Communication through Scratching

I had just come in from spending some time scratching my stud colt Globetrotter Moth in all his favorite places when an email on that very topic appeared in my inbox. While there are lots of training tasks I could do with Moth right now, what seems to be benefiting our relationship most is these short, focused, quiet times together. I know from experience that when he turns two later this year, he’ll eventually cross a mental threshold where he’ll be more interested in tasks. For now, companionship is good enough.

If you are on horsemanship clinician Warwick Schiller’s email list, then you will have seen his “Scratching for Connection” message. I could easily put pictures to his story in my mind because I was once in the spot that his client was. Twenty years ago, I had to be shown that a very stoic Fell Pony I owned actually did have an itchy spot and did enjoy being scratched there. Now I’m pretty good at eventually finding the itchy spot on any pony I spend time with. And scratching my foals is how I begin establishing our relationship. It’s then easy to move on to building their basic skills, such as wearing a halter, yielding their quarters, not using me as a chew toy, leading, having their feet handled, and loading into a trailer.

Schiller uses different terminology, but in general what we’re doing is establishing a language that lets us communicate. We can scratch and then quit at a particular point of achievement to let them know what their achievement was, or as Schiller describes, we can scratch and quit when a stoic equine indicates they notice what we’re doing, acknowledging their choice to acknowledge us. Or we can scratch in reaction to an achievement to express our appreciation. By establishing these patterns of communication, we can build on them in ways that may be unique to the two of us but nonetheless enrich our relationship.

At the moment, I wouldn’t call Moth stoic. He’s quite willing to express himself about what he thinks of his world and the beings in it. When I am scratching Moth, he interacts with me almost continually. And then when I leave, he stands still. I know by that stillness, and that he stays with me when I’m scratching him rather than walk off, that I have made a favorable impression on him. And that’s good enough for right now.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Humble Pie and Summer Blacks

Over the course of the few months it took him to read the book, my nephew would give me reports via video chat. It finally became clear I needed to read the book, too, and I gave him a book report back. His response was, “Your comment about making a regular diet of humble pie made me laugh, but I think it’s a good philosophy to live by.”

What if the summer black color is an asset rather than a sign of nutrient defiiciency?!

The book was 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann. I thought I was aware of the newer understanding of how Native Americans worked with the environment of the Americas to support their lives. This book, though, made me realize I had no idea how extensive their stewardship was and how large their populations were that were supported by that stewardship. Hence my comment about needing to make a regular diet of humble pie; there will always be more to learn, and I’d best not get too set in my way of thinking about things!

Since I spend a lot of time everyday thinking about Fell Ponies, I wondered what might be cause for eating humble pie on that topic. Immediately what came to mind was the color summer black. I started my Fell Pony career with two jet black Fell Ponies, but a few years later I learned that black ponies also come in a variety that fades in the summer. The conventional wisdom was that it was a copper deficiency that led to the fading, and indeed I have been able to keep the fading black ponies that have since joined my herd blacker by supplementing with copper. Since copper also is a necessary nutrient for the immune system, I felt it was an important way for me to support the health of my ponies in many ways.

My ponies and I lived at high altitude in Colorado for many years, where summer temperatures were moderate. Since moving to South Dakota, we have had to get used to hotter summer weather, and for the first time I have seen my ponies sweat not from exertion but from heat. I am grateful for the many sheds and forms of natural cover available to them so they can get out of the sun when they want to.

My serving of humble pie came spontaneously. What if a fading black coat is an adaptation for hot summers because it doesn’t absorb quite as much heat as a jet black coat? I can make many arguments about why it’s still important to supplement copper, but I will try to be open to the idea that if my ponies’ coats fade, the change in color may be helpful to them, too!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

“Fell Pony Hair and Copper” is one of the chapters in my book Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

How We Lead

The other day when I was out riding my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose, I saw an opportunity thanks to our recent wet weather. There was a sizable puddle ahead of us on the ranch lane, and I asked her to walk through it. She didn’t even hesitate. I was of course very grateful because not all equines will walk through water without a little experience.

The mud channel in the paddock presented a learning opportunity!

During morning chores, I halter all the ponies and tie them to a fence to get their feed buckets. My youngest is Willowtrail Marie, nine months old. I haltered and tied everyone else, and then Marie came to me willingly to be haltered and led to the fence. Between where I put her halter on and the fence was a muddy section of ground, as is shown in the photo. I led Marie to the edge of the mud then gave her some extra rope while I jumped the mud to avoid getting my boots muddy. Marie stopped and didn’t initially respond to several asks on the lead rope by me to follow. Eventually she stepped into the mud and joined me.

I quickly realized why Marie had hesitated. It was how I had chosen to lead her. I wanted her to follow my tugging on the lead rope, but she was responding to my body language. If I was concerned about putting my feet in the mud, then she should be too! The next day when it came time to halter her and lead her to the fence, I walked straight through the mud, and so did she with not a moment’s hesitation.

Whenever a pony refuses to do something I’ve asked them to do, I reflect on how I’m leading. Is there something I’m communicating by my actions that has led them to refuse? Sometimes that’s the case, and others not, but at least it’s a question worth asking. Had Rose refused to go through the puddle when I was riding her, I was prepared to dismount and walk through it with her to show her it was okay. These ponies are so smart and observant that they demand we be the same. What a blessing life is with Fell Ponies!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Moth and Minerals and Water

When my new Fell Pony stud colt Globetrotter Moth arrived from England, I was pleased that he was content with the hay I had to feed him, and he learned quickly where water was available. I was also pleased at how sensible he was about going into the shed in his paddock where the free choice salt and minerals are available. I wasn’t too surprised then that the first few days into his life here went well. And then one day, he wasn’t right.

