Fell Ponies and Fossil Cycads

I did my evening pony chores early so I could go on a tour of what was at one time Fossil Cycad National Monument.  The parallels between this lost treasure and Fell Ponies on the fells of Cumbria were hard to miss.

Fossil Cycad National Monument was formed to protect a site here in the Black Hills of South Dakota where fossilized cycadeoids, an extinct order of plants on which dinosaurs once feasted, were commonly found on the surface.  The monument existed in name only, and just between 1922 and 1957, because most of the fossils had been removed from the site prior to the monument’s creation.  So complete was the removal of the fossils that my friends Bruce and Linda Murdock who have ranched adjacent to the monument for nearly fifty years have only once found a fossil cycad on their place.  The monument’s namesake is gone, making the monument unneeded.

Oddly the principal proponent of Fossil Cycad National Monument was also the person who is usually blamed for the monument’s demise.  George Wieland homesteaded the land and donated it to the federal government for the purpose of the monument.  At the same time, he also removed the greatest number of fossils from the site, most of which are now at Yale University’s Peabody Museum where he worked.  When it was widely understood that there were no longer fossil cycads at the monument named for them, the monument was officially deauthorized.

Linda Murdock holding a fossil cycad they found on their ranch adjacent to the former national monument.

I see parallels between the monument that’s missing its namesakes and the fells in Cumbria that are losing their Fell Ponies.  As National Park Service paleontologist Vincent Santucci has written about the ‘case of paleontological resource mismanagement,’ “I get a chance to go out to classrooms … and whenever we talk about [Fossil Cycad National Monument], there's sort of a disbelief that we've actually lost a unit of the National Park Service. We've all sort of been cheated the opportunity to get out and experience and learn about this remarkable resource that at one point stood at the threshold of becoming a national monument. So we need to think hard about ways to promote stewardship and preservation of these nonrenewable resources so that we don't see something like this happen again.” (1)  In the Fell Pony community, some people use similar words about stewardship and preservation of a unique resource when they talk about Fell Ponies on their native fells and the threats to their continued presence there.

On a somewhat humorous note, there is also a terminology parallel between Fell Ponies and fossil cycads.  Sometimes fossil cycads are referred to, incorrectly, as petrified pineapples.  I immediately thought of Fell Ponies being, incorrectly, referred to as mini Friesians.

I am hopeful that there is a sufficient drumbeat in support of Fell Ponies remaining on the fells that those hills won’t lose their namesake ponies the way Fossil Cycad National Monument lost its namesake specimens.  There is such value to being able to view a resource on its native land, rather than in some remote museum or stable.

1. Zimny, Michael.  “Fossil Cycad:  The National Monument That Wasn’t,”  blog post, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, 8/12/20, www.sdpb.org

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

For more about Fell Ponies, see my book Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

When Traits Seem to Skip Generations

My late husband always said that he’d never forget the look on my face as we watched one of our early Fell Pony foals being born.  The foal had a huge white star, the biggest I’d ever seen on any equine, let alone on a jet black Fell Pony.  I suspect I was holding my breath.  I eventually let out a big sigh.  “He’s a purebred,” I said.  “I wonder where that came from.”  From that day on, the further I got into Fell Pony breeding, the more I heard, and even said myself, “Traits can skip generations.”

I’m grateful to Sue Millard, who wears many hats in our international Fell Pony community, for making the connection between epigenetics and the oft-uttered phrase “traits can skip generations.”  Epigenetics is the study of genes that express themselves differently than through heredity.  Dr. Carey Satterfield says, “I would define epigenetics as alterations in the pattern of gene expression, such as ‘off/on’ or ‘a little/a lot,’ that are based on changes in the structural configuration of the DNA rather than its sequence.  These changes can be permanent and have been shown to be heritable, but not always.” (1)  Satterfield says that every day there are new findings, so the definition will continue to evolve.

What causes alterations in gene expression?  There’s more unknown than known, but the environment in which a fetus develops in-utero and neonatally is known to influence gene expression.  Click here to read about how room in the womb influences size at and after birth, for instance.  Some epigenetic modifications occur only on genes passed by the father and some passed only by the mother.  Some affect only the current generation and some can be passed to the next generation.

Some traits that are thought to be influenced by epigenetics include coat color patterns and markings, cannon bone circumference, and glucose metabolism.  How mares are fed before and during gestation has received some study.  Ardennes foals whose mothers were fed concentrates in addition to forage were eight times as likely to develop the joint condition osteochondritis versus those whose dams were fed a forage-only diet.  Saddlebreds fed forage-only diets had foals with thinner cannon bones, less efficient glucose metabolism and delayed testicular development compared to foals from mares who’d received concentrates in addition to forage. (2)  There is concern that mares who are overweight when bred could produce foals more likely to have the easy-keeper’s disease equine metabolic syndrome.  Another area of concern and potential research is whether human handling of foals neonatally could cause epigenetic changes in the foal. (3)

Many Fell Pony breeders have experienced similar surprise to mine when they have a foal born with white markings to two solid-colored parents.  I often think of the late Tom Capstick’s comment (paraphrased here) that the best way to breed white markings is to breed non-marked parents together.  A review of Fell Pony foal markings from 1993 to 2018 indicates that, of the foals born to solid-colored parents, an average of 25% have white markings.  Overall, we have an average of 33% of each foal crop with some sort of white markings. (4)  Mr. Capstick’s comment, then, isn’t far off with one in four foals carrying markings despite solid-colored parents! 

