Exploring

By far, the riding I have done with my ponies over the past two decades has been of a single type.  I have gone out, sometimes on trails, sometimes off trail, exploring.  Sometimes the route is entirely new to me, and sometimes it is familiar.  Even familiar routes, though, are new every time, due to weather or the pony I am riding or changes in the landscape (downed trees, for instance) or the time of day or the wildlife that is about or the dogs that are accompanying us.  Only very, very rarely have I gone out riding with another person.

Rose and I out exploring

When I am new to a place, the exploring has more dimensions of course.  I am truly exploring a landscape for the first time, learning where routes go and how each route relates to another and what routes might be worth exploring further.  The first two places that were entirely new to me I explored with the same pony, Mya the Wonder Pony.  I know now that I took for granted Mya’s suitability to the role of fellow explorer.  She was level-headed and sure-footed and slow to spook and alert without being on edge.  I still remember vividly the first time we encountered a bear while out riding.  She stopped and looked at it, allowing me to do the same, until it wandered off.  She didn’t snort or get busy feet or get tense.  She gave me confidence to continue taking our exploratory rides.  Mya is now retired and elsewhere, and I have a new place to explore. 

I have been bringing my homebred Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose along in her ridden work.  Exploring was not something she took to when we began.  Every time out she had new reactions to new things and new reactions to things we’d seen before.  I came close to giving up hope that she’d ever be my fellow explorer, since newness is inherent to exploring.  Then one day things seemed to change.

I had learned of a new route.  Previously I had been taking Rose on the same route day after day, adding distance usually but sometimes asking her to tolerate different weather or ground conditions or cattle populations.  Then I asked her to tolerate my dogs going with us.  That seemed to be easier for her than many of the other things I’d asked.  And one day I decided to try the new route.

The new route involved not only new scenery but also elevation changes and close foliage and a building she’d never seen up close before.  And the dogs were along.  It was a beautiful day, and for me it was even more beautiful because Rose carried me safely and sanely on the new route with all its newness without complaint.  I was ecstatic.

Nearly every day since, we’ve gone exploring.  Nearly every day we are going someplace we’ve never been before.  And since I live at the bottom of a valley/canyon, nearly everywhere we go has elevation change (and views!)  A month or two months or three months ago I would not have believed you if you’d told me Rose and I would be exploring our new place with my dogs.  She hasn’t yet achieved Mya’s standard of fellow explorer, but now I believe that we can get there, and I’m excited by the possibility.

© 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.

Following the Willow Trail in Search of Burdock

After yet another 45 minute session removing burrs from a pony’s forelock, I decided it was such a nice day that I would begin my burdock eradication program.  It is a program I will be working on for the rest of my life, but even if I save myself a few hours a year, it will be worth it!  And it wasn’t just the ponies that motivated me.  My puppy is much less tolerant of having burrs removed from his coat than they are, so in the interest of our relationship, I decided it was a program needing to be begun.  Plus the dogs loved running around and we of course saw the ponies while we were out!

What an amazing amount of havoc a small amount of burrs can create! This is Willowtrail Spring Maiden.

I was asked recently what the meaning of my farm name, Willowtrail, is.  I wanted a name that reflected where I live, yet I knew my life might cause me to relocate occasionally, so it had to be a name that was applicable to the type of terrain that I prefer to live in.  In the dry climate of this region of the world, members of the willow (Salicaceae) family are usually found along water courses or in low spots, and flowing water can be considered a trail, hence Willowtrail.  At the first farm where I had Fell Ponies, Turkey Trot Springs, the dominant willow family member was cottonwood.  In the high mountains of Colorado, it was aspen and various willow species, and here in South Dakota I am amongst cottonwood again. 

It was at Turkey Trot Springs that I first learned the consequences of Fell Ponies meeting burdock.  There burdock was found in heavy shade underneath the cottonwood trees, so I was pretty certain that the ponies were finding the burdock here in South Dakota down in the ravine where the cottonwoods are.  This time of year, of course, the burdock plants are dead, so I was in search of bushes that still had burrs on them.  It wasn’t long before I learned that here burdock also seems to have an affinity for the shade of juniper trees.

