Mountain Ponies 2

When the farrier was out the other day, as usual we had wide ranging conversations as we passed the time while he worked. In addition to updates on his family’s farm and animals, he shared with me his family’s ‘odd hobby’ (his words) of doing historic train holdup reenactments. They dress in period clothes, carry period firearms, have a script that they follow, and shoot blanks to entertain tourists.

I shared with him the current state of my similarly ‘odd hobby’ of breeding Fell Ponies. At the moment, I am quite consumed by the actual work of breeding – putting mares with carefully chosen stallions and making sure they are successfully bred – and he was complimentary about my newest filly who was born a few hours after his last visit here. (He was also impressed with her foot-handling skills at such a young age!) But I also shared with him my current research projects about the Fell Pony breed that help inform my breeding work. One of my current research projects is about the packhorse history of the Lake District in the Fell Pony’s home terrain. We then touched a little on the conformation that I think makes an ideal Fell Pony, one that could do that packing work but also the other work the breed has been asked to perform over its history, including ridden, driving, and draft.

There was a lull in our conversation, and then he said, seemingly out of the blue, “When we were ranching in the mountains, this is just the sort of horse,” pointing at the pony he was trimming, “that we were always wanting.” He then elaborated that it was shorter in stature, stoutly built, sure-footed, hardy, with nice large hooves, and able to pick its feet up to go over rough terrain. I immediately thought back to a similar statement that my late husband had made about the sorts of mounts an old cowboy he knew always rode in the mountains. That cowboy ranched only a handful of miles from where my farrier once ranched, so the similarities were even more apparent to me.

I don’t often run across people who understand the characteristics of a mountain pony and why they are important for the work they do. So it was a thrill during the long tedious chore of attending my farrier to hear his appreciation for my mountain ponies!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2021