1. Oke, Stacey, DVM.  “Understanding Epigenetics and Early Equine Fetal Development,” thehorse.com article #120762, 1/1/2012.

2. Chavatte-Palmer, Pascale, et al.  “Developmental programming in equine species:  relevance for the horse industry,” Animal Frontiers, July 2017, Vol. 7, No. 3.

3. Satterfield, M. Carey, et al.  “Review of Fetal Programming:  Implications to Horse Health,” AAEP Proceedings, Vol. 56, 2010, p. 207.

4. Color/markings reports from the author’s Fell Pony Pedigree Information Service software for 17 years between 1993 and 2018.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More articles like this one can be found in my book Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Calista's Comet

I am outside after sundown every night at present,

Tending to my stallion’s wound.

When I came in at dark, a message from a friend

Was the first I’d heard that there’s a comet to see.

I went out again right then to have a look.

It was in vain, though, for I didn’t know enough.

The next day I got guidance in hopes of success,

And I vowed to give viewing another try.

The day was long and after the sun was down,

My resolve about viewing began to waiver.

Going to bed seemed much more attractive.

But then when I went to fetch the mares in,

Calista helped to recharge my resolve again.

She was standing on a knoll all by herself,

Looking to the northwest as if she could see

The comet hidden still by the light of the day

But worthy of her attention in spite of that.

The pictures I’d seen set my expectation

That the comet would be close to the horizon.

I decided then that I would drive to a high place,

Armed with the guidance to find what I sought.

The guidance was to use the Big Dipper’s stars

As an arrow towards where to gaze.

When I arrived up high only two stars were visible

And I wasn’t sure to which Dipper they belonged.

A third one soon appeared but I still couldn’t tell

If the guidance would lead to success.

Minutes ticked by and darkness seemed slow to come,

And my resolve began to waiver once more.

To pass a few moments I pondered my stallion’s wound

And how its dark edges are growing in on pink flesh,

Just as, at the horizon, the darkness of night was closing in

On what lightness was left from the day.

Then I looked up again and there the Big Dipper was

And I lined up the stars of its cup’s base.

Following them, angling down towards the horizon,

I was greatly rewarded to see what I’d come to see.

The comet faintly shone through the day’s end.

My tired eyes made its faint light flicker.

Its tail appeared to move about like a cat’s,

Back and forth, up and down, short and long.

Then as darkness grew, the comet became still

And larger and somehow worthier of awe.

It also stood higher in the sky than I’d expected,

So I returned home to see where it would be.

My house is in a protected hollow.

The protective hills mean my horizon is high.

I was rewarded again, though, as I found my guides,

For the comet was perched just above the hill .

I’m thankful to Calista for helping me view

Comet Neowise in person not just in pictures.

Without her stance on that knoll on the hill,

I might not have seen this comet at all.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

A Pearl Puzzle Piece

I try to start my evening chores an hour and a half before dark.  Right now my evening chores involve bringing in four ponies (two sets of two), putting out two ponies, and cold hosing my stallion’s wound.  When the four ponies who’ve been out all day are in close at day’s end, then I get done earlier.  But during this hot weather we’re experiencing (perhaps normal but hot for us previously-mountain-living folks!), they’ve been laying low midday then go out to actively graze as it cools, so they’re rarely handy for me to bring in.

Gorgeous sunsets are one of the benefits of playing the catch-me game with my puzzle Pearl, barely visible in the midground.

One of the pairs I bring in are my two three year old Fell Pony mares Drybarrows Calista and PrairieJewel Pearl.  When Calista sees me, she comes to me to be haltered and taken in.  Calista is the dominant of the two, so in normal herd dynamics, Pearl would follow us in even without being haltered.  That’s obviously my preference, too, to save me walking all the way back out from the barn to get her.  Pearl, though, has shown she is not herd bound and rarely follows Calista in. Haltering her at the same time as Calista doesn’t work very well either because Pearl moves away from the dominant mare as I approach with her.

Pearl has been a puzzle since she joined my herd (click here to read more).  And her behavior in the evening has only increased my puzzlement.  Not only will she not follow Calista in, but she has preferred to play the catch-me game instead of coming to me to be haltered.  She will move off when I approach, sometimes at a walk, often faster, sometimes towards the barn and sometimes farther away.  One evening when I had to walk a half mile to halter her, reaching her as dusk was headed to dark, I decided a new strategy was in order.

The next night when I approached she and Calista, I gave Calista a treat when she approached, as I normally do to thank her for her cooperation.  But I didn’t halter Calista.  I knew that Calista would follow Pearl and I in; I just needed Pearl’s willingness to be caught.  I then approached Pearl with my hand outstretched and shoulders down and eyes cast down, all the while shooing Calista away.  Pearl let me walk up to her and halter her, and I gave her a treat, the first she’d had from me.  I also gave her several kind words and scratches in her favorite places as I usually do.  The treat, though, caught her attention.  We went to the barn with Calista following, and we ended the day on a good note.

