close to selling the pony to a person who needed something reliable; my colleague knew the pony would be perfect for the situation. In the end, though, my colleague was surprised to realize that they wanted that same kind of pony for themselves. After putting in years of work, they realized that they didn’t want to start from scratch to create that sort of pony again for themselves, a pony they can not touch for months and then get on and ride and have him be the same as the last time they went out together.

I have a rising-three-year-old Fell Pony with beautiful size, bone, and substance. The pony has a great temperament, and I hope it will be the last riding pony I ever train for myself. It is easy to understand the temptation many have to start their Fells under saddle at three because they appear so mature. Of course I’ve been around Fells long enough to know that they aren’t mature at three, either mentally or physically. Nonetheless, I understand the temptation because it’s a long wait from birth or purchase as youngstock before they should be ridden. I appreciate hearing early in my Fell career that if we’re patient at the beginning, we can have a long life with a pony at the end. Regarding my rising three-year-old, I realize that if I want them to be the last pony I ever train for myself, I need to wait until they’re a little older to ride so they outlast me for riding. I also know there’s lots I can do on the ground with them in the meantime.

My former pony Torrin, age 26, in the Tetons of Wyoming in 2024. Courtesy Paula Guenther

A friend told me a story that reinforces the benefits and joys of patience. In August of last year, she took a pony-riding trip in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. They did 72 miles in 9 days, with six days of riding. There were two intentional rest days and one change of base camp. Eighteen miles was the longest day, with three others over twelve miles. Several of the days included significant elevation change. They rode through rugged terrain, over streams, up mountains, and across rock fields. They also encountered significant wildlife, including grouse, moose, and bears, as well as other trail users, from trail runners to literal boat loads of people at Jenny Lake. The photographs were stunning, including the one she shared here.

What was even more remarkable was the pony she rode. Torrin and I spent nineteen years together until a change in my life required me to find him a new home. He has been with Paula for five years now. He did this trip for Paula at age twenty-six. Yes, he was a little tired and sore after the longest day of 18 miles and 2,500 feet in elevation change each direction, but so were the humans! Paula expressed appreciation for his been-there-done-that attitude, which of course age helps create. Even more she appreciated his “willingness to move ahead on the trail even when faced with substantial obstacles! T was awesome scrambling up rock ledges and bedrock slabs.”

I started Torrin, as I do all my ponies, slowly and not too young so they can have a long and useful life. It was thrilling for me to hear how well Mr. T did and how much Paula appreciated him on this trip, recognizing all that he had experienced with me and the benefits of her many shared experiences with him that helped get them through challenging places. My colleague’s story about their gelding also comes to mind, with all the shared training experiences they had together that take time to replicate. I am riding two mares now who are in their teens, and every time I ride them, I think about my colleague’s opportunity to sell something ‘ready to go’ but realizing that they’re pretty nice to keep and enjoy! Meanwhile, I’ll just keep having fun with my rising three-year-old while it continues to mature, knowing everything will go well and quickly when the time comes. What a blessing a life with ponies is!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2025

Wassailing the Ponies '24-'25

A wassailing ‘hug’ from Bowthorne Matty and Willowtrail Mountain Honey. photo courtesy Jackie Gericke

As the calendar turns the page during the darkest part of the year, I have a ritual I call ‘Wassailing the Ponies.’ I have been doing it in some form for nearly two decades. It is my way of recognizing the important part of my life that my ponies are and thank them for their presence here, since I know they have choices to be elsewhere. I express gratitude to them throughout the year, but during the wassailing, I am more intentional.

Each year, wassailing is different because my herd is always changing, the weather is always different, and where the ponies are at the time that I wassail them varies. This year, all the ponies were in the paddocks at the barn, and we had bright morning sun which made picture taking challenging but logistics easier.

This year’s gingerbread pony cookies were once again gluten-free, this time with the primary ingredients oat flour and avocado.

One frequent part of the wassailing celebration is partaking of gingerbread pony cookies after we are done. We enjoyed them, despite my gluten-free improvisations!