Stud colt Globetrotter Moth investigating the loose free choice minerals shortly after arrival.

I checked him before dark, and he was lying down and uninterested in a handful of green grass. Not a good sign! I went into emergency mode and within a few hours, he was back to normal after several heavy doses of probiotics. Then I began wondering what had happened. I concluded it had to do with water and minerals.

For most of the year, the waterers for the ponies are fed by spring water. Sometimes, though, well water is in the pipeline when the spring can’t keep up with the number of cattle and other animals on the ranch’s water system. The spring water has been tested as the best quality in our area; the well water is heavier in minerals. I have noticed that my ponies change how they use their free choice minerals when the water is switched from one type to the other.

On the day when Moth didn’t feel well, the water had been switched from the spring to the well. I realized he hadn’t had time to learn to use the free choice minerals to keep his system balanced when the mineral content of the water changed. Sure enough, while Moth had been willing to go into the shed where the mineral feeders are, he hadn’t used them. I made sure he had spring water as well as well water as he recovered.

A few weeks later, after it was clear that Moth was using the minerals, I weaned him back onto well water only when I also saw him drinking it regularly. I checked him several times, and sure enough he did fine. I was very thankful with how sensible he was about learning to use the minerals. And I was thankful for free choice minerals and that the ponies use them to keep their systems balanced. I can’t begin to adjust their mineral supplements as well as they can do it for themselves.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Minerals and the Moon

Many years ago, I read an article by Dr. Doug Hammill, DVM about salt and minerals for equines. (1) His recommendation was for the salt and minerals to be provided loose and free choice: loose because equine tongues are not coarse enough to get what’s needed from a block and free choice to allow the equine to get what they need when they need it. Weather, exercise, change in hay or water all can affect the mineral combinations that equines need.

Providing minerals loose and free choice allows ponies of all ages to get what they need when they need it.

I have always felt fortunate that my first mentor in all things equine told me to provide minerals and salt loose and free choice. Over the years, as I replenish minerals in the various sheds that my ponies use, I have watched how their use of minerals changes. Usually I can pin a change on something, whether it’s a change in weather or a change in feed, for instance. An article in the Stockman Grassfarmer, however, suggested an influence on mineral uptake I hadn’t pondered before.

Joel Salatin, whom you may know for his long work with pastured poultry, had traveled to New Zealand to talk to farmers and stockmen about grazing. In one of his conversations, a stockman pointed out to him that the influence of the moon on mineral uptake isn’t appreciated. That’s definitely something I’ve never considered! The stockman made their observation in the context of plants taking up minerals that grazing animals then take up. The moon is known to influence water, and since many minerals are water-soluble, it makes sense there could be a connection between the moon and mineral uptake by plants and by extension by grazing animals. Here’s another good reason to provide minerals in a way that equines can get what they need when they need it. I certainly can’t keep track of how the moon might influence what they need or don’t!

1. Hammill, Doug, DVM. “Ask a Teamster,” Small Farmer’s Journal, Fall, Vol. 31, No. 4, page 22.

2. Salatin, Joel. “Meadow Talk: New Zealand Farmers Montage.” Stockman Grass Farmer, August 2023.

   © Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Starting to Walk Together at Liberty

A Fell Pony colleague recently asked me how to start walking with a pony at liberty. I like questions like that because they make me think! In this case, I had to think back quite a few years to how I got started. The good news is that most of us already have probably started without even knowing we’re doing it.

By walking with a pony at liberty I mean walking from one place to another or in a particular pattern with no tack connecting me to the pony. They willingly walk beside me, stopping, starting, and changing direction whenever I do. Mostly I am doing things at a walk with the pony right beside me where they would be if there were a lead rope between us. Sometimes I increase the distance between us, which requires a stronger connection between me and the pony, and it’s certainly possible to send the pony away from me and bring it back, if our connection is strong enough. And sometimes I will ask for a faster gait such as a trot or canter.

The way that I got started was to evolve something we were regularly doing with a halter and lead rope between us to doing the same thing without that physical connection. Once we’d figured that out, it was possible to build on that. Rather than communicating via the halter and leadrope, we communicated via body language. It’s likely your pony is already paying attention to your body language when it comes to being led, so this sets you up well for success!

First, leave the halter and lead rope on, and be more intentional about how you move your body to communicate with your pony. Perhaps you can stand up taller before you start walking. Perhaps you can take a step without moving the lead rope. Perhaps if you use voice commands, you can say ‘walk’ before you change anything else. Look for the slightest reaction from your pony, and reward it, whether they just flick an ear or raise their head or perhaps even prepare their body to take a step. And build from there. Remember this can be subtle stuff, so pay really close attention to what you are doing and how they respond.

Another thing that I have found helpful in working with ponies is to have a succession of ask ‘levels.’ Ask subtly first, then a little less so, then more assertively, etc. Be really consistent each time you ask, with the goal being they recognize the ask with the most subtle cue. For instance, if my goal is to have my pony step forward when I do, my first ‘ask’ will be to visualize what I want. Yes, I’ve had a pony respond to this sort of ask. It is incredibly humbling. My second ask will be to stand tall. My third will be to lean forward. None of this has any impact on the lead rope. My fourth ask will be to take a step, trying not to move the lead rope. And wait. If my pony doesn’t follow me, then my fifth ask would be enough of a tug on the lead rope to get them to move their feet forward to stay with me. Then I will start the series of asks again from the beginning. Eventually, if we’re patient enough and consistent enough, the pony will start to see the pattern and respond with movement before the lead rope is engaged. We can then build our liberty work from there.