The next night and then the next, I was able to approach Pearl, halter her and bring her in rather than have her run off, with me trudging through falling light after her.  She’s also been asking about getting a treat at other times.  So far I haven’t given her one; I want her to clearly understand the circumstances in which she gets that reward.  And I want to clearly understand what it is about our new routine that is motivating her better behavior.  I feel like I have a new piece of the puzzle that is Pearl, and there are a lot more to be discovered.  I look forward to finding the next one!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories like this one about life with Fell Ponies can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Flat Bone

In the Fell Pony we also have the challenge of evaluating bone behind hair!

One of the earliest characteristics of the Fell Pony that I learned about, and was confused by, was flat bone.  I remember watching a Fell Pony judge and breeder whom I respected place well a pony in a show that I thought had round bone, the opposite of the desired flat bone.  Later I saw a pony that the same breeder and judge had bred and the bone in the lower legs was so flat as to appear razor thin.  The breed description says, “plenty of good flat bone below the knee (eight inches at least)…” so that razor thin bone didn’t meet the ‘plenty of’ part of the breed standard, so I remained confused.

When I took a homebred colt for his stallion licensing exam - a new experience for me, the colt, and the vet - the vet measured around the cannon bone to be sure it was greater than 8” in circumference.  “You know that there’s tendon as well as bone in that measurement, right?”  I hadn’t thought of it before, but of course he was right, yet that circumference measurement was the standard by which flat bone is judged in our breed. 

After all this confusion in my past study of this characteristic of the Fell Pony, I was thrilled to finally find an explanation of flat bone that made sense to me.  I’ve been working on an article on draft horse conformation with my colleague Doc Hammill, and he suggested that I read as background Heather Smith Thomas’s book The Horse Conformation Handbook.  Thomas says that modern day equines have less bone for body weight than ancestral types and hence we have challenges with soundness.  Yet flat bone has to do with something different than bone quantity. 

“When viewed from the side, the lower leg, including bone and tendon, should be wide, not narrow and round.  The horseman’s term for ideal distance from front to back of the lower leg is flat bone (describing the combination of bone and tendon), which gives the lower leg the appearance of more substance from front to back.”  (1)  Ah ha!  At last my confusion about flat bone is resolved!  If that tendon is placed too far forward, it reduces the circumference of the lower leg.  But it also lessons the leverage of the tendon, so weakness and eventual lameness can result.

Thomas goes on to say that typical equines for riding should (but often don’t) have 8” of ‘bone’ for every 1000#, so it’s clear why the Fell Pony, which is often lighter than 1000#, is considered to have plenty of bone with typically more than 8”.  I’m now looking at lower legs to evaluate flat bone with new eyes!

1)      Thomas, Heather Smith.  The Horse Conformation Handbook.  Storey Publishing, 2005, p. 121.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

Rewilding's False Promise

When I turned the page of my business magazine and found an article on rewilding, I groaned.  NO!  I said it loudly, but I was the only one around to hear. Then on the next page I found a picture of Exmoor ponies illustrating the article.  My opinion, though, was unchanged, in part because the type of native pony wasn’t mentioned in the caption.  I suppose in some way it is laudable that Exmoors are being used in a rewilding project, but rewilding hasn’t necessarily been good for Fell Ponies.  In some places Fells are no longer allowed to graze fells that they have grazed for centuries. 

The article discusses an aristocrat, one of several in Britain, who “aims to return denuded farmland and deforested areas to their native state by removing invasive species and replanting and reintroducing native ones….  Rewilding attempts to reverse [denuded farmland and deforestation], not for the sake of nostalgia, but for a more viable future.” (1)  The article suggests that agriculture and forestry businesses are the cause of the problems that rewilding wishes to solve.  Having owned businesses in both those vocations, I know they don’t have to be the cause of problems; they can instead be solutions.  And with the right incentives, these sorts of businesses can be more enduring than philanthropy for problem solving.  Hence my vehement reaction to the heralding of rewilding by my business magazine.

While the intentions of people wanting to retain wildness and native species in our world are not bad ones, often these people miss an important point about our world and the landscapes within.  Denuded farmland and deforested areas have resulted from humans trying to meet our needs.   If our needs are not taken into account in these rewilding projects, then rewilding isn’t really solving the problem, is it?  It’s just punting the problem to the next landscape down the road, so to speak.  And no landscape deserves that, though there are plenty which have suffered that fate.

Often, native ponies like Fells are not considered native species by rewilding enthusiasts, hence the ponies’ needs are not a priority in a rewilding plan.  And the needs of their stewards, too, are often unaddressed because farmers and loggers are seen as the cause of the problem that rewilding is trying to fix.  In the Lake District and its environs, this is especially odd since the very landscape that was heralded by the World Heritage Site designation was in large part created by farming.  One would think that there, at the very least, the needs of farmers and their livestock would be addressed in any landscape management plan.

Because rewilding fails to take human needs of landscapes into account, its promise of a more viable future is a false one.  How can rewilding claim to be creating something viable when the needs of the most impactful species on the planet aren’t considered?  Instead, our planet needs each of us to be honest about the needs we have of landscapes and who we share those landscapes with.  Only when we make each decision – personal, political, business - with these things in mind can we create a more viable future.  There is no one-size-fits-all solution.  Each place has its own unique opportunities.  Our charge as citizens of this planet is to make our decisions wisely because all lives - humans and ponies and native species included - depend on it.