My plan for eradication at the moment is to harvest as many burrs as I can find before the ponies find them and at the same time learn where the plants are growing.  My tools were garden clippers, purchased decades ago to cut flowers from my garden (when I had a garden!), and a feed sack to put the seed heads in, later to be burned.  I got a good laugh at the number of burdock stalks that I encountered that no longer had seed heads.  I knew who had collected them!  But in less than an hour, I had made a good harvest and progressed a hundred yards or so down the ravine.  Humorously, my harvest represented about the quantity that I currently need to remove from my ponies’ hair!  On my return from seeing the ponies, I walked the rest of the ravine, and there is lots of work left to do!  In the process I found my prize for the day, a beautiful feather.

Burdock is considered a medicinal plant.  Nearly all parts of the plant – fruit, seeds, roots, and leaves – are used to address conditions as diverse as colds, gout, cancer, and stomach ailments.  I found several stalks that had been eaten down (presumably after the burrs had been ‘removed’), so I wonder what ailment and what animal was responsible for that harvest.

I am looking forward to my next foray onto the willow trail to harvest burdock.  It is a job whose benefits I well appreciate!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

Fetching Pearl

Pearl coming to me - what a blessing! - and Ace, my Aussie puppy companion

It was nearing the end of daylight hours when I headed out with my two Australian Shepherds. Our objective was to fetch my new Fell Pony Pearl in for the night.  I had put her out on the hill with the rest of the ponies, but the day before when I had done the same thing, she had not stayed with them.  She had met me at the gate at the barn, and I had put her in.  This time, Pearl didn’t meet me at the gate, but when I found the main herd on the hill, Pearl was not with them either.  Apparently the mares still weren’t letting Pearl hang at the periphery of the herd.  I had hoped one of the mares had befriended her, but I was wrong.

It had been snowing lightly all day, so I thought I would be able to track Pearl to her location.  I was able to rule out one direction of travel, but in the other direction, the wild turkeys had been there before me and had scratched away pony tracks if there had been any.  As I contemplated where to look next, I saw in the distance some steers looking over the pasture fence, so I headed in their direction in case Pearl was the object of their gaze.

After walking the eighth of a mile west, I found that indeed the steers had correctly communicated to me Pearl’s whereabouts.  Across a ravine, the pony herd watched me closely from a distance as I approached Pearl.  I was thrilled when she came walking toward me, though I sighed a little dejectedly to see her tail and forelock sticking out at right angles due to Pearl discovering cockleburs during her day out.  That was a problem I could deal with later.  My more immediate concern was getting Pearl back to the barn without ‘help’ from the rest of the herd.  Especially since the path to the barn narrowed considerably along the fence at the top of the ravine.

After haltering her, Pearl and I began walking along the fence bordering the steer pasture then along the first paddock called the windbreak.  Bless my puppy Ace for his companionship, but he could sense that things were a little tense and he wanted to be right in front of me on the narrow path, essentially underfoot.  The steers from their side of the fence were fascinated and watched the three of us keenly.  And on the other side, the mares were watching from across the ravine.  I was pleased that Pearl remained calm about the steers since they were so close at hand and that she was accustomed to having Ace around her feet. 

The mares watching Pearl, Ace and I walking along the fence

Then my fears were realized when the mares started coming towards us, down into the ravine and then back up on our side at speed.  Pearl also saw this change and became more concerned.  I quickly assessed our options while I put myself between Pearl and the other ponies.  I didn’t have an extra lead rope to use to drive the other mares farther away, and they tried to crowd us whenever I didn't swing the end of Pearl’s lead at them.

I decided my best option was to go into the windbreak and take our chances with the steers who were following us on their side of the fence, rather than fend off five mares all the way back to the barn on a narrow path.  The first gate we came to required more work to operate than I could manage while holding off the herd.  The next gate not too far ahead I had used once before, so we headed for that, with me looking over my shoulder to make sure the mares didn’t get too close to Pearl and possibly push her into me.  And of course trying not to trip on Ace.  The good news was that Pearl, while very concerned, was willing to listen to me, stopping and starting when I did and letting me get around her to drive the herd back when I needed to, with neither of us stepping on Ace.

I got the gate open while occasionally pushing the mares back, but it didn’t open very far, so I had to convince a reluctant Pearl that going through the narrow opening was a better option than staying out with the mares.  Fortunately she finally agreed, and I got the gate shut behind us.  Whew!  Now I could assess our next obstacle.  Who needs games when real life can be this entertaining!