Another way to ‘start’ is while you’re already walking. Then without using the lead rope, stop and see if your pony stops with you, and build from there, again using your body language and not the lead rope for communication. It’s important to be really clear with your body language, so if you’re walking, stand tall and plant your heels with authority when you stop, maybe even raising your elbows to increase the ‘size’ of your intent. It’s my experience that I need less and less ‘size’ or ‘authority’ over time because they learn that I’m using my body language intentionally to communicate, as opposed to being unconscious about it, which I definitely have been in the past.

What I have learned over time is that I can be really sloppy with my body language, or I can be really clear. The more clear I am, just as in spoken language, the more easily my intent is communicated. So perhaps the first ‘step’ is to walk with your pony as you always do and pay attention to what you are communicating with your body rather than the lead rope.

I can guarantee that beginning to work with your pony at liberty will change your relationship with your pony. I consider the change to be for the better, but not everyone will. The photograph here provides a good example. The mares that I wanted to come into the paddock in the morning decided instead to stay outside it about forty feet from the gate. I walked out to where they were, greeting them verbally and stopping about five yards away to see if there was an explanation for their unusual behavior (they usually meet me at the gate and come in when I open it.) Then, because I hadn’t brought a halter and lead rope with me, I walked to the lead pony and tucked my hand under her head and with gentle pressure asked her to come with me. She didn’t move except to toss her head in mild defiance. I took my hand away, and she stepped toward me, offering to follow me at liberty. Our liberty work has changed our relationship: she preferred in this situation to comply at liberty rather than with pressure from my touch. Some might not like the mild defiance; I just took it as a suggestion of a better way. As you can see from the photo, all four ponies then followed me in through the gate at liberty. I certainly can’t complain about that!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Well, That was Different!

Taking my Fell Pony foals with their dams to the river has become a fall ritual since I moved to South Dakota. In Colorado, there was a river in their summer pasture, so the foals got used to crossing water by following the herd to graze. Here, we don’t have live water in their pasture, so it’s a 30-minute trailer ride to the Cheyenne River. I time it in the fall so the water is low for a safe crossing and the road is dry, since we have a mile or so of dirt access. Catching the fall foliage is a bonus! It has become such a fun ritual that my friend Jackie likes to accompany us regularly, which is a blessing because she takes great photographs!

Rory followed us for a bit but then headed off the other direction. Photos by Jackie Gericke

So far, the trips to the river have followed a consistent pattern. I’ve already accustomed the foals to riding in the trailer with their mothers, so they have loaded into the trailer without much issue. Then they unload at the river and follow them to the river’s edge, then after some contemplation, they follow them into the water. We go back and forth across the river several times until they seem relaxed about it, then we reverse the process, walking to the trailer, loading, and returning home. Foal #5, though, was a different experience!

Willowtrail Rory loaded up with his mother Bowthorne Matty without any indication of the strangeness ahead of us. He unloaded fine, too, and followed her for a short bit towards the place where we cross the river. But then he turned around as if he’d passed some choice morsel he just had to go back to eat. I walked Matty toward him to encourage him to join us, but he calmly just walked further away. So we went back to the river and stood in the center. Usually a foal will get worried and come to the river’s edge to be close to their mom, but not Rory. He walked even further away, seeming to explore the new environment that he found himself in. He would occasionally get concerned and call out to us, but he was uninterested in joining us or even coming close.

Matty and I in the river waiting for Rory to join us. Photo by Jackie Gericke

After fifteen or more minutes, it became clear that having Rory cross the river that day was not meant to be. So the next step in the outing was to get back in the trailer and go home. Rory, though, had other thoughts about this, too. We spent another twenty or more minutes with me leading Matty toward him to get him to follow her back to the trailer. Then Jackie took Matty and stood near the trailer, and I tried herding Rory toward the trailer (his leading skills weren’t good enough for this situation yet). He still was uninterested in following his mother into the trailer. Then Jackie had the great idea of moving the trailer near a pile of brush that could act as a corral panel. I felt like we were in the Old West as I placed more brush strategically to create a chute of sorts. On the second try, Rory decided that getting in the trailer with his mom was an acceptable alternative to wandering around with me following him. We closed the trailer door with a heavy sigh.

I was so thankful for Jackie’s peacefulness with this time-consuming and unusual outing. It was clear Matty was quite content in Jackie’s company while we waited for Rory to be cooperative. Right before we got in the truck to come home, Jackie said, “It’s in trying times that one’s true horsemanship is revealed and you find out if you want to work with that person or not.” Very true, I thought. She then continued, “And I want to work with you, Jenifer.” It was such a blessing to hear that then.

On the drive back, I pondered what had happened with Rory at the river. I concluded that some genetics were at work. His paternal half-sister took a long time to cross the river with her mother last year. And his maternal half-brother had a similar but more stressful experience back in Colorado. In that case, Matty went across the river and her son didn’t follow. He was stressed out, and she was enjoying green grass. I watched for ten minutes, and neither of them appeared able to modify their behavior, so I reunited them and put them in a pasture without the river. The next day Matty and her son crossed the river together.

Rory back at the barn. Photo by Jackie Gericke

I doubt we’ll have an opportunity for a do-over at the river for Rory this fall. The weather is about to change dramatically which will likely end our river outings until next year. Rory will soon be well halter-broke so he can be introduced to water crossings at the side of a human partner rather than his mother. He’s a sensible young man, so I’m sure it will go fine. And next time Matty has a foal, I will allow for multiple trips to the river if necessary!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2022

Treats. Treats? Treats!

Every pony person at some point ponders whether to give treats to their partner. Horse people have the same wondering. Some of my ponies get treats and some of them don’t. I’ve had the bad experience of giving a pony a treat that I shouldn’t have. It took months for the pony to come back around to not begging constantly and being pushy looking for me to give it something to eat. Because of that sort of experience, I’ve always said that some ponies can have treats and others can’t.