1)       Ekstein, Nikki.  “Keep Wild and Carry On,” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/27/20, p. 55.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

My Puzzle Pearl

I was absorbed in my own thoughts in the pasture when I felt a light touch on my sleeve.  I turned to find my three-year-old Fell Pony mare Pearl beside me.  As I stroked her and scratched her in her favorite places, she pricked her ears forward and stood still and relaxed, seeming to truly enjoy our time together.  This exchange was a thrill for me because Pearl has been a bit of a puzzle, a good kind of puzzle, but a puzzle nonetheless.

The last thing her breeder told me about Pearl when I decided to bring her home was that she lays her ears back but she hasn’t ever done anything mean.  I was somewhat surprised to hear this because I hadn’t seen the behavior when I’d been with her in her herd there.  But after bringing her home, I quickly became familiar with that expression on Pearl’s face, and her breeder was right; she wasn’t doing it out of meanness.  In time I came to understand it as an expression of unconfidence.  Then a friend said that that sort of expression of unconfidence is relatively common in equines yet often misunderstood.  I completely understand why.

While it was easy to think that Pearl’s laying her ears back was a communication of aggression, my instincts told me otherwise. 
Nonetheless, I watched her turn her butt to the other mares and kick at them, but with a fence in between.  Then I found out that when she was turned in with the other mares, it was the other way around – Pearl was getting the kicking rather than giving it.  She put up a tough girl look that really wasn’t representative of her nature.  She has shown me that treating her as though she’s being aggressive isn’t a way to make progress.

I figured that in time as Pearl got to know me and my ways of communicating with her, she would come around, and I was right.  Now I’m able to ask a little more of her in our ground work, and with that has come an increased understanding of what I expect.  And also with that has come the small uptick in her confidence that is expressed by her approaching me for attention and putting her ears forward when she’s with me.

We still have much work ahead of us to get her confidence even close to that of my other mares.  For instance, one evening when I really needed Pearl to come to me to be haltered, she instead ran off, costing me a sleepless night and veterinary bills when another pony ran after her and had a close encounter with a fence that I wish they hadn’t had.  I have dug down deep to not blame Pearl, and it really helped when she touched my sleeve as a reminder that she’s trying.  And my other mares are a daily reminder that in time Pearl and I will get to the type of relationship that I want and need with my ponies.  In the meantime I will enjoy solving the puzzle of Pearl.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

Madie Made It Easy

I am very thankful to my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Spring Maiden for how easy on me she made her daughter Aimee’s birth.  For instance, Madie let her milk down less than 24 hours before foaling, and when I tested it, the pH indicated that she would give birth within 24 hours.  With her first foal, Madie defied the pH test and took ten days before foaling, which translated to lots of sleep deprivation.  Not this time.  The test results made an accurate prediction!

In the morning I put Madie out with the herd, but I checked her at 2pm. Unlike previous days when she’d seen me on the hill and walked away, this time she came to me. She had looked physically uncomfortable in the morning, and she did at this point in the afternoon, too, confirming my earlier sense that she was in labor. I haltered her and brought her in for the rest of the day.

When I checked Madie at dusk, I was even more convinced that she would foal that night because she was starting to drip milk (not just wax.)  I also checked the weather forecast, and a storm was due to move in, which has been a fairly consistent theme when my mares choose to foal.  Normally I would check a mare several times during the night to make sure that foaling went okay.  The first time she foaled, though, Madie made it clear she did not want us present, so this time I told her I would be out halfway through the night.  When I checked her at 2am, Aimee was on the ground but still wet, the placenta was still warm but had been expelled, and there were snowflakes in the air – all as it was meant to be!

After foaling, my job is to watch for milestones in the foal and mare.  In the foal I watch for urinating, defecating, nursing, and napping.  Aimee was cooperative in all but defecating.  It was so dark, though, that I wondered if I had missed Aimee passing her meconium.  When I mused aloud about this while standing next to Madie, she touched my arm with her nose then lowered her head to point to a dark spot on the ground.  I pulled out a flashlight, and sure enough, there was a pile of meconium.  As you would expect, I was struck by how Madie had understood my question and answered it!

In my mare herd, Madie is low pony on the dominance chart, so I don’t spend as much time with her as I do with the more dominant ponies.  Having her in the foaling shed at night has given me a chance to get to know her again.  She definitely reminds me of her mother Restar Mountain Shelley III who also made so many things easy on me.  What a blessing life is with these ponies!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories about how amazing life with these ponies is can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Feeding Weanlings

When I first learned about Fell Ponies, I thought, rightly, that their hardiness and easy-keeping qualities would make them a good fit for the Rocky Mountain environment I called home. Indeed they endured winters of three or four feet of snow without difficulty, often to be found during a storm with several inches of snow accumulated on their backs. When I began keeping weanlings through the winter, though, I learned quickly that many of them needed different care than older ponies.

On my first trip to the homeland of the Fell Pony in Cumbria, England, one of the hill breeders I visited had three weanlings in a large, well-lit shed. Later I observed that other hill breeders similarly keep their weanlings indoors or in sheds all winter where they can be fed and protected from the weather. This practice explained why the youngstock that I have imported from England are all much more physically mature than the ponies I raise at home at the same age. Over my two decades of breeding these ponies, I’ve observed that weanlings through to yearlings put all their extra calories into growing, so that they have to be monitored closely in extreme winter weather conditions to ensure they stay in good condition.