I am very grateful to my friend Jackie Gericke for participating in the wassailing for the ’24-’25 season. She was also primary photographer, capturing the great images you see here!

Wassailing my stallion Globetrotter Moth. Photo courtesy Jackie Gericke.

This time the camera’s on photographer Jackie with Bracklinn Phoebe.

On the left is Drybarrows Imperial; herd dynamics made it challenging to get to this pony on the bottom of the pecking order! At right are Willowtrail Wild Rose and her daughter Willowtrail Lettie, with Willowtrail Spring Maiden looking on and my canine companion Scotty Springs Taptika hoping for a dropped apple! Photos courtesy Jackie Gericke.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2025

Listening to Rose

When I stepped outside just after sundown, I could see the mares up on the flat to the east of my house. I climbed to them and realized it was windier and colder than I’d expected, so I was motivated to get to the barn as quickly as possible.

I asked my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose to carry me to the head of the trail down the hill. I also asked her to take care of me since I hadn’t worn a helmet. I mounted, and she carried me about one hundred feet then stopped and wouldn't walk again. I assumed it was the cold wind bothering her.

When I ask for Rose to take care of me, I have to accept that a refusal like this is because she's doing as I asked, so I dismounted and started leading her to the edge of the hill. After walking another hundred feet, she stopped and looked as you see here. I followed her gaze and saw that there were seven bull elk on the side of the far hill. From their direction of travel, they likely were closer to us when Rose first refused. She saw them; I didn't. She had determined that she couldn't take care of me and monitor the elk's movement. So she refused to carry me any closer. Fair enough!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

A Fell Pony Capriole!?

These are two old photos but are being shown together because of something new. At left is Willowtrail Wild Rose, my 17-year-old heart pony Fell Pony mare. At right is a Lipizzaner doing a capriole in 1989 in Loveland, Colorado. A capriole is defined as "a movement performed in classical riding, in which the horse leaps from the ground and kicks out with its hind legs."

A few evenings ago, I was leading Rose in from pasture at dusk. Rose's herd mates were in high spirits, running past us. I could tell that Rose’s energy was rising rapidly as she began expressing that she wanted to run with her friends. I wasn’t surprised when she reared next to me, because she had done it a few weeks before.

This time though, what happened next was new. From rearing, she jumped and kicked out to the rear, performing a capriole. I was speechless. I had no idea a Fell Pony could do a capriole, much less a pony of her age! It was all over in a moment, but I will never forget it! They are called ‘airs above the ground’ for a reason!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

This Year's Pony Wreath

Last year was the second year I made a pony head wreath. It was the first year, though, that I dedicated the wreath to a particular pony. Last year the wreath was dedicated to my new grey filly Bracklinn Phoebe, and I used lots of greens with silvery juniper berries to reflect Phoebe’s emerging color.

As I prepared to make this year’s pony wreath, I pondered whether to just make the wreath or whether I should dedicate it again. Immediately it was clear: I wanted to dedicate the wreath to my two older mares Willowtrail Wild Rose and Willowtrail Spring Maiden.

Rose is seventeen and Madie is thirteen, so we have shared a lot of our lives with each other. This fall I rode both of these ponies frequently, and they have been fabulous about taking care of me when out and about and faced with unknowns, from turkeys flapping their wings to rabbits erupting out of bushes to dogs rattling dry leaves in a ravine below us.

Madie and me with some woolly verbena in flower. Dried Verbena is in the wreath as mane and forelock.

The mane and forelock of the pony wreath are shouts-out to Madie. They are made from dried woolly verbena. When Madie and I began working on the 2024 FPS Challenge, I took the picture of Madie and me and the verbena in bloom before I realized it wouldn’t have a place on the bingo/photo card. The greens are also a thank you to Madie, who has been my pack pony for bringing in greens a few times since we moved to South Dakota.

Rose’s forehead coloring inspired the forehead greens in the wreath.

I thought of Rose when I collected greens because of how she’s showing her age. Her forehead is growing increasingly white, seeming to spread out from her star, with other white showing above her eyes. Otherwise Rose remains very black. I focused on gathering greens without berries to use in the majority of the wreath, reflecting Rose’s dominant color (Madie’s too). Then I found a branch heavy with silvery berries to put on the wreath in the vicinity of the forehead in honor of Rose’s increasing silvery hairs.