However, I started thinking about the topic differently thanks to a master horsewoman. She suggested the idea that ponies can be taught to have good manners around treats. It was a statement that seemed so obvious when I heard it but one I had never considered before. This horsewoman, Carolyn Resnick, believes in beginning all her training at liberty and beginning it around food. Her point is that if you don’t have good behavior at liberty and around food, how can you expect to have it when doing other things with the equine constrained in some way by tack? It is a fascinating study.

This begging behavior needs to be reshaped before the pony receives a treat. She needs to seem uninterested, preferably standing back in a relaxed manner with ears not back.

These weren’t completely new ideas. I ask my ponies to have good manners around feed buckets, for instance, which definitely improves our relationship. They aren’t allowed to eat after I put the bucket before them until I give them permission. Carolyn points out that the starting point around giving treats is to understand what good behavior around treats looks like. I admit I had never consciously considered what good behavior would look like when giving a treat; I just recognized bad behavior and then didn’t see the opportunity for reshaping it!

Carolyn also says that we create food-aggressive equines by the way we feed. This, too, was a new idea to me, in part because, again, I had never really given it much thought. But now it totally makes sense. If we feed our equines without recognizing the opportunity for shaping good behavior, some will end up taking advantage of the situation by becoming pushy, or worse, such as rearing or biting or kicking. I have seen all these behaviors in my ponies at some point, including in foals around their mothers! I am thankful for Caroyln’s Waterhole Rituals for the opportunities they present for shaping good behavior.

For the moment, for the safety of people such as outside buyers and visitors, I will continue to say that some ponies should not be given treats. And when I can I will suggest that there is another perspective!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2022

There are more stories like this one in my book The Partnered Pony: What’s Possible, Practical, and Powerful with Small Equines, available by clicking here or on the book cover.

Coming Back from a Scare

Our ponies can make us complacent around them because they are so friendly and calm which makes coming back from a scare challenging.

They happen to all of us.  Accidents are part of life as equestrians. From getting a toe stepped on when picking hooves to coming off when riding or even getting run over when in a herd situation, accidents happen.  And they often cause us to start approaching our ponies differently.  Sometimes we’re more cautious, sometimes more forceful, sometimes more tentative, sometimes angry.  I was talking to a friend, and he said his first thought was to be angry.  I on the other hand after a scare feel unconfident around my ponies despite having them in my life for more than two decades.  I think that these differences between the genders are common.  Though we may differ in how we express ourselves, the underlying truth is we may be afraid.  What do we do to get back to enjoying being with our ponies again?

I have certainly had to walk this path back to feeling safe being around my ponies.  More than once.  I have learned that the first thing on the path back is to honor the fear, not try to muffle it or ignore it.  It’s important to be safe and to take appropriate action when we don’t feel safe.  Don’t get back in the saddle.  Don’t enter the stall.  Don’t walk in the pasture.  Not until we have a strategy to feel safe again.

Part of that feeling of safety is trust.  Trusting ourselves to make better choices.  Trusting our pony not to hurt us.  Trusting ourselves to know when a pony is safe to be around or when it’s not.  There is a great discussion of trust between horse and human in the February 8, 2022 Mastery Horsemanship blog post by Don and Rachel Jessop (click here).

Then I’ve learned that baby steps work best.  Thinking of our previous routine and finding one small thing that still feels doable is a great place to start.  Haltering a pony is an example, keeping in mind that this in itself is a multi-step process.  Or just offering the halter and lead rope to our pony for them to sniff.   Even just letting a pony sniff our hand over a fence could be a good way to get started.  Fences are our friends when coming back from a scare.

Because our ponies tend toward the quieter side of the temperament spectrum and often like to engage with us, we can forget that they are much larger than we are and have independent minds.  Our ponies can therefore move instantaneously if so motivated, whether we are in the way or not.  I heard a clinician say once that it’s important to have equal parts draw and drive, meaning that while we want them to come to us, we also want them to go away from us when we ask.  With our ponies, it is easy to have more draw than drive.  We need to make special effort to sculpt that drive away to keep ourselves safe.

In a herd or pasture setting, I have also learned the importance of ‘getting big.’  If my herd starts approaching me at a run when coming toward me and I get concerned for my safety, especially from playful youngsters, I will flap my arms away from my body to make it clear that I want them to stay away from me.  I will use my elbows similarly when distributing hay in a paddock for the herd.  With stallions I will sometimes use a plastic bag on the end of a whip or a flag or a stick-and-string to ‘get big,’ creating a larger space that I don’t want the pony to enter unless invited.  If I have visitors who are not pony-savvy, I will carry a flag to create space around them since they aren’t aware they need to do it for themselves.

That my ponies are so interested in ‘talking’ to me when they see me makes stewarding them so enjoyable.  Yet there are times when I have to approach them in new ways.  And I have to ask them to approach me in new ways to keep our relationship healthy.  Relationships with ponies, and all things, are a process not a destination. There’s always work to do!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2022

Barn Work

I love this time of year. My chore load has transitioned away from foal care. My mares and youngstock are on their hill pasture continuously. The herd meets me at the barn in the morning. And now that the temperatures have dropped and flies are no longer distractions, we are all happier and able to engage more productively.