In the winter weather of my Colorado home, my Fell Pony weanlings put on quite a fluffy coat. Some of them developed an almost fleece like layer that was as much as two inches think. I quickly learned that it is critical, when monitoring weanlings in cold climates, to work my fingers deep under their coats to the skin to assess body condition. Feeling the ribs doesn’t necessarily mean a pony is too thin; in the Henneke Body Condition Score, moderate or acceptable condition is “Ribs cannot be visually distinguished but can be easily felt.” (1) There’s no way you can visually distinguish ribs under that typical weanling fleece coat, so in addition to palpating the ribs, I have found that palpating the withers is helpful in assessing condition. If I find a hollowness behind the withers then I know that a weanling’s condition needs to be improved. Sometimes I can also get good information by stroking the neck, though that typically gives the best information when done frequently so that changes can be noted. (Click here for more information on assessing body condition.)

What I have found that pony weanlings need more than their older relations in tough winter conditions is digestible energy with low non-structural carbohydrates. Non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) are the sugars and starches in feed that cause glycemic reactions in equines which can lead to digestive upsets, colic and founder, among other diseases. Hay causes a very low glycemic reaction; oats, corn and barley create large swings. NSC values, then, are a measure of the possible glycemic reaction. Typical sweet feeds have an NSC content of 67%, while low-NSC products typically range from 9 to 20 percent. Low NSC feeds are designed to give extra high-quality calories without triggering a glycemic response.

I’ve now moved from my Colorado location and its very snowy winters to South Dakota. We still have real winter with prolonged cold and some snow, but my ponies are eating less hay and more pasture. How I need to care for my weanlings, though, seems similar so far. They do best out with the herd as much as practical, but then need that extra help from regular supplementation of digestible energy. Just like in Colorado, anything extra that they get is put into growth, with just enough flesh to stay warm. So they get very used to me prodding under their heavy coats to see how much flesh they have covering their bones to make sure I’m giving them enough. And they get used to eating their feed with me holding the bucket so they don’t spill those precious calories!

1. https://thehorse.com/164978/body-condition-scoring-horses-step-by-step/

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

Welcome Willowtrail Aimee!

Willowtrail Aimee

From the moment we met, we’ve liked each other.  I first laid eyes on Willowtrail Aimee about an hour after she was born, about 2am.  I hung out until 3:30 when the clothes I’d rapidly put on weren’t enough for the snowflakes spitting from the sky.  I went inside to change then came back out, and when she heard my voice, she nickered at me!

As the day-old photo shows, she has been my shadow whenever I let her.  That fact and our affection suggested her name.  I was a student of the French language when I was younger (fluent in high school but don’t test me now!).  One of the first verbs we learned was ‘to like’ or aimer (pronounced somewhere between ay-may and ee-mee.  Aimee is usually translated as ‘beloved.’  One of the other verbs we learned early was ‘to help’ or aider (pronounced somewhere between ay-day and Eddie).  Since the filly and I liked each other and she was such a helper with all my foaling stall chores, the name Aimee (pronounced like Amy) seemed to fit!

I look forward to getting to know Aimee better as her life unfolds.  I will enjoy watching her grow up in an environment more like the Cumbrian fells than I’ve ever been able to provide my foals before.  Aimee is out of Willowtrail Spring Maiden (a fabulous mom) and by Kinniside Asi.  Aimee is Asi’s third offspring and second daughter.  Aimee is Madie’s second daughter.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

To read stories about the other Fell Ponies at Willowtrail Farm in my various books, click here.

Update on North American Fell Pony Population Status - 2018 stud book

Each year I review the stud book of the Fell Pony Society to learn about changes to the North American Fell Pony population. In January 2020, I finished my review of the 2018 stud book. The chart below shows how the population has changed since 2000 through 2018. The blue bar is the resident population. Red shows foals born in the year and green is imports in the year. At the bottom of the bars is purple, showing deaths in the year.

Here are the highlights of my review of the 2018 stud book. 

• There are roughly 650 registered Fell Ponies in North America.

• As our population ages, the number of deaths annually is understandably increasing.

• The number of foals was greater by a dozen than the previous year.

• In 2018, we had sixteen breeders.  That is tied with the highest number of breeders we’ve had; the previous year we had that many was 2008.  Half of the breeders in 2008 weren’t still breeding in 2018. 

• There were two new breeders in 2018.

• There were about twenty five new owners of registered Fell Ponies in 2018.

For me, it seems like there are lots of Fell Ponies in North America now because compared to when I got started, there’s more than 20 times as many.  Yet there really aren’t that many, and there are lots more people who need to learn about this breed because they will fall in love!

This article was originally published in the January 2020 edition of my e-newsletter Fell Pony News from Willowtrail Farm. If you would like to subscribe, click here.

Ross Did Me Proud!

We arrived in Laramie, Wyoming an hour before the arranged meeting time.  The early arrival was by design; I wanted yearling Fell Pony Willowtrail Ross to have time to eat before undertaking the second half of his journey to his new home.  He appreciatively dove into the hay in the trailer, and I walked my dogs and ate my lunch.

My friend Mike who lived nearby surprised me by coming to visit us, and one of his objectives was to take a picture of the transfer of Ross between trailers.  Then after Ross’s new owner arrived, she expressed thinly veiled concern about Ross loading into her trailer.  Figuratively, the pressure was on.  I admit to wondering how it would go once I saw the other trailer.  The step up was bigger than anything I’d yet asked Ross to do, more than 15”.  Nonetheless, I knew I could get him loaded eventually, so I said nothing and we completed the business portion of the transfer and prepared the other trailer to house Ross for the next several hours.