Tika pushing heifers a few weeks before, showing me she knew the job!

There were about two dozen steers at the top of the windbreak where the gate out to the road was.  At that moment I was very thankful that my neighbor Bruce had suggested that we test my dog Tika on a herd of heifers a few weeks back to check out her working instincts.  I learned that day that she was willing to push the herd from the rear and more importantly that she would stop when I told her she’d pushed enough.  So I told Tika to push, and she moved the steers away from us until I told her to stop, and we got to the gate and then out onto the road without any steers joining us.

I didn’t realize that getting to the road wasn’t the end of our obstacles.  There was one more test of Pearl’s and my relationship to come.  Pearl hadn’t ever been on the ranch road, and between the windbreak and the barn were several paddocks of bulls.  It turned out that they weren’t as much cause for concern as something else.  I let my guard down a little, only to have Pearl suddenly start trotting by me.  On the other side of the road were my neighbor Linda’s two horses who had apparently been watching the unfolding drama of fetching Pearl.  They had decided they should add to the game by galloping by us on their side of the fence.  And then in response the mares began galloping along the fence on the other side of the bulls.  I was once again pleased when Pearl came back down to a walk when I asked despite all the high equine energy around us.

Pearl has been here over two weeks already, but I hadn’t felt ready to put her on the hill until now.  I wanted to establish a relationship with her so that she knew what she could expect from me and I knew what I could expect from her.  For instance, Pearl needed to know that my approach is friendly, and I needed to know she wouldn’t run the other way when she saw me.  I needed to know that I could lead her without her running into me, and she needed to know that I could ask her to do things that seemed odd but ended up being worthwhile.  Those two weeks of bonding certainly proved their worth on our obstacle-filled walk back to the barn.  And ever since, Pearl has been even more interested in interacting with me.  She apparently finds this life entertaining, too!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

There are lots of stories like this one about my life with Fell Ponies in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Sire Qualities

Kinniside Asi and his ladies-in-waiting

I was asked what I like about my Fell Pony stallion.  The question was posed as if a single answer was expected, with a list of possible choices.  I had to stop and think about it.  I had never considered the choice of a stallion to be a single factor decision.

Now that I live on a cattle ranch, I’m learning about the stewardship of another species.  My friendship with Bruce and Linda, who own the ranch, began with conversations about the art of breeding.  Right now, it is bull-buying season, and Bruce gave me a catalog for an upcoming bull sale to study.  He gave me a few pointers to get me started, and I soon became fascinated by how many factors beyond conformation can be used in a purchase and breeding decision.  For instance, there are measures of scrotal circumference, calving ease, and weight gain.  There is data about birth weight, weaning weight, and yearling weight.  This is my first exposure to high-volume breeding, and it certainly makes sense that there would be lots of data collected, analyzed and regurgitated. Yet it isn’t uncommon for buyers who have studied all the data to show up on the day and see something in the flesh that wasn’t in the numbers that ends up changing their purchase decision.

That trove of data is such a contrast to the information I have when I want to choose a Fell Pony stallion and what is required to collect it.  Our breeding population is so small by contrast, and the number of breeders is also small and dispersed.  Yet the one thing I quickly learned while watching an auction of bulls is that buyers rarely are purchasing based on a single factor.  So I’m not alone!

In case you’re curious, here’s how I answered the question about what I like about my stallion.  “I suspect you won’t be satisfied if I said it was the whole package, so I'll say that I met all his grandparents which indicated a consistency of type behind him. I was pleased with his offspring last year.  I love his type, bone, substance, and movement. He's interested in learning and great at giving hugs when I need them. So there's a few of the things I like about him!”

When I asked a bull buyer what they saw in their purchase that led them to bid as they had, I got a similarly broad answer with a similar lead-off about ‘the whole package.’    Despite all that data, breeding is still an art.  Informed by science perhaps, but still an art!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories like this one can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

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.

Welcome Pearl!

Watching Pearl trot stops me in my tracks!

I’m pleased to welcome Prairie Jewel Pearl to the Fell Pony herd at Willowtrail Farm.  Bred by Gina Schaffert at Prairie Jewel Farm in Nebraska, Pearl is three years old and is my first brown Fell.  I especially love her eyeliner and lips!  And I love to see her move; her trot especially stops me in my tracks.

