Bells

I've always associated bells with sleighs, and I even have a string of sleigh bells.  I took them out to my ponies one day after reading an article about bells that expanded my perspective on them.  Highlights from my article about bells include:

Willowtrail Spring Maiden
  • Fell Ponies are generally considered to have served as pack ponies in the 18th century and earlier.  
  • The lead pony on a pack string traditionally wore bells to warn oncoming traffic of the approach of the string.
  • An article in Driving Digest magazine stated that bells were sometimes used on traveling stallions.  I’ve never heard of this use of bells in stories about Fell Pony history, though it’s certainly easy to imagine how they might have been used in this way.

To request the full article as well as a link to a video of my ponies with my string of sleigh bells, click here.