I had mistakenly left behind Ross’s halter and lead rope, so I used one I had in my trailer and was pleased when he didn’t indicate any concern about the unfamiliar tack in already unfamiliar surroundings.  Then Ross and I unloaded out of my trailer, and Mike snapped the picture here.  Ross’s owner’s trailer was parked right next to mine, so I led him the few feet between and stepped up into the other trailer and ahead into the stall.  I heard Ross follow me without any hesitation at all, and I was one proud pony trainer!  We all laughed though because it happened so fast that Mike wasn’t able to get the picture he’d come to take!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

Out of the Draw

Between the barn where I do most of my work with my ponies and the hill, there is a draw.  In the picture, the trees between Calista and me and the barn are in the draw.  The ponies are of course quite adept at following their favorite paths down off the hill into the draw and back up the other side, usually at a decent rate of speed.  I, on the other hand when traversing the draw, take a very thoughtful approach, seeking out the least elevation change possible to accomplish my goals.  Except when I am with a pony.

Most often it is my lead Fell Pony mare Bowthorne Matty who assists me with navigating the draw. Most of the time I’m navigating the draw when I’m bringing the mares in, and I use Matty’s influence on the rest of the herd to draw them along with us.  If I ride Matty, then we stop at the top of the draw on the hill side, and I dismount; there are numerous low-hanging branches that I’m not interested in encountering on her back.  Going down into the draw she is always very respectful, staying back so as to not step on my heels.  Going up the other side, though, she comes alongside me, and I willingly get her help to get out of the draw. 

The help I get is a handful of mane.  I grab on and where normally Matty would outpace me going up the hill, I am able to keep up because she pulls me along (as long as I keep my feet going!)  We have done it often enough now that she knows we stop at the top of the draw where I say thank you and release my handful of mane.   I am starting to realize how this quiet, undemanding mare has given me a partnership I didn’t know we had.  What a blessing this life with ponies is.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories like this one can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Being Available When They Offer

I am fortunate to have created a life in which I can be available when my Fell Ponies offer something interesting.  One morning when I went out to bring the mares in, I realized the benefits of having this life.  Two of the four mares were sunbathing, and the other two were grazing nearby.  When the mares saw me, the lead and second mare, who had been napping but got up, started walking toward me to greet me.  When I got to the lead mare, who I planned to ride in, she was next to the mare still lying down. 

I greeted the lead mare then dropped the rope hackamore and knelt down to greet the recumbent pony.  She remained where she was as I scratched her withers, and I felt privileged as I always do when my ponies allow me to touch them when they’re lying down.  I pulled out my camera and succeeded in snapping the picture here.  Then I got up to return to the job at hand, bringing the mares into the barn. 

When I got up, I suddenly realized what the lead mare was offering me.  The other two ponies had begun to make their way to the barn, but the lead mare had stayed right there with me, as if looking forward to our ride in as much as I was.  I picked up the hackamore, tied it on her, and jumped on her back.  Two gifts from my ponies - the lead mare remaining and the recumbent pony allowing a photograph - made me appreciate again being available when my ponies offer.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories like this one about my life with Fell Ponies can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

What Color is That? 2

I was curious if this is a dark bay.

Last year a fellow Fell Pony breeder questioned whether I had accurately identified the color of one of my foals.  I provided lots of pictures as evidence in support of the color black, also based on my twenty years’ experience with the breed, and I let the conversation end.  Since then I’ve learned about other colors in the Fell Pony breed besides the breed standard’s black, brown, bay and gray, and my confidence about color identification has been shaken!

When I got started in the breed, I had only jet black ponies, so when my first summer/fading black arrived, it was the beginning of my color education.  This past winter as I watched two young ponies mature, their assumed black coats seemed to have a brown tinge with black points (mane, tail, and lower legs), as shown in the photograph.  Since one has a bay mother and the other has a chestnut sister, I began to wonder if the black color I had assumed was correct.  Could one be a very dark bay and the other be a liver chestnut?

Since I can, I decided to color test these two.  When the results came back, I got a good chuckle.  Both black, as I’d originally assumed.  At least now I don’t have to wonder!  Those black points were just an illusory color, not an indication of a base coat.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More observations like this one on the Fell Pony breed can be found in my book Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

An Assumption Fortunately Affirmed

I got a ride in, but it wasn’t the one I’d intended.  The weather had slightly improved, so I was looking forward to reuniting with my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose. The mares didn’t come in, though, and I needed them in so I could tease and be able to plan my breeding season.  So instead of a ride on Rose, my priority was finding the mares out on the hill and bringing them in.

While the weather was improved, as in slightly warmer, the wind had started to pick up again.  The day before had been really unpleasant, with ice crystals driven so hard that they hurt my face when they impacted.  I realized as I went looking for the mares that they were showing sense by being holed up somewhere out of the wind.  And that made me realize the assumption I had made when I moved here, an assumption fortunately affirmed.