I first met Gina and her Fell Ponies back in October when I visited while traveling through.  I was completely surprised that I fell for her stallion, Laurelhighland Model.  I didn’t expect to like him; I’ve met so many Fell Ponies that haven’t struck my fancy that I try to keep my expectations low.  In the minutes after I first met him as I was talking to Gina, I laughed in recognition.  Of course!  He’s out of a Sleddale mare!  My first Fell Pony was a Sleddale mare; Sleddale Rose Beauty cemented my love for this breed.  Of course I would fall for a son of a Sleddale mare, in this case Sleddale Wild Rose V.

Pearl’s friendly temperament on display - seeming to want to listen in to Bruce’s phone call!

In January I visited Gina again while traveling through, this time with my friend Linda who has quickly developed an eye for ponies based on her past as a horse judge.  Linda, too, was taken with Model, and then she noticed Pearl.  Pearl and her mother were very friendly, making a point of introducing themselves to me.  Before we left that day, Gina and I were in discussions about Pearl joining my herd. I laughed when on Pearl’s first day here, her friendly side manifested when Bruce met her but then had to take a phone call; she acted as though she wanted to listen in, too!

Pearl’s mother also has Sleddale blood behind her.  I have long admired Sleddale Eddie at the Westerkwartier Stud in The Netherlands.  Eddie is Pearl’s great grandfather.  Beauty, Wild Rose V, and Eddie all go back to Sleddale Rose VII who was the dam of the 1979 Breed Show Supreme Champion Sleddale Rose X. 

While Pearl has Rose VII on both sides of her pedigree and she is brown like Rose VII, Pearl’s color actually comes through from Lunesdale White Rose, another favorite mare of mine in this breed. 

Pearl’s father and Gina’s stallion Laurelhighland Model

I love Pearl’s eyeliner and lips!

I’m enjoying getting to know Pearl and look forward to what she will produce with my imported black stallion Kinniside Asi.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

You can find more stories about the Fell Ponies in my herd in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Rose and the Wayward Bulls

These bulls were where they were supposed to be, when we got back to the barn!

I was out on our morning training ride with my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose.  We were on the ranch road, and we came upon Bruce loading hay into his processor.  “A gate got left open and some bulls got out,” he said, pointing at the road ahead.  “I thought you and Rose could put them back in.”  I replied that we’d try, with my brain doing an amazingly quick job of listing all that could go wrong.  But at least we could try!

Bruce advised that we should just approach them and get them moving, giving them room if they wanted to do something unhelpful but that once moving they’d probably go where we needed them to.  This was the total amount of information I had about moving bulls.  I had only ever moved bulls before on equines that knew their job, most recently on Mya the Wonder Pony, and that was fifteen years ago!  So Rose and I approached the bull on the road at a walk, and he just watched us.  The two in the borrow ditches on each side eyed us, too.  We kept approaching, and the bull kept watching, not making any sign of moving away.  Soon I heard Bruce come up behind us on foot to add some verbal emphasis with the authority of many decades of experience.  I had thought about swinging a rope but wasn’t sure what Rose would think of yet another new element on our ride.

Fortunately the bull decided to turn and head away, and his friends made the same decision.  Sure enough, as Rose and I followed behind, they moved up the road and through the gate we needed them to go through.  I dismounted, tied Rose, and shut the gate.

At that point Linda arrived and exclaimed, “You moved some bulls, Rose!”  (The picture here was taken several minutes later of bulls back at the barn, nicely where they were supposed to be.)  Rose gladly accepted Linda’s kudos, and I appreciated Linda’s next comment, that the bulls we’d moved were amongst the friendliest on the place.  Good!  Next time they’re out, I’ll try to increase my motivational contributions, with a more assertive voice and perhaps a swinging rope.  But I’ll practice the rope part with Rose between now and then!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories about my life with ponies can be found 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.

Will They or Won't They?

It was a warm sunny winter morning, and as I drove my pickup out to the mailbox first thing, I saw the ponies on the hill watching me.  A short time later when I approached the barn on foot, I saw them watching me again from the same place.  I wondered, will they come in for their morning feed buckets or won’t they?  They seemed quite content to just stand there and watch me!