I love to make wreaths and have done so for many years. I love every part of the process, from the time outdoors collecting the greens, to using the ponies to bring in the greens, to crafting the bundles from the raw greens to wire onto the frame. Finding a pony wreath frame has made this fixture of my holiday season even more memorable. I am so grateful for my life with ponies!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

My first story about my ponies and wreath-making is in my first book, A Humbling Experience, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Coincidence or Compliment?

When it came time in 2023 to wean my foals, I divided my mare herd in half. The weanlings went with my senior mare Bowthorne Matty and my young filly Willowtrail Lettie to create the Grandma herd, and the mothers joined their sister Willowtrail Wild Rose to create the Three Sisters herd. Since the fell-like hill here is a single pasture, I let the Grandma herd out at night and brought them in during the day. Then I let the Three Sisters out during the day and brought them in during the night.

The Grandma Herd awaiting my arrival at the barn in the morning.

Except I didn’t have to bring the Grandma herd in each morning. When I got to the barn for the first time each day, the Grandma herd was at the barn awaiting my arrival. All I had to do was shut the gate to keep them in for the day. Over the next year, the weanlings went off to their new homes, and two imported fillies joined the herd. Nonetheless, the Grandma herd was at the barn each morning awaiting my arrival. On the very rare occasion when they didn’t come in, my morning chores took much longer, so I came to really appreciate that the Grandma herd came in so reliably. Then I began asking myself, was it coincidence or a compliment?

Bringing the Three Sisters Herd in is usually an enjoyable walk, except when I sprained my Ankle.

One day during the summer while bringing the Three Sisters herd in, I stepped in a hole at dark and turned my ankle. The next day my ankle was very sore, and I found chores exceedingly challenging. I had put the Three Sisters herd out in the morning, and I was beginning to regret that decision, as I was not mobile enough to walk very far to get them. As the day wore on, I put out a silent plea to them asking that they help me out and come in on their own. When it was time to go out and bring them to the barn, they were waiting for me right in front of the house. Coincidence or compliment?

During the summer, I am fortunate to have a secure grazing paddock for my stallion. The gate to the grazing paddock is at the bottom of the stallion pen. When I arrive at the barn, I walk to the stallion pen, enter the gate along the lane, halter my stallion Globetrotter Moth, and lead him to the bottom of the pen where the gate to the grazing paddock is and let him out, asking him to stand still in front of the open gate while I remove his halter.

The second day after I sprained my ankle, I turned it again shortly after arriving at the barn. As I hobbled toward the stallion pen, I realized I was not mobile enough to safely halter and lead the young and sometimes rambunctious Mr. Moth to the grazing paddock. As I arrived at the gate along the lane to his pen, I realized that I could take very small steps and be stable and somewhat pain-free. I opened the gate, and Moth greeted me as usual. Instead of haltering him, I just began walking very slowly, taking very small steps towards the gate to the grazing paddock. I fully expected Moth to run ahead of me toward the gate in excitement. But he did something very different. He walked alongside me. Not only that: he also mimicked me, taking very small steps just as I was and staying with me all the way to the gate. Coincidence or compliment?

My young stallion Globetrotter Moth responded with unusual and impressive behavior after I sprained my ankle.

Moth’s behavior that morning and the Three Sisters herd the day before were one-off happenings. One might consider them coincidental because they could be considered random behaviors. The Grandma herd’s arrival at the barn daily is hard to call random behavior because it happens so regularly. Instead, I see all of these behaviors as compliments. These ponies make choices to cooperate with me. They choose to make my life easier. They acknowledge my communications by coming to me or staying with me when I want them to. It is humbling to ponder how I might cultivate these types of offerings to deepen our relationships. Once again it’s clear that one lifetime with these ponies will not be enough.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Making a Little Girl's Dream Come True

My young friend Jackson is the granddaughter of the folks who own the ranch where I live. Bruce and his late wife Linda came here in 1975 with their herd of pedigree Hereford cattle (for market reasons they later switched to commercial Angus.) Shortly after Bruce and Linda moved here, they built a barn that included a sale ring where they could hold auctions of their Hereford bulls. My ponies spend a lot of time right outside this barn in a paddock, and the Three Sisters herd recently helped one of Jackson’s wishes come true.