We all were in Colorado together for many years, so the places that we spent time were well known to all of us and therefore the ponies knew how to get out of the weather when they needed to.  When I moved, I assumed the ponies would figure out the same thing here, that they would move to get out of wind or heavy snow or sun.  Behind that assumption, though, was another assumption, that they would explore their new place and remember where the best places to go were when they needed them.

I did what I could to help them learn our new place after we arrived, walking them entirely around their hill pasture and showing them where their sheds with minerals were and where water is.  What I didn’t do, I now realized, was take them to likely protected spots when the weather turned.  I had assumed they would return to those spots on their own.  Fortunately for me, (or I would have felt really guilty!), they did seek out those protected spots, like they had on this morning, on their own.  I couldn’t really blame them for not being at the barn when I was ready to start chores because they would have had to stand out in the wind awaiting my arrival.

As I rode the head mare Bowthorne Matty towards the barn with the rest of the herd following, I pondered whether all equines would have figured out where to seek shelter from weather after moving to a new place like we had.  Then I remember a gelding I had once who stood out in a hail storm, trying to tuck his legs under his body and hunching against the maelstrom, instead of seeking shelter in his shed.  I went out into the storm and led him to his shelter, where he stayed and seemed sheepishly thankful.  That memory made me even more thankful for my Fell Ponies whose natural instincts are endlessly fascinating to watch and learn from.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

You can find more stories like this one about my life with my Fell Ponies in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

The Gentleman and the Devil

The gentleman Ross gets his photo taken standing tied later in the day that he was a devil!

Willowtrail Ross, my 9 month old Fell Pony gelding, utilized a hole in the pasture fence three times before I found it.  He was after the lawn in front of my house, considering it more appealing than the hill where the pony herd roams.  The lawn was definitely lusher and exotic compared to the native grasses on the hill.  And definitely not something I wanted him consuming a lot of!

The first two times he was out were during the late afternoon, and I walked up to him with a halter, put it on him, and returned him to the hill.  Not so the third time.  I woke up and looked out the window to see him grazing as fast as he could, with the rest of the herd looking longingly over the fence at him.  I threw on some clothes and headed out, grabbing a halter and lead rope out of one of my horse trailers that was parked nearby.  I walked towards Ross as I had previous times, and I saw him take a step away when I got within twenty feet.  Hmmm.  I thought, this is different.  Sure enough, he wouldn’t let me come any closer than twenty feet.

I’d had enough of that game before very long, so I swung the lead rope any time he put his head down to graze.  He soon recognized the pattern and let me come closer. I was able to give him a good scratch but before I could put the halter on, he moved off.  I realized the halter I had picked up was different than the one he usually wears – an adjustable web-type with a loose snap ring that jingled when I moved – so I went to get a halter more familiar to him.  This time I was able to get close enough to give him a good scratch and get the halter on his nose, but he reared into the air before I could get it fully on him.   Hmmm, indeed!

I knew what the problem was.  I’d experienced it once before with one of his older sisters.  Too much rich feed.  With his sister, it was just a few days before her new owner was due to come pick her up, and I couldn’t get a halter on her.  I was panicky until I figured out the problem.  Within two days of reducing the rich portion of her feed, she was back to her normal compliant self.  I was reminded of what happened once when I fed some neighbor children brownies with raspberry jam topping.  They went from being polite and mild-mannered to ill-behaved and needing to move-move-move!  The same thing happens to ponies.  I did eventually get Ross reunited with the herd, by haltering his mom and using her influence on him to get him through a gate back onto the hill. 

A few hours later, when I had the herd in for their feed buckets and daily handling, Ross approached me in the paddock to say hello, back to being his normal gentlemanly self.  It almost felt like he was apologizing.  When it came time to halter him, I approached with lots of question marks in my head, but I tried to keep my concerns well-muffled.  He let me halter him as usual.

Later, when I thought back on Ross in his devil mode, I thought I might have been more successful with him if there hadn’t been so many unusual circumstances.  He had been separated from the herd (just by a wire fence but separated, nonetheless), I was trying to halter him while the rest of the herd was loose (usually I halter him last after everyone else is standing tied), I was wearing loose-fitting clothing that was unfamiliar to him, and I tried to use that unfamiliar halter.  The best strategy for keeping Ross in his gentleman mode, though, is to not let him get in the candy shop.  I found his hole in the fence later that day and repaired it!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories from my life with Fell Ponies can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Another Worry 'Stone'!

Drybarrows Calista, one of the ponies from whom my most recent worry ‘stone’ may have come from.

Over the past few years, I have collected quite a number.  It hasn’t been entirely intentional because most of them I’ve just happened upon in the paddocks while I’m feeding.  They all are on my desk where I can pick them up and handle them when my stress level rises or when I’m on the phone and need something to occupy my hands.  They are not conventional worry stones.  They are pony teeth.

All but one are temporary teeth shed naturally by my Fell Pony youngstock, usually when they are three years old.  The exception is the largest one, a permanent tooth that my smallest, Mya the Wonder Pony, lost when she was 28.  Most of these teeth are caps from Kinniside Asi, my now four year old stallion.  I found them last year and the year before while feeding in his paddock.  Apparently the ground conditions allowed them to stand out so I could see them.  Or perhaps I was meant to find them to assemble this collection of worry ‘stones!’  One cap is from Willowtrail Mountain Honey when she was three. 