On a recent edition of Warwick Schiller’s podcast Journey On, I listened to Warwick interviewing Carolyn Resnick, creator of the Water Hole Ritual and author of Naked Liberty. After listening to the podcast, I appreciated Carolyn’s perspective about horses even more than I did before, in part because she shared that she has maintained the perspective of a child throughout her long life. Every time she approaches an equine, she does it with no expectations and lots of observation. She shared a story about her first horse whom she began with at three years old. Strawberry I think was its name, and it was an aged babysitter but also with enough go to keep her interested. He would do anything for her and was as near to perfect as a horse could be for a person her age. Later she met an American Saddlebred stallion whom she was told to stay away from by his handler because he was so mean. She spent time sitting outside his stall, and in time he became less mean and more willing to engage, teaching her that there’s a Strawberry inside every horse. She concluded this part of her story by saying that bringing out the Strawberry in every horse she meets is always her goal. This time of year for me is magical because it’s about continuing the process of bringing out the Strawberry in each of my ponies.

Given Carolyn’s focus on liberty work, I was surprised to hear her say that all the best horsemen she knew had their horses standing tied during the process of developing them. She said it without judgment, and I expected to hear her then say something like, “But I choose to do things differently.” But instead she said that standing tied is indeed an important part of the process. The reason? It’s the only time that equines get to stand around doing nothing with tack on. It’s a chance for them to get used to having things on their bodies without other things going on. It’s a chance for them to get comfortable with that before more is asked of them. Standing tied is a part of this time of year with my ponies. I think it’s an important step in mentally conditioning my ponies for eventual work, a beginning step in instilling a working mindset in them. (For more on working mindset, click here.)

Carolyn and Warwick talked about the dangers of “trainer’s mind.” They mean we can have our own agenda and often forget to see what state of mind and body our equine is in. Another of Warwick’s guests was a very accomplished dressage rider. She has staff at her barn, and people often think they are there to do the ‘barn work’ of brushing, picking feet, leading from place to place, and tacking up. But she said she would rather do all that work and have her staff do the riding because it was doing that ‘barn work’ that let her see where the equine was at mentally and physically so she could set them up for success under saddle when that time came. ‘Barn work’ is very important to me for exactly the reasons this woman stated. Before I can have peace in my day, I need to know that my ponies are well. Meeting them at the barn in the morning, witnessing their behavior and interactions, and handling them briefly provides me the information I need to go forth into my non-pony day. This time of year with its beautiful weather is ideal for long ‘barn work’ sessions that my ponies seem to look forward to as much as I do.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2021

You can find similar stories in my book The Partnered Pony: What’s Possible, Practical, and Powerful with Small Equines, available by clicking here or on the book cover.

Eyes in the Back of My Head

My first horsemanship mentor had three stallions at their facility when I was visiting and helping out there. They also kept my first Fell Pony stallion after I bought him until I felt my horsemanship was up to having a stallion at my place. One of the first rules they shared with me was, “Never turn your back on a stallion.”

I now have my fifth Fell Pony stallion. The relatively mellow nature of our breed means it can be easy to be complacent around stallions, so I try to keep my mentor’s advice in mind. For me, it is often about turning on ‘the eyes in the back of my head’ when I turn my back to a stallion. I raise my awareness of where the pony is and how far from me before I turn my back to them, keeping my senses tuned so that I return my gaze to them if they approach me so I can manage our interaction.

Now that it is spring, there is green grass in my stallion grazing paddock. The gate is at the bottom of the incline that is the stallion paddock, so I walk with my stallion from the top to the bottom. I have taught him to walk calmly beside me with no tack, stopping and starting when I do. Nonetheless, his energy can be high in anticipation of green grass, and because it’s breeding season, mares and mating are on his mind. So I am extra mindful about watching using either the eyes in the front or the back of my head.

At the bottom of the hill, I ask him to stop ten feet from the gate and stand still. If he moves, I ask him to return to where I left him. Then I move to the gate to open it. The eyes in the back of my head get a workout since I turn my back to my stallion to get the gate unlatched. Once I have the gate ready to open, I make sure my stallion is still listening to my direction, only moving toward the grazing paddock when I invite him.

I am always mindful of how quick our ponies can be. A colleague told me a story of entering a paddock where there was a three-year-old colt (‘colt’ because he hadn’t bred any mares yet.) My colleague, like me, headed across the paddock to open another gate and in an instant the colt had jumped on them from behind, knocking them to the ground. My colleague is an excellent horseman and took full responsibility for the accident, knowing that they had turned their back on a stallion without fully activating the eyes in the back of their head.

It was very easy to imagine how this sort of accident could have happened. There’s a reason my first mentor gave her rule about never turning your back on a stallion. My stallion has days where he is especially rambunctious and he finds it challenging to contain himself on our walk down the hill towards the gate to the grazing paddock. On those days he will shoulder into me to try to initiate some sort of game, sometimes trotting in place and then trotting off if he gets the reaction from me he is seeking.

I am thankful that my colleague shared their story about their young stallion jumping them. It has helped me to be more mindful to open the eyes in the back of my head when I am with my stallion.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2021

Crossing the ‘Stream’ and Other Small Lessons

One of the challenges of being a Fell Pony breeder is figuring out how to fit riding and driving training into the reproductive schedules of my mares and my related workload. Sometimes, of course, mares have years when they are open, so there’s plenty of opportunity then. But when they are bred or have foals at foot, my answer is often to do things in small, frequent doses. For instance, recently when the days have been incredibly short in December and the weather has been unusually pleasant and warm, I have been looking for excuses to be outdoors. So, I’ve been taking a few minutes with each mare to do something each morning when I have them in the paddocks at the barn.

In my experience, there’s always something small to be worked on, even if I don’t know what it is in advance. Just preparing to mount and mounting often gives me an idea, such as reminding one of my girls about the importance of standing still during mounting. Or once underway, I need to remind a mare to maintain the particular gait I’ve asked for. In one mare, turning as we approached the paddock fence revealed a braced neck, so we’re working on that. Improving responses to leg aids is another one that has come up since one mare is very good in that department and the others not so much by comparison.