Jackson and Madie with a Hereford sign from back in the day when the sale ring was used for selling bulls.

Earlier this year, Bruce and I took Jackson to her first bull sale for her birthday. Bruce usually goes to a half dozen bull sales a year to choose outcrosses for his cow herd. We thought it would be fun for Jackson to see this part of being a rancher since she will one day inherit this place. She got to walk amongst the bulls for sale and then witness the theatrics of the auctioneer’s sing-song voice to encourage bidding. Bruce even let her hold up his buyer’s number to bid. That made her pretty nervous, which I can totally relate to! I get nervous just helping write the checks for the bulls he buys!

When Jackson next visited the ranch, she was helping me with pony chores. As we walked past one of the doors of the barn, she asked what the door was for. It was a good question because it is in an odd place for how the barn is used today. I explained that it was how young bulls entered the sale ring in the barn many years ago. I opened the door to show her the ring and auctioneer’s stand and pointed out the similarities to the bull sale we had gone to a few weeks before. In the course of our conversation, she expressed interest in someday reenacting a sale with ponies.

A few excruciatingly hot months passed, and then on a cool fall day during a visit to the ranch, Jackson decided she would rather do the sale reenactment than ride a pony, which had been her first request after we finished chores. Perhaps the farm equipment auction we had all been to the day before inspired her interest in recreating a sale in the ring. Regardless, I proceeded to help make her wish come true.

The ponies lined up to go in the ring, passing through the small pens that held individual bulls back when the sale ring in the barn was used to sell herefords.

First we closed the gates outside at either end of the overhang. The doors to the ring opened onto the overhang and are how bulls once were moved from paddock to ring and back to paddock again. Then we opened up the two doors for entering and exiting the ring. Inside on the auctioneer’s stand, we upended a bucket for her to stand on because she chose the role of sale announcer. Then, we located a discarded brush that she could use as a microphone. Finally it was time for me to go out and halter the Three Sisters herd and position them to go into the ring.

Madie voluntarily investigating the sale ring!

The overhang has several small holding pens where the bulls were staged for the sale. I decided, though, that they were too small for the ponies, so my plan was to tied them to the fence. Because she presented herself first, I brought Willowtrail Mountain Honey up into the overhang and tied her to the fence. Then I brought Willowtrail Wild Rose up into the overhang. I left the gate from the paddock open behind us, and while I was tying Rose to the fence, I looked back to see that Willowtrail Spring Maiden was curious about the goings-on and had followed us. She proceeded to enter the sale ring on her own, walk around in front of the announcer’s stand and then appear at the exit door, all on her own! After tying Rose to the fence, I haltered Madie and snapped the picture of Jackson and Madie in front of the Hereford sign. Then since the ‘sale’ hadn’t officially started, I tied her to the fence, too. It was quite something to see the Three Sisters positioned for the event!

Each of the Three Sisters went through the ring in front of the sale announcer, AKA Jackson!

Next I took each pony into the ring and gave the ‘announcer’ their color, name, age, and parentage. Jackson then repeated the information to our ‘audience,’ a large stack of hay bales. (I’m sure the resident barn cats were annoyed by our disruption of their quiet!) Madie and Rose willingly entered the ring and stood quietly while awaiting the announcement about them. Honey, though, decided she wanted to use the opposite doors for entering and exiting. I’m not sure if it was the Hereford bull on the sign, the huge difference in light and dark between inside and outside, or the strong smell of feline at one of the doors. Once inside, though, she waited patiently for the ‘announcer’ to do her job. Then I put Honey back outside, and the announcer asked for each pony to be brought back through the ring once more.

Honey took exception to entering the ring through this door. Perhaps it was the picture of the bull?

