Fell Ponies and Milk Floats

Darkie in Silloth, 1974, courtesy Christine Robinson

First, a definition.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a float is “a low-bodied dray for transporting heavy goods.”  It has been suggested to me that the word in this context is of Scottish origin.  A milk float then is a low-bodied cart or wagon for transporting milk.

Two Fell Pony colleagues have shared with me that their first experience with Fell Ponies was with milk floats, so I had to learn more.

Here are excerpts from "Fell Ponies and Milk Floats" in the May 2015 edition of Fell Pony News from Willowtrail Farm (a similar story was published in the newsletter of the Fell Pony Society):

• My first memory of the association between Fells and dairies is from talking to Bob Charlton of the Linnel stud.
• Judith Bean shares, "A black Fell walked up the vicarage drive where I grew up and parked (without direction from the farmer/milkman) beside the back door."
• Joe Langcake says Fells were ideal for this work.
• Helen Gallagher shares about her grandfather's milk float.

To read the entire article, click here.

More stories 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 cover image.