One morning we’d had a light snow, which is all we are getting right now in our drought. Runoff from the barn roof after the sun warmed things up created a very small ‘stream’ through the paddock. I didn’t think anything of it until I was riding one of my mares, and she stopped at the edge. I realized I had never ridden her through water before; our ridden work had not progressed that far back when we had regular access to live water for such lessons in Colorado. So my work with her that morning became learning to carry me across the ‘stream,’ though it wasn’t really much more than wet soft ground. Nonetheless, she refused just like equines will sometimes do when asked to cross water, so it was a good opportunity to carry out an important lesson.

One short lesson is nice, but stringing small lessons together over multiple days is even better. And with six fillies/mares, the total time is a good match for my schedule. As is always the case when working with ponies, consistent, purposeful attention makes for rewarding progress.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories like this one can be found in my book The Partnered Pony, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Calista Claims Her Spot

Calista at the periphery of the gang of three

I am always watching how my ponies interact:  who likes who, who pushes who around, who stays with who in the pasture, who mutual grooms who, etc.  Three of my mares are very tightly bonded, so much so that one of them will vocalize whenever the three aren’t together.  One mare that was born with me but then was away for three years has never been able to insert herself into that threesome, despite being back for five years.  An outside mare that I bought is often to be found off by herself rather than with any of the other ponies.

When I decided to import my mare Drybarrows Calista, I asked her breeder where she stood in the herd hierarchy (knowing of course that there’s no such thing as a strict hierarchy in equine herds.)   When I was told she was in the middle of the pack, I considered that good news since it meant she was likely to fit in and wouldn’t exhibit aggressive behavior in a quest for leadership nor be a loner.

This fall I have been running all my mares together again for the first time since late winter and for the first time with the outside mare that I bought.  It has been interesting to see Calista adapt to this situation.  During the summer I ran her with the outside mare, so I assumed that she would continue to buddy up with that mare because she was head of their herd of two.  Calista would vocalize when she couldn’t find her buddy, making me think they were indeed herd mates.  But occasionally I would find her with the mare with foal at foot, and the outside mare was off somewhere by herself.

With three choices before her, Calista has made it clear, though, where she prefers to be.  She doesn’t want to be head of her herd of two, and she hasn’t bonded to the mare with foal.  She prefers to be with the gang of three mature mares, even if she’s on the periphery of their herd.  It’s hard to argue with her choice.  Those three are strong, confident mares, probably like the herd that Calista was born into on the fells of Cumbria.  I will watch with great interest how Calista’s relationship with the gang of three evolves.

© 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.

From White-Eyed to Willing

Pearl loading easily by the fourth day

It’s so good for me to have an older Fell Pony here to work with because it reminds me to not take for granted all the work I do with my youngstock.  Recently I’ve been working with three-year-old Pearl on trailer loading.  It was gratifying to see her progress from white-eyed to willing.

Pearl of course has loaded into trailers before; she had to to get here!  And she didn’t offer any resistance to being loaded when I met her breeder half-way after I bought her.  Nonetheless, when I knew I needed to take Pearl on a ride in the trailer, I decided to be sure she was willing and able since it had been six months since I’d last asked her to take a ride and we’d only had that one experience together.

On our first day, when we approached the trailer, she started getting concerned.  Her head came up, she started moving away from the trailer as far as the lead rope would allow, and she started showing the whites of her eyes.  I let her stand about six feet away while I went ahead of her into the trailer.  I put a little pressure on the lead rope, asking her to come towards me, and when she shifted her weight the slightest bit, I released the lead rope.  Having established that communication pattern, I got her to approach the trailer a footstep at a time and then sniff it warily.  After several minutes, she stepped up and in.  Clearly she was able to load, but she was not confident about it.

We took a short ride, during which she pawed a lot and spread lots of manure all over the trailer floor.  When it came time to unload, she again was very unconfident, hesitating at the edge of the trailer floor, lowering her head and sniffing and looking at the ground before jumping out of the trailer rather than stepping out and down.  All in all, though, that she loaded and unloaded with as little effort as she did was great news.  The next goal was to get her more confident about it so when we’re in an unfamiliar place, she will hopefully not have second thoughts about trailering.

Pearl unloading more confidently than she did the first day though still with a jump.

The next day we repeated everything just as the day before, and she loaded more quickly with less white showing in her eyes.  The next day the same, except there was less manure in the trailer and no white showing in her eyes.  I took both as a sign that she was a little less concerned about the ride.  The next day she stepped right in after me.  She was still a little hesitant about unloading but much less so.

Since she’d loaded so well, the next day I asked for something a little different.  Instead of me going first, which has some safety disadvantages, I led her to the trailer opening and then asked her to go ahead of me.  I was pleased when she did so without concern.  Then she unloaded the calmest she had yet. And there was a single pile of manure in the trailer, undisturbed. Great feedback!

We’ve now taken a few days off, so I will repeat our little exercise again to see if and how much she regresses so I know how much more work we have to do.  My goal is for her to be not just able to load but to load and unload calmly and without hesitation so that in different circumstances we can trust each other.  So far, so good!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

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

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

What She Did Next

I knew I was jinxing myself when I said that my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose’s preferred acts of disapproval didn’t include bucking, bolting, or rearing.  She is an equine after all, not an automobile, so certainly at some point there would be something that would set her off.  Even Mya the Wonder Pony, who was stellar in so very many ways, once bucked me off!

But it was what Rose did next that spoke volumes.  The morning after, when she first saw me, instead of walking by while I was holding open the gate, she stopped to check in with me.  Then a little while later she was nearly perfect on our ride, including during a desensitization session that for the few prior days had been challenging for her.