After the second tour through the ring, I put the ponies back in their paddock, quite pleased with how they’d helped the ‘sale’ be ‘successful.’ As I went back to the barn to close doors and gates, I could hear Jackson still talking in the barn. When I asked what she was doing, she said she was selling the miscellaneous items she found in the auctioneer’s stand. Ah ha! Just like she’d seen at the farm auction the day before!

The Three Sisters in between their two walks through the sale ring.

I have learned that Jackson will often think about things we do together and then later share her impressions of the experience, often with her parents or grandpa. I look forward to hearing whatever she might eventually share about recreating a sale in the ranch barn!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Rose's Independent Streak

I returned home in the late afternoon after a long day, so I was delighted to see my Fell Pony mares Willowtrail Mountain Honey and Willowtrail Spring Maiden grazing in the pasture in front of my house.  I changed my clothes and fed my dogs then headed out with halters and leadropes to take them to the barn, all the time wondering where Willowtrail Wild Rose was.  She had been exercising an independent streak the past few days that was making management by herd – as compared to management of individual ponies – more challenging.

When we got to the barn, Honey called out for her missing sister, and I heard an answering whinny to the south in the distance.  Later I saw Madie looking out in the same vicinity, so I suspected I would find Rose there.  When the dogs and I walked out onto the pasture, though, she wasn’t visible, and I could hear high winds at the top of the hill, meaning she might have taken cover somewhere.  Sure enough, when we got to the base of the hill, I saw her grazing about a hundred yards above me in some trees.  I suggested she might want to come my way as I commenced my walk toward her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of my dogs streaking down the hill about thirty yards away.  Close behind her and closing fast was a larger wild canine.  As it kept getting closer to Tika, I screamed, “No!”  On my second scream, as it was just a body’s length behind her, it turned and streaked back up from where it had come.  Tika, realizing she was no longer being chased, turned and headed back up the hill after it, so I began yelling at her to come to me.  By this time my other dog realized something was going on, and he must have caught a scent because he turned from coming to me and headed back up the hill, so then I started yelling at him, too.  Finally, I got the dogs to stay with me, and I turned my attention back to Rose.

The high winds that had been at the top of the hill had now descended to where we were, giving an additional edge to an already stressful few moments.  When I looked back up the hill, Rose was looking down at me on high alert, perhaps in response to the buffeting wind and perhaps wondering what all the shrieking and barking had been about.  She then started down the hill towards me, for which I was grateful, and I had the presence of mind to pull out my phone and videotape her descent, a screenshot of which is shown here.  As it turned out, she didn’t come to me, again exercising her independent streak.  Fortunately, she headed towards the barn.

As we were approaching the barn, I could see Rose drinking at the waterer.  I walked toward her, with the wind still swirling about, and she turned and indicated she would again be exercising her independent streak and leaving the area.  I was crestfallen, but then I became agitated because my young dog decided to chase her.  He was told to stay at the barn while I went in the direction Rose had gone.  Fortunately, she let me approach and halter her and take her back to the barn, apparently satisfied to be rejoining her herd.  I wish I was as good as these ponies are at letting upsets recede quickly!  I replayed the events in my mind for hours afterward!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

The Grandma Herd Reunited Plus One

For the past several months, the Grandma herd has consisted of an 18-year-old Fell Pony mare and a three, two, and one-year-old Fell Pony filly. It’s clear then, why I call it the Grandma herd; Bowthorne Matty is the only adult and has long been the head of the herd even when with older ponies.

When Matty was a few weeks out from foaling, I began putting her in a foaling shed for part of each day, separating her from the herd, to accustom her to the environment and routine. When Matty was in the foaling shed, the three youngsters would often call to her and stand in the corner of the paddock nearest her for most of the day, seemingly lost without their leader. In contrast, when she was with them, they would all typically stand companionably together in a shed when they were in, or would roam the hills together when they were out.

After Matty foaled, the three youngsters were understandably curious. The foaling shed is in the hill pasture, so when they were out on the hill and Matty was in the shed, they would stay within sight of the foaling shed to watch Matty and her foal Amanda. I was surprised; I thought they would eventually lose interest or at least be drawn farther away by better grazing. But for several days, they stayed within sight of the foaling shed whenever they were out on the hill.