I have two three year olds in my herd at the moment:  Drybarrows Calista and PrairieJewel Pearl.  The milk tooth I just found is from one of them.   I am happy to add it to my collection!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

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

Exploring

By far, the riding I have done with my ponies over the past two decades has been of a single type.  I have gone out, sometimes on trails, sometimes off trail, exploring.  Sometimes the route is entirely new to me, and sometimes it is familiar.  Even familiar routes, though, are new every time, due to weather or the pony I am riding or changes in the landscape (downed trees, for instance) or the time of day or the wildlife that is about or the dogs that are accompanying us.  Only very, very rarely have I gone out riding with another person.

Rose and I out exploring

When I am new to a place, the exploring has more dimensions of course.  I am truly exploring a landscape for the first time, learning where routes go and how each route relates to another and what routes might be worth exploring further.  The first two places that were entirely new to me I explored with the same pony, Mya the Wonder Pony.  I know now that I took for granted Mya’s suitability to the role of fellow explorer.  She was level-headed and sure-footed and slow to spook and alert without being on edge.  I still remember vividly the first time we encountered a bear while out riding.  She stopped and looked at it, allowing me to do the same, until it wandered off.  She didn’t snort or get busy feet or get tense.  She gave me confidence to continue taking our exploratory rides.  Mya is now retired and elsewhere, and I have a new place to explore. 

I have been bringing my homebred Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose along in her ridden work.  Exploring was not something she took to when we began.  Every time out she had new reactions to new things and new reactions to things we’d seen before.  I came close to giving up hope that she’d ever be my fellow explorer, since newness is inherent to exploring.  Then one day things seemed to change.

I had learned of a new route.  Previously I had been taking Rose on the same route day after day, adding distance usually but sometimes asking her to tolerate different weather or ground conditions or cattle populations.  Then I asked her to tolerate my dogs going with us.  That seemed to be easier for her than many of the other things I’d asked.  And one day I decided to try the new route.

The new route involved not only new scenery but also elevation changes and close foliage and a building she’d never seen up close before.  And the dogs were along.  It was a beautiful day, and for me it was even more beautiful because Rose carried me safely and sanely on the new route with all its newness without complaint.  I was ecstatic.

Nearly every day since, we’ve gone exploring.  Nearly every day we are going someplace we’ve never been before.  And since I live at the bottom of a valley/canyon, nearly everywhere we go has elevation change (and views!)  A month or two months or three months ago I would not have believed you if you’d told me Rose and I would be exploring our new place with my dogs.  She hasn’t yet achieved Mya’s standard of fellow explorer, but now I believe that we can get there, and I’m excited by the possibility.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

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

Following the Willow Trail in Search of Burdock

After yet another 45 minute session removing burrs from a pony’s forelock, I decided it was such a nice day that I would begin my burdock eradication program.  It is a program I will be working on for the rest of my life, but even if I save myself a few hours a year, it will be worth it!  And it wasn’t just the ponies that motivated me.  My puppy is much less tolerant of having burrs removed from his coat than they are, so in the interest of our relationship, I decided it was a program needing to be begun.  Plus the dogs loved running around and we of course saw the ponies while we were out!

What an amazing amount of havoc a small amount of burrs can create! This is Willowtrail Spring Maiden.

I was asked recently what the meaning of my farm name, Willowtrail, is.  I wanted a name that reflected where I live, yet I knew my life might cause me to relocate occasionally, so it had to be a name that was applicable to the type of terrain that I prefer to live in.  In the dry climate of this region of the world, members of the willow (Salicaceae) family are usually found along water courses or in low spots, and flowing water can be considered a trail, hence Willowtrail.  At the first farm where I had Fell Ponies, Turkey Trot Springs, the dominant willow family member was cottonwood.  In the high mountains of Colorado, it was aspen and various willow species, and here in South Dakota I am amongst cottonwood again. 

It was at Turkey Trot Springs that I first learned the consequences of Fell Ponies meeting burdock.  There burdock was found in heavy shade underneath the cottonwood trees, so I was pretty certain that the ponies were finding the burdock here in South Dakota down in the ravine where the cottonwoods are.  This time of year, of course, the burdock plants are dead, so I was in search of bushes that still had burrs on them.  It wasn’t long before I learned that here burdock also seems to have an affinity for the shade of juniper trees.

My plan for eradication at the moment is to harvest as many burrs as I can find before the ponies find them and at the same time learn where the plants are growing.  My tools were garden clippers, purchased decades ago to cut flowers from my garden (when I had a garden!), and a feed sack to put the seed heads in, later to be burned.  I got a good laugh at the number of burdock stalks that I encountered that no longer had seed heads.  I knew who had collected them!  But in less than an hour, I had made a good harvest and progressed a hundred yards or so down the ravine.  Humorously, my harvest represented about the quantity that I currently need to remove from my ponies’ hair!  On my return from seeing the ponies, I walked the rest of the ravine, and there is lots of work left to do!  In the process I found my prize for the day, a beautiful feather.

Burdock is considered a medicinal plant.  Nearly all parts of the plant – fruit, seeds, roots, and leaves – are used to address conditions as diverse as colds, gout, cancer, and stomach ailments.  I found several stalks that had been eaten down (presumably after the burrs had been ‘removed’), so I wonder what ailment and what animal was responsible for that harvest.

I am looking forward to my next foray onto the willow trail to harvest burdock.  It is a job whose benefits I well appreciate!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020