The day before, we had gone out on our ride down the ranch lane as usual, but the calves hadn’t been fed.  And since the last time we’d ridden before feeding time, the population of the pasture had grown noticeably.  Nonetheless Rose did very well until we got to a section of a trail we hadn’t ridden before.  Calves were below us but out of sight behind brush, making noise as they broke twigs or crunched through ice.  I dismounted to walk the new section, allowing Rose to experience the newness without the added stress of me on her back.  She was on high alert until we returned to familiar ground, at which time I remounted.  I could tell she was still a little strung out, but we continued safely back to whence we’d come.  As we had been doing, we trotted the section on the ranch lane along the calf pasture.  I let her get going a little faster than I should have for the conditions, and when I asked her to reduce her speed, I lost a stirrup.

As all equestrians eventually learn, things can happen in an instant.  I lost a stirrup.  It flipped up and backward, hitting Rose in her flank.  Rose twisted and kicked up at it, and I went off.  As soon as I was able, I got onto my feet, taking a few deep breaths to will my body to be just fine.  I then realized that Rose was standing where she had been when I came off, watching me.  Then she came quietly to me, allowing me to lean on her as I recovered my composure.  I was overwhelmed at this gesture.  She didn’t run all the way back to the barn or anywhere else.  She stayed with me and offered what help she could.  Eventually I mounted and we rode the remaining distance to the barn, and I was thankful I didn’t have to walk on my wobbly legs.

I of course take full responsibility for this incident.  In the course of Rose’s training I did what I do with all my ponies, let them walk then trot on-line with the stirrups dangling and flailing around because at some time in their life they’re going to need to know that that situation isn’t an indication of the world coming to an end.  But as my colleague the master horseman Doc Hammill said when I told him this story, I didn’t do that desensitization work in the full context of that day.  Nonetheless, what Rose did next was what mattered most to me.  It was feedback that I had prepared her reasonably well.  What she did next was to stay with me and offer the help that she could.  For that I am truly grateful.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

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

What Did I Do Right?!

In one of my earliest horsemanship lessons, at the beginning of my Fell Pony career, I asked my instructor a question.  It was when my pony did something other than what I was trying to get it to do, and I asked, “What did I do wrong?”  Bless Ezra Marrow for his answer!  He said it’s just as important, if not more so, to ask what we’re doing right as it is to ask what we’ve done wrong.  We need to take credit when things go well, especially if we’re going to beat ourselves up when they go otherwise.

So when I had rides on my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose two days in a row where she was nearly perfect, I asked myself “what did I do right?!“  After days and days of rides with refusals and reverses and broken gaits, how had I come to those rides on those days differently?  Of course, there are numerous other factors over which I have little control, such as the weather, the state of mind of the cattle near which we ride, not to mention the state of mind of my pony!  And now with breeding season approaching, it could also be changes I’ve made to her diet in advance of boy-meets-girl.

One of the first horsemanship books I was given as a gift was Centered Riding by Sally Swift.  What I took away from Swift’s emphasis on soft eyes was remembering to take in the set of the ears of one’s mount, not just where we want to go and the path we want to take to get there.  I am very tuned in to not only where Rose’s ears are pointing when we ride but where the tip of her nose is, too.  When she starts to turn it away from our line of travel, I’ve found that returning it to our line of travel seems to help to keep Rose focused on the ride we’re taking versus letting her attention drift to the many, many things in our surroundings that she could decide to be worried about, from calves and bulls to tractors to turkeys to deer.  Other ponies I’ve ridden haven’t required that sort of assistance with focus.

I once took Rose’s half-sister Lily to a horsemanship clinic to see what guidance the instructor could give me on improving our relationship doing groundwork.  He said I needed to be more provocative with her, that she wasn’t sufficiently engaged with me in our current manner of work.  By ‘more provocative’ he meant to do quick changes of direction and cues to get her really paying attention.  I found this very challenging.  I tend to be the slow-twitch rather than the fast-twitch sort of person - think long distance running rather than sprinting - and he was suggesting I needed to be different than I am.  What I’ve learned with Rose is that instead of speed I can ask for more precision, and this keeps her engaged.  If I ask for a step back, I want it now, not a few seconds after she thinks about it.  If I ask for her feet to move in a particular direction, I return her to the starting point and try again until we get exactly what I want.  If I want her to stand still, she doesn’t get to move her feet, at all.  We will return to the original placement of all feet and stand still again until I ask for something different.  Mind, Rose is fully mature, so I’m working with a mature brain; I wouldn’t expect this sort of precision from a less-trained or less-mature pony unless they were ready for it.  I think this sort of precision work is part of what I’ve done right with Rose. Other ponies I’ve worked with have been willing to give me their cooperation without asking for this sort of precision work first.

Treats as training aids are as controversial as any topic in horsemanship.  I know people who don’t ever use them, and I know more people who don’t use them as well as they could.  I remember a master horseman once saying that if you are adamantly against ever using treats then you have removed a tool from your toolbox.  Rose is motivated by treats, and I use them at particular times to reward particular behavior and attention. I have found they can make a positive difference with Rose.  And I am always experimenting with how she responds with and without them.

Everyday Rose comes up with ways to test if I’m paying attention, so I always need to be very alert to any new behavior she’s bringing to our time together.  When we have times that we are in harmony, though, it is magical, and I am more motivated than ever to figure out what I did right!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

My book The Partnered Pony contains many practical stories like this one. It is available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Acknowledging Rose and Her Pre-Flight Checks

One of my earliest memories of my first Fell Pony Sleddale Rose Beauty makes me chuckle now, though at the time it was definitely Beauty who was doing the chuckling.  I had gone out to handle her feet, and I was using the technique that was working on my other (non-Fell) ponies.  Beauty, though, had absolutely no interest in cooperating with my approach, though I knew she knew what I wanted.  I could pull her feet off the ground by pulling on her feather, but I couldn’t get her to lift them for me.  Eventually, Beauty was one of my favorite hoof trimming objects because she was so cooperative, but that first time, I was the one getting the lesson about how things should go.