I was equally surprised by the behavior of Matty and Amanda. When the three youngsters were in the paddocks and I let Matty and Amanda out on the hill, Matty and Amanda spent all day close to the barn where they could see the youngsters. I thought Matty would take Amanda out on to the hill where Matty could graze; that had been the behavior of many other mares that have foaled here.

And while Amanda had never been part of the Grandma herd, she was clearly interested in the other ponies, watching them closely and sometimes staying behind at the fence when I would lead her mother away. It was obvious to me that my management was disrupting a very tightly knit herd. Usually I wait for a few weeks before introducing a foal to a herd of youngsters. I like the foal to be fully used to life out of the womb and on the pasture and around the many hazards that are part of life out on the hill before subjecting them to the playful antics of young ponies or dominance games of older ponies. But since all five ponies were indicating that they missed their herd, I decided to see how it would go to reunite the Grandma herd plus one (Amanda.)

I chose to do the reunion in the barn paddock where I could keep an eye on the herd dynamics and intervene if necessary. The three youngsters had been in the paddock all day, so at the late afternoon feeding, I brought Matty and Amanda in to join them. As I expected, the youngsters expressed curiosity about Amanda and Matty let them know in no uncertain terms to keep their distance from her daughter. But since Matty seemed to have the situation well under control, an hour or so later, I let them all out onto the hill for the night.

It was fascinating to see Matty lead the way and the three youngsters follow as they had always done, with Amanda staying close to her mom. Before long Matty was leading the herd up onto the hill where she hadn’t been since Amanda was born. I felt happiness with the decision I’d made.

One helpful consequence of reuniting the Grandma herd has been instilling in Amanda the importance of paying attention to her mother’s leadership. When it was just the two of them, I would often see Amanda leading her mom around, exploring new territory and stretching her legs with Matty in pursuit. When she repeated that behavior around the youngsters, she quickly learned that they would chase her and scare her, teaching her the value of her mother’s leadership and protective/safe circle. Because someday Amanda will need to follow the lead of a human partner and find safety with them, it’s wonderful to have this lesson happening when she’s young and impressionable so it can be reinforced later rather than taught for the first time. And it helped with our next trailer loading lesson! Where before she had gone wandering off about four times before following her mother into the trailer for a ride, now she follows her right in!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

You can read more stories like this one in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Hooray for Filmmakers and Fell Ponies!

In 2023, a short film was released called Tails of Cumbrian Heritage. Produced, filmed, and edited by Abbey Wilkinson and Georgia Costin, the film recently won a national award from the Royal Television Society. A news release reported that “The jury said this was a clear and powerful film, making an impassioned argument for not losing touch with your roots.” (1)

The co-creators were students at the University of Cumbria. The leader of their degree program said, “Their close connection has resulted in this award-winning creation that is now recognised for its excellence. The film brings together all of their talents from photography and producing film to science, natural history, conservation and story-telling.” One of their talents was flying a drone to get footage! The program leader also said, “Long-serving colleagues can not remember the last time someone from our university won a national RTS award like this.”

After a field trip on the fell, the co-creators were invited to a local pub to hear farming families talk about the ponies. About the film co-creator Abbey said, “I knew instantly that we had to tell their story… to give the farmers a voice in a way that hasn’t really been done much this way before.”

The pony breeders in the film, Libby Robinson and Samantha Smith, said that the Fell Pony is Cumbria’s best kept secret, and they were working to change that. Their work with the co-creators of this film and now with the film’s award-winning recognition, certainly helps advance that cause.

Hooray for film makers and fell breeders and Fell Ponies!

To watch the film, click here.

1. https://cumbriacrack.com/2024/06/26/watch-fell-ponies-on-film-scoops-major-award/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0hsg9aiZw0PlwTkDOX160-gn_9odkPz2j65uh-wXtY7Vo2nUMeFjh2z1Y_aem_I7BcrVCAS1galTIrcbMmtQ

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

A Search at Twilight

I knew it could be an interesting end to the day when a thunderstorm rolled in about the time I was supposed to head out to do the last of the day’s chores. We had a much-needed good rain, and the temperatures dropped a blessed twenty degrees, so I wasn’t complaining. Nonetheless, I knew I would have just enough daylight left to bring a Fell Pony herd in off the hill if all went well.