I began doing my barn chores, making all the usual noises, and the ponies continued to watch me from their position.  Then when I headed with a tub of hay to the paddock where I normally feed them in the morning, I could see them start heading in my direction.  It looked like they were a long way away, but by the time I’d spread the hay and arranged gates for their arrival, they were moving quickly and quite close already.  I was only able to snap one photo before they were at the outer gate, ready to be let in. 

Will they or won’t they? They didn’t keep me in suspense very long!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

My book What an Honor is full of these types of stories and photographs about my life with Fell Ponies. The book is available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Rose Moves a Calf

Rose looking at the calf she just moved back into its pasture (over the green fencing)

I would guess most photographers have a favorite picture they wish they’d taken but didn’t and it lives in their mind’s eye forever.  Mine is of my late husband standing with my first Fell Pony mare Sleddale Rose Beauty next to a fence, on the other side of which is a herd of Black Angus cattle.  Seeing Beauty who was jet black next to those jet black cattle was a striking image for me, especially since she didn’t seem bothered by their presence at all.

My first experience moving cattle with a pony was with Mya the Wonder Pony, all 11.2 hands of her!  Our first outing was moving cows and calves from one pasture to another for a neighbor.  The outing I remember most was moving a herd with a bull in it, and though he was bigger than she was, she faced him down and moved him!  She spoiled me in so many ways, being so willing to do anything for me, that I didn’t know that not all ponies are willing to work cattle.  My second pony taught me that, though, but I always assumed it was because he’d never been around cattle, so it was just a matter of getting him used to the idea, which I never did because my situation changed to one where cattle weren’t around.

Several years later, my leased summer pasture for the ponies was adjacent to hay fields.  The ranch we were on began putting cattle on those hay fields after haying was done.  I knew then that my mares and foals were accustomed to seeing cattle, so I assumed that they were not bothered by them.  I was wrong.

One of the mares that was pastured next to that hay field was Beauty’s daughter Willowtrail Wild Rose.  We now live on a cattle ranch, and I’ve been bringing Rose back into work after a few years off for breeding.  The first few rides here were short and exhilarating because she was so willing; they made me excited for what we could do together.  Then the rides lengthened just enough that we encountered some of the ranch’s cattle.  So began a long journey through refusals and gait changes and balkiness.  Exhilaration and excitement were distant memories as I struggled to understand how I could get Rose back to the willingness she’d shown those first few days.

Several weeks on and we are getting better every day.  Our route is down the ranch lane, which for a quarter mile is beside the calf pasture.  Rose has shown me that she’s more at ease when we ride after the calves have been fed so there aren’t dozens and dozens of pairs of eyes at the fence staring at us as we go by.  My schedule, though, usually has us riding before the calves are fed, so we’ve had plenty of opportunities for getting used to being looked at and for calves to be their occasionally rambunctious selves, to Rose’s consternation. 

At first I thought the cattle feeding machinery might be an issue for Rose – feed truck, hay processor – but Rose has since showed me she’s okay with them.   All those years around the equipment of our logging and construction company seemed to have helped there.  So I’ve realized it’s really the cattle that are what make her uptight.  Rose has let me know - by not bucking or spinning or rearing or crow-hopping, which I greatly appreciate - that she wants to take care of me but she doesn’t feel she can when cattle are close. 

One morning we began our ride, and as we neared the calf pasture, I noticed a calf out on the lane.  Then Linda and her feed truck approached, so I dismounted out of caution to let her go into the calf pasture.  Linda said we could push the calf down to the other gate.  I told her I wasn’t sure Rose would do it, and Linda went on her way.  I remounted and we continued down the lane.  The loose calf was quite a ways ahead of us but moving along the fence toward the other gate.  Then Bruce appeared with his big tractor and hay processor.  When he saw us and the calf, he turned his mighty machine around in tight quarters.  Rose and I now had an opportunity to do our first real job on the ranch, albeit a small one. 

We continued walking, and the calf continued to move along the fence toward the gate, which Linda had opened when she saw we were being successful.  Just before the gate, the calf stopped and I asked Rose to keep going.  To her credit, she did, and the calf turned and skipped around the corner into the pasture.  I was jubilant! 

