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

Fell Ponies and Water

CHRISTINE ROBINSON'S PONIES IN THE SOLWAY FIRTH AT HIGH TIDE. COURTESY CHRISTINE ROBINSON

On an exceptionally high tide in the Solway Firth in the north of England (and south of Scotland), Christine Robinson released her Fell Ponies into the tidelands to see what they would do. Each of them behaved differently, but they all ventured into the water. “The reaction of Fitz View Henrietta, Harthouse Honey and Townend Jasmine to today's high tide was a combination of not bothered and let's play in the water! Henri went in first, but not too deep, then Honey just waded past and started pawing and sloshing the water round. They are crackers! It was heaving it down and blowing a gale, and they had dry ground to stand on but chose to play instead!”

I loved a comment from a fellow Fell Pony enthusiast in reaction to Christine’s photos. “Who needs Koniks?!” Koniks are an imported breed being used for conservation grazing in marshy areas in the homeland of Fell Ponies. While Fells aren’t historically associated with marshland grazing, it’s clear they are amenable to it! And certainly they should be considered whenever conservation grazers in marshland in their homeland are needed.

I personally have never seen a Fell unwilling to cross water. One summer when we lived in Colorado, I saw mine standing in the river running through the pasture much more than in the past. I don’t know if it was the particular herd of ponies I had at the time or something else. Two of the four mares were born there and had been crossing that river their entire lives.

In the 1996 Fell Pony Society Spring Newsletter, there is a photograph of six mounted Fell Ponies belly-deep in water. Liz Whitely wrote, “Swimming has been the highlight of the last two years’ [annual trek to the Breed Show.] Makeshift bridles are made and swimming costumes donned (by the riders!) and in we go. The water last year was wonderfully warm and the ponies really loved it – and it makes their coats so soft. When they’re not swimming they often stand and paw the water making a fantastic splash.” (1)

The most dramatic story I’ve heard about a Fell Pony and water was told about Jonty Wilson and his pony Edenview Moonstroller. “One day in March 1976, Jonty was out driving Edenview Moonstroller hitched to a four wheeled flat cart. When he came to a place called ‘Beck Foot,’ …the old road was blocked, but Jonty surmised that if he crossed the river to the field beyond he could then cut back onto the lane, and thereby join his original route. Stroller went so far into the water and then stopped. Jonty asked him to go on, as he thought that he just did not want to go any further. Stroller stepped forward, as he had been told to do, and in doing so stepped off a ledge into some 16 feet of water… Out of his depth, Stroller swam to the opposite side of the river, and despite plunging at the riverbank, it was far too steep for him to be able to climb out. So Stroller turned and swam back to where he had first entered the river, pulling himself, the cart and Jonty to safety. Even if he had been able to swim, which he couldn’t, Jonty feels that if he had not kept hold of the reins he would have been swept away and besides he had on his thick topcoat and his wool lined wellingtons which were enough to drag him under when wet. Jonty emerged soaked to the skin, and although his whip and the coat he was sitting on were both gone, he still had his cigarette in his mouth!” (2) Stroller was born on the day astronauts first walked on the moon, so perhaps he had good water karma from that momentous moon-day!

1. Whitley, Liz. Fell Pony Magazine, Spring 1996, p. 23.

2. Wilson, Jonty. “Stroller Saves Jonty Wilson’s Life,” Fell Pony Society Spring Newsletter 2001, Volume 3, p. 48.

A Pony Excellent Adventure

Nearing the end of the day, I was in the mood for an adventure.  I had scouted the location a few days before, and the stars all seemed correctly aligned for the adventure to turn out well.  I went to get my Fell Pony mare Madie and her daughter Aimee.  It was time for Aimee to cross water for the first time.

When we lived in Colorado, the ponies crossed water regularly because the Michigan River ran through their summer pasture.  Here, we have wonderful hills but no live water, so I had to create the opportunity to cross water, hence the adventure.  I couldn’t have been more thrilled with my two homebred girls.

The first step was to load the girls in the horse trailer.  Again, back in Colorado, taking rides in trailers was a regular part of life because summer pasture was four miles from home, so all my ponies get excited when I have the trailer hitched, thinking that there will be abundant green grass at the other end of the ride.  But here, there is no reason to trailer the ponies because the hill pasture is right outside our door.  Aimee and Madie, then, hadn’t been in a trailer in three months, and back then Aimee was just a month old, so it was still a novel experience for her.  Nonetheless, our adventure got off to a good start when Aimee followed her mom right into the trailer.

The trip to the river took 25 minutes, and was quite varied, from highway speed to corduroyed gravel to rough two-track. When we got to the river, I put on my rubber boots and unloaded the girls, neither of whom had ever been to the Cheyenne River before.  I opted to lead rather than ride Madie across the river to be as sure of success as I could be.  I hadn’t ever ridden Madie across a river before, though she’d crossed it on her own, and this one was new to me, too, so I felt leading her was the best strategy.  This lesson was for Aimee, after all, not Madie!

When I had scouted the river a few days before, I had decided on a particular crossing point that was wide and shallow (about seven inches at its deepest.)  Madie followed me through the coarse grass on the bank and down into the river and across without hesitating.  Aimee hesitated for a moment at the bank and then followed her mom.  Success!  I had a foal once who would not follow his mom across the river until several days of opportunities had passed, so I was ecstatic that Aimee was as confident with this adventure on the first try as she has been with everything else.

We went back and forth a few times before the failing light of the day dictated an end to our adventure.  The girls loaded up without hesitation, another success, and we returned home without incident.  I will repeat the water-crossing experience for Aimee when the stars align again.  The access road is not passable if it is wet, and the river is low right now because the region it drains hasn’t had much rain in the past month.  The river can easily become swollen and too high for safe crossing if a rainstorm hits northeastern Wyoming or southwestern South Dakota.  For now, though, I will savor the excellent adventure I shared with Madie and Aimee and my canine companions.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

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