I’d Like to Know Who Led that Adventure!

My house, which is at the same elevation as the barn and foaling shed, is just below the top of the tallest tree left of center.. The ponies are below that stand of trees (the dark spots).

Late in the afternoon I watched the ponies heading up the hill.  The day before was the first time I had found them more than fifty feet above the barn, and then it was only three of them.  The hill has about 400 feet of elevation change, with the lower reaches gradually rising, and the upper reaches being quite steep.  For their first year here, which they’ve just completed, the ponies have stayed in the lower reaches.  Now though, they are running out of forage and it is cool enough that they can venture farther from water for longer periods, which I expect are what inspired the climb. 

Right before starting late afternoon chores, I saw a line of dark spots about two-thirds of the way up the hill moving left to right across the steepest part of the hillside (I wish I’d taken a picture!).  On closer look I saw that it was definitely six of the ponies.  I tried to get a bearing on where they were since when I began my climb to visit them, I would be under them and unable to see their location.

As it turned out, I missed them and hiked all the way to the top then northeast along the ridge until I could see them below me.  Two of the ponies were bedded down resting, a choice I definitely understood after making a similar climb!  What I really wanted to know, though, is who had led them on their adventure.  That pony would make a great trail pony!  The first pony to greet me when I descended to the herd was Drybarrows Calista, my fell-born girl, and she seemed bright-eyed compared to the rest of the herd.  She’s low down in the herd hierarchy, so it’s hard for me to imagine she was the leader.  Maybe in time I’ll be shown the answer!

Between the top and the ponies, I was rewarded for my efforts with discovering a very large elk antler (often called a ‘shed’).  When I got to the ponies, I was also rewarded when the sun burst through the clouds on the western horizon and cast pink light on the hill tops.  The camera I had with me doesn’t like low light, hence the fuzzy image of Calista and the shed and the pink light.  What a fun outing!

© 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.