We still have a lot more work to do.  After leaving the calf where it was supposed to be, we rode further down the ranch lane where it runs between two bull pastures.  Rose’s head swung back and forth, looking at one group of bulls and then the other, letting me know she knew they were there and she wasn’t too thrilled about it.  I kept her focused on the safe middle ground of the road ahead and she stayed with me and didn’t lose her mind.  On the way back, we managed more relaxed walking and trotting along the calf pasture than we have before.  I’m looking forward to our next ride.  And to our next opportunity to do another job for the ranch!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

You can find more stories about how I’ve put my ponies to use in my book The Partnered Pony, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Introducing Madie to the Hill

Madie near the barn, with the tree covered rise behind her where I found her at dark on her first trip out on the hill

For a variety of reasons, I’ve had my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Spring Maiden housed with my stallion in the stallion pen since we moved to South Dakota.  Now for a variety of reasons, I’ve decided it’s time for Madie to get used to living on the hill here.  For instance, I want her to be in good physical shape when it comes time to foal, and moving about the hill landscape will help towards that goal.  And I want her to be able to run on the hill with her coming foal during the summer. 

In past years Madie has run with the other mares, so when it was time to introduce her to the hill pasture, I turned her out with the other girls for part of the day, trusting that she would learn from them the various trails and opportunities that the hill provides.  For the first several days, Madie stayed close to the barn and the stallion pen, not following the mares out into the hill when they occasionally left the vicinity of the barn to dig for grass under the snow.  I put out hay near the barn for Madie to make sure she still got something to eat.  And I noticed that my youngest pony on the hill, Drybarrows Calista, was often standing close to Madie.

I was pleased that Calista was befriending Madie because it served my goal well.  Calista, being fell-born, is very at home on the hill pasture and will often lead the herd to new places to graze.  Calista has seemed a little lonely since her buddy Willowtrail Henry left for his new home, so I was happy for her to have someone new to hang out with.  And I hoped that her relationship with Madie would eventually lead Madie out onto the hill.

It was of course on a day when I got a late start for evening chores.  Numerous phone calls kept me inside until darkness began to fall and it was time to return Madie to the stallion pen for the night.  When I arrived at the barn, Madie was nowhere to be seen.  Two mares were there, but Calista was not.  When I glanced out onto the hill, I noticed Calista’s dark shape against the snow-covered landscape.  I headed in her direction, hopeful that she would lead me to Madie.

When I got to Calista, she was alone.  I started feeling a little anxious about how I would find a black pony in failing light (though obviously snow-covered ground makes it a little easier).  When I asked Calista where Madie was, she looked to the east, so I headed in that direction around a small tree-covered rise.  Sure enough, there Madie was, rooting under the snow with great interest.

Despite having to take an unplanned late day hike in search of her, I was thrilled that Madie had ventured onto the hill and had begun to discover its many benefits.  I look forward to seeing how she explores, perhaps in the company of her friend Calista!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

You can read more stories about my life with my Fell Ponies in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

An Adventure with Henry

When my friend Linda told me about an elderly friend of hers in Ohio who was growing frail, I told Linda I would do what I could to support her going to see her friend as soon as possible.  A few days later someone in Ohio said they wanted to buy my weanling Fell Pony Willowtrail Henry. Linda immediately suggested that we deliver him and then she would go see her friend.  Sometimes it is amazing how life works.

On the morning of our departure, it was twenty degrees Fahrenheit and snowing lightly.  We had had an inch of fresh snow overnight.  Just as I was leading Henry to the horse trailer to load, a bald eagle flew over us.  As a friend texted to me later, it was a good omen!  Henry loaded readily into the 3 horse-sized trailer configured as a single stall; I had deeply bedded it with straw and hay.  We headed north towards Interstate 90.  As the snow let up, the temperature began to drop.

I had never transported a pony across the country before, much less a weanling, much less headed into severe winter weather.  Linda is a veteran of these sorts of trips, though, so she gave me confidence that we could pull the trip off.  We drove east across South Dakota in the sun, but the outdoor temperature hovered between zero and five degrees Fahrenheit.  A stiff wind made the effective temperature even colder.  Ice began forming on the three water buckets I had brought along so Henry would have familiar water to drink.

It wasn’t just Linda that gave me confidence; Henry did, too.  Each time we stopped, I checked to make sure hay was still interesting to him.  I offered him water and salt, and I cleaned up any manure that he’d passed.  Each time I appeared, he was happy to see me but not anxious or upset despite the cold and the unusual circumstances.  We continued on our journey.

