Maybe It Was Aimee?!

When my Fell Ponies first started climbing high on the hill here, I asked, “I wonder who’s leading that adventure?”  (Click here to read the story.)  I figured that that leading pony would be a great trail pony.  I had several possibilities in mind.  There was Matty, the herd leader, of course.  And there was Rose, my trail and heart pony, and there was Calista, my young mare born on the fells of Cumbria.  None of them, though, had seemed particularly interested in exploring the hill.  A few days later I got a possible answer about who that adventurous lead pony might be. 

After the ponies’ initial adventure, when I got to the barn one morning to start chores, five of the seven members of the mare herd greeted me.  Madie and her five-month-old daughter Aimee were the missing ponies, and I figured they were out on the low elevation portion of the pasture somewhere as they often were that time of morning.  I expected they would appear before long as they normally did.

I prepared all the vitamin buckets, a sound that usually brings in any stragglers, but there was still no sign of Madie and Aimee.  I called to them several times, since Aimee often comes running when she sees or hears me.  They still didn’t appear, so I set Madie’s and Aimee’s buckets aside and fed the ponies that had come in, doing my normal inspection of their physical and mental wellbeing.  I then turned them all loose and pondered what to do about Madie’s and Aimee’s unclaimed buckets.  I walked out on the low portion of the hill to the west and didn’t see them, which seemed odd, so I carried the buckets to my house to check around the hill to the east, one of their favorite hangouts.  When they weren’t there either, I became a little concerned.

As I walked back to my house, I pondered what my next move should be.  Should I just assume they were all right and would reunite with the herd during the day?  Should I double check the lowlands to the west to be sure I hadn’t missed them somewhere?  I was tired and didn’t relish the idea of another mile or two of walking.  I stopped to take a deep breath then looked up on the hill.  I was astonished to see two black specs halfway up the hill.  Madie and Aimee!  They were in behind some trees so not visible from the barn.  I saw Aimee raise her head and look toward me when I called to her, but she made no move in my direction.  Okay, I told them, have a good day!  I returned their buckets to the barn to be fed another day.

A friend who met Aimee during the summer suggested that perhaps it was Aimee who had led the herd up on high that first time.  I could see the logic; Aimee certainly has the makings of a lead mare, but at such a young age I wondered if the herd would follow her.  But then I had seen Aimee lead her mother up in elevation a month before.  I will never really know, of course, which pony led the herd on that first adventure on the hill that day, but I’ve now added Aimee to the list of possibilities!

© 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.