When the lightning and thunder seemed sufficiently distant, I headed out to scan the hill for the Three Sisters herd in the low light. They were nowhere on the lowlands nor were they visible on the uplands. I went to the barn to do some of the chores there, hoping my noise would bring them in or at least make them visible. I also started calling, which I rarely have to do, to let them know I was serious about them needing to come to the barn. I sighed several times when there wasn’t an answering whinny or the sound of hoofbeats heading my way.

Willowtrail Spring Maiden, my thirteen-year-old Fell Pony mare, is the nearest to the camera and the one that responded to my calls from the barn by emerging from this hole on the hill long enough for me to see her from the lowlands.

As I took a feed bucket to my stallion, a part of the hill came into view that hadn’t been visible from the barn. I saw a dark spec, so I went and got binoculars to confirm that indeed it was a pony high on the hill who apparently had heard me calling. I immediately set my chores aside to gather my dogs and head out with a halter to climb the hill. I memorized the spot because the pony had disappeared.

When I had climbed a couple hundred feet in elevation to just below the spot where I had last seen the pony, I started worrying that they had gone elsewhere because they were nowhere to be seen. There’s no way I would have enough light to track them if they’d moved. Then I climbed a bit further because there was a small ridge I couldn’t see over, and a pony came into view. I thanked Willowtrail Spring Maiden profusely for hearing my call and making their position apparent. A few more steps, and the other two ponies were visible too.

I then walked past Willowtrail Mountain Honey, giving her a sideways greeting, towards my object of interest, the head of the herd, Willowtrail Wild Rose. I haltered Rose and started leading her down the hill. Her behavior was odd. She stopped every fifty yards or so for no apparent reason. Before long, it became clear what she was trying to communicate: the other two mares weren’t following. Normally they fall in right behind Rose in this sort of situation, but the cool temperatures and abundant grass high on the hill were apparently too much enticement.

I can barely see my house from where I’m standing taking this photo, so I will have to find a spot in the lowlands that gives me a better view, perhaps from the house behind mine.

Rose and I got to the barn, and I finished my chores there, calling to the ponies on the hill again and fully expecting to see them appear at the barn. Finally, when I finished chores and it was nearly dark, I realized I would have to go get Honey and Madie off the hill. I called frequently as I headed out from the barn and walked the quarter mile to the base of the hill. As we arrived there, my dogs alerted me to movement, and I saw with relief that the ponies were descending and making their way to me. When they trotted to me, I thanked Madie once again because I’m sure she started descending when she heard me calling. I then haltered Honey as the more dominant of the two. and she and I walked to the barn with Madie leading the way.

In hindsight, of course, I can see how things could have gone more smoothly. I could have taken a second halter to bring Honey in too rather than assume that she would follow Rose as she usually does. I could have listened to Rose’s communication about the other two not following and figured out a way to bring them along somehow. I do wonder why Rose only called once to her friends, despite me asking several times if she couldn’t, please, use her leadership skills to encourage them to follow! I could have more explicitly acknowledged Honey when on the hill and perhaps that would have enforced my role in the herd and she would have followed more willingly. All of those things might have meant I finished with more light and wouldn’t have stepped in a hole and twisted my ankle!

There were of course many positives from the adventure. Seeing the ponies on the hill at sunset is always special. In addition, I’m grateful for how Madie responded, moving into view so I could see where they were, and also descending when I was calling to them at dark. That’s a connection I look forward to expanding on. I’m grateful for Rose trying to communicate that I wasn’t being successful bringing in the whole herd. And probably most importantly, now I know there’s a spot up there where I really can’t see them from the lowlands and that I need to make special effort to check when I can’t find them elsewhere.

I’m so fortunate to share my life with these ponies!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

You can read more stories like this one in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here and on the book cover.