When we drove from daylight into night, the temperature began to rise slightly.  By the time we stopped in western Iowa, it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit.  While Linda was prepared to continue driving deep into the night, I had noticed that Henry was only eating when we stopped, so he was short of calories for the day.  We hauled the three buckets of water and everything else that might freeze into the motel for a very short night’s sleep, a dozen trips in all.  I offered Henry water from the motel, which he readily drank, for which I was thankful, and we left him snug in the trailer with a pile of hay.

It ended up being a good thing that the wake-up call at the motel came an hour and a half early.  I checked Henry immediately, and he was still doing well.  The water buckets had barely thawed, so I brought one into the cab between my feet where it would be warmer for Henry that day (my feet though did not much appreciate their new ice block neighbor!)  We continued on our journey before the sun came up.

While we had watched the moon rise the night before, it was now cloudy, and the wind began to have snow in it.  The real issue, though, was ice.  As dawn turned to daylight, in a stretch of about forty miles, we saw twenty or more semi-trucks off the road and several more cars also in the wrong place.  As we crossed into Illinois, the temperature continued to rise, eventually getting above freezing.  From there into Indiana, everywhere we looked, streams and rivers were overflowing their banks and fields had standing water in them.  We felt for the farmers who might have trouble, again, getting their crops in.  Henry was still doing well.  I was so thankful I had put him out on our ‘fell’ the night before we left so he had had plenty of opportunity to stretch his legs.

I was still dressed in my heavy winter clothing as temperatures continued to rise.  When we crossed into Ohio at dark, it was in the mid-50s with high humidity.  Now when I checked Henry, he was damp to the touch from the humidity but still interested in hay and water.  I overheated doing his chores!  I also took time to remove the remaining gumweed from his mane, tail, feather and body.  His owner in Ohio assures me he’ll find plenty of similar vegetable matter to decorate his coat with, but I wanted him to arrive relatively clean.  I suspect the nickname my friend Bruce gave him - King Henry GW - will continue to be apt!

What a good traveler Henry was:  a good eater, a good drinker, and patient with the unusual housing.  Nonetheless, he was very ready when, at 9pm, we reached our destination and he could step out of the trailer onto firm ground.  That eagle, indeed, had been a good omen – a safe trip despite the weather.  What an adventure!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

My book What an Honor is filled with lots of stories about life with my ponies. It is available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

South Dakota Wind

I learned a new word the other day.  My friend Bruce asked if I survived the perihelion.  I told him I wouldn’t know until I looked it up.  I asked him if it explained the intense wind we had that day.  He said he didn’t know.  (Perihelion occurs about two weeks after the December solstice, when the earth is closest to the sun.  It isn’t thought to affect wind.)

The wind blew hard all day, so I used that as an excuse to not go out riding my pony Willowtrail Wild Rose midday like I usually do.  Instead, I finished a bunch of office work and ran to town to put things in the mail, then hustled back with just enough daylight left for a ride.  And the wind laid down!   One serious gust blew as I headed to the barn, but during my ride, the breeze varied from light to still.  And the evening was once again glorious with incredible color in the sky.  I felt so fortunate.

One thing I really noticed about the recent heavy wind is that because it was relatively warm, it turned the snow in many places to ice.  Bruce told me that ice is the greatest challenge in winter here, and now I understand what he means.  On my ride, I guided Rose around icy spots as best I could.  She was patient the few times she slipped.  Generally, though, we found enough good footing to make the ride enjoyable.

When I first told people I was moving to South Dakota, they pitied me for wind and cold.  So far I believe what I’ve been told:  that I’m living in the Banana Belt of the state; the temperatures haven’t been as extreme (yet) as I had in Colorado.  And I’m told the wind isn’t bad here compared to the rest of the state.  I notice it a lot more because of the deciduous trees around the house; I’m not used to the sound they make when the wind blows after living in a lodgepole pine forest for so many years!

If the wind I’ve experienced so far is part of what makes this place what it is, then I accept it.  I’m very blessed to be able to be here, riding Rose at sunset under a stupendously colored sky.

© 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.