“What’s next?!!”

As I have been bringing my mare Willowtrail Wild Rose back into work, I have often thought back to other ponies in her line that I have worked with in the past.  In addition to her mother Beauty, I worked with her half-sister Lily.  When I went back and re-read things I wrote about working with Beauty and Lily, I chuckled with recognition.  Rose is definitely of that line!

In the last few days, Rose’s attitude towards me has definitely changed to one of intense interest in what we might do together.  The photo here shows her in that frame of mind.  What got us to this rewarding point was acknowledging Rose like I used to acknowledge her mother and doing pre-flight checks like I used to do with her sister.  To read about acknowledging Beauty, click here.  To read about Lily’s pre-flight checks, click here.

After I met my friend and mentor Joe Langcake, I asked him about Beauty’s type of cooperation.  He replied that he had owned a Sleddale mare once, and he had got shot of her because she was too much work; she took too much effort to bring along.  Christine Robinson of the Kerbeck Stud acknowledges that ‘they are certainly independent,’ but they have a type of physical package – legs and feet, bone and substance, broad back and wide chest – that make them worth the effort.  Christine has said, ‘I found all our [Sleddale] ponies were really willing to please and good workers.” (1) Joe acknowledged that when he later saw his former Sleddale pony at a show, he was very impressed with her.

When Rose was born, I thought that now I might have a pony in that line that I could work with.  I so loved Beauty’s type that it is a conservation goal of mine to keep it going since the Sleddale ponies are no longer being bred.  Rose is definitely of that line, but she also is willing to be a good worker, as long as I acknowledge her and pass her pre-flight checks!

1. Morrissey, Jenifer.  “The Sleddale Fell Ponies and Mr. Henry Harrison,” Fell Pony Express Volume 11 Number 2, Fall/Winter 2012, Fell Pony Society of North America, p. 10.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

There are lots of stories about Rose’s relations in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Bringing Rose Back Into Work

To say I’ve been surprised by how difficult it has been to bring my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose back into work would be an understatement.  Previously she had taken me on lovely trail rides, packed loads in panniers, worked in harness moving manure, and begun to pull a cart.  Then I gave her a few years off to be a broodmare.  I began to bring her back into work slowly, I thought, by taking a short ride and then each day adding a little more distance.  All went well for a few days.  Then one day she absolutely refused to let me ride her down the road, one that she had happily taken me down a few days before.  I was both frustrated and confused.  And these feelings of frustration and confusion continued when day after day, my various strategies that previously had been successful couldn’t convince her to go down that road again.

To her credit, she didn’t buck, rear, or bolt.  Her favored expression was reverse gear which she could do remarkably ably, quickly, and on cue – whenever I asked her to go forward!  Rarely would she let me make up lost ground.  I set up the round pen to see if there was something broken in our basic relationship.  Nothing there.  I tried hand-walking her over the offending ground.  I tried backing her up the road on-line.  I tried circling her on-line, moving up the road with each revolution.  She made it clear she wasn’t afraid, she was just determined not to go under saddle.  That’s when I contacted my friend Eddie.

Eddie has a Fell Pony mare who will do anything for him; she is as sassy as they come but Eddie is her match.  Recently, at their combined age of 97, he brought her out of retirement to harrow the arena at the barn where she is stabled.  Eddie often tells me stories about other people at the stable asking for his assistance when they are having trouble with their mounts.  One story stuck in my head, and when I told Eddie about my problems with Rose, he agreed it was the right teaching story to recount.  A big warmblood was suddenly refusing to go through a gate out of the yard that previously he had been more than willing to pass through.  His rider had tried all manner of strategies, all without success.  The gelding wasn’t scared; he’d just decided that his idea about the gate was better than his human’s.  Eddie worked with the young woman on a plan, advising her to be prepared because the horse might buck, rear, or bolt.  The plan was for Eddie to be stationed just before the gate with a long-handled heavy plastic scoop shovel in hand.  As the warmblood and his mount came to the gate, the big boy as usual refused, and Eddie swatted him on the rear with the shovel.  Through the gate horse and rider quickly went!  The next day Eddie was again stationed in the same spot, and when the horse saw him, it was clear that he pondered refusing but thought better of it and went through the gate.  The horse is back to compliantly going through the gate without Eddie’s motivating presence.  He just needed convincing that perhaps his idea about the gate wasn’t the right one after all.

Eddie lives thousands of miles from me, so I had to figure out how to set up a similar lesson for Rose that I could execute alone.  I did figure it out, and I was absolutely amazed how this one simple thing changed our relationship.

In the final chapter of the book Kinship with All Life, a friend of the author’s wants to experience the same degree of connection with one of the author’s animal friends as the author has.  It doesn’t go well at first. The visitor has all kinds of preconceived notions about how things should go between a human and the animal’s kind, and the animal knows this instantly and chooses not to interact with the visitor.  Then, after much coaching from the author, the visitor changes his mental approach and comes to the animal in this new frame of mind.  Instantly it is clear to all present that the visitor has succeeded in achieving his goal of connection.

My work with Rose continues to progress.  Every day I find new ways to come to our work that acknowledges her role in our relationship and mine.  She’s made it clear it’s not about leader and follower.  She just needs me to be the best version of myself I can be.  Challenging, yes, but hard to argue with!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

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