Hair Care: Supplementing Fats

I recently had visitors who were new to Fell Ponies.  They asked about hair care.  They observed the long manes on my ponies that were free of tangles, and they asked how often I brush them.  ‘Almost never’ was my reply.  I have found that the best way to get healthy and silky hair – coat but also mane, tail, forelock and feather – is to feed for it.  Then whenever I see a tangle starting to develop in the mane, rarely more often than every few weeks, I take the tangle out.

Here’s how I feed for healthy hair:

• Balanced and comprehensive vitamins and loose, free-choice minerals

• Copper supplementation (click here for a blog post on that topic)

• Good quality fats

It has always puzzled me why people add oils like corn and soybean to their equines’ rations.  Oils are the farthest thing from natural in an equine diet.  But then I read the following:  “Fat from any source will make your horse shiny….  Any fat will do; the type of dietary fat doesn’t matter when it comes to making the hair coat shine…”  (1)  So that explains one reason why people add oils to their equines’ diets:  shiny coats.  Another explanation is likely that the equine’s owner is making a laudable attempt to replace starches and sugars in their equines’ diets with fat as an energy source.

But then the quote above had an important caveat.  “Any fat will do; the type of dietary fat doesn’t matter when it comes to making the hair coat shine – but it sure does matter when it comes to your horse’s health.”  The point here is that a proper balance between Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids is crucial for equine health, just as it is for people. 

Pasture/grass has the proper balance.  Finding equally balanced supplementation when our equines do not have access to fresh grass can be more tricky.  Corn and soybean oil are heavy on the Omega 6s which can lead to inflammation if fed in sufficient quantity.  Flaxseed has been fed to equines since at least the 1850s. It is gaining popularity because it has a more favorable ratio, but how flaxseed is fed is crucial to its effectiveness.  But there are benefits of special interest to pony owners who are vexed by a problem some ponies face.  Researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada “found evidence that the fatty acid source flaxseed can potentially reduce the allergic inflammatory response in horses susceptible to biting midges (Culicoides),” also known as sweet itch. (2)  “Also, omega-3s could have beneficial effects for horses suffering from inflammatory diseases such as heaves and osteoarthritis. Researchers have not yet determined the exact physiological mechanism to these benefits, and more research is needed to further examine flaxseed’s role in immune response.” (3)

Another Omega 3 source starting to show up in equine rations is chia seed.  It is higher in Omega 3s than flaxseed and is more digestible without processing.  Chia seeds are an ancient grain of the Aztecs and Mayans.  “Legend has it that when the Spanish conquered Mesoamerica, they banned the seeds, attributing the fierceness of the indigenous warriors to a diet of chia.” (4)  “Unlike flaxseeds, chia seeds have softer hulls and can be fed whole.  While chia seeds are likely to have similar benefits as other Omega 3 sources, no scientific research has been conducted on feeding them to horses.” (5) 

There are other sources of healthy fats available for equines such as fish oil and whole extruded soybean meal, but as with flaxseed, the key is in the preparation to make them both palatable and nutrient-dense. Because my ponies are off fresh grass part of the year, I make sure they get good fats when they need them. I attribute the health of my ponies’ hair in part to the quality of the fats that I feed them.

1. Getty, Juliet M., PhD.  “Myth:  A Shiny Horse is a Healthy Horse,” Horse Journals, 5/21/14, at  https://www.horsejournals.com/myth-shiny-horse-healthy-horse

1. Getty, Juliet M. PhD.  “Feeding for Immunity,” the Horse, 12/3/12, article #118796 at thehorse.com

2. Janicki, Kristen M.  “5 Facts about Flax,” the Horse, 7/15/19, article #148473 at thehorse.com

3. “Flaxseeds or Chia Seeds:  Which do I feed my Horse?”, Biostar, 7/31/17 at https://www.biostarus.com/blogs/formulators-corner/flax-seeds-or-chia-seeds-which-do-i-feed-my-horse

4. Moore, Jennifer, PhD.  “Top Sources of Omega 3 Fatty Acids for Horses,” Equine Wellness, Jan/Feb/Mar 2020, p. 40

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

The Stories We Tell at the Holidays

At the holidays, we often tell stories at meals or in front of a fire or at other family gathering places.  It turns out those stories carry more weight than we might think.  Researchers at Emory University have found that adolescents and young adults, despite appearing distracted or uninterested, actually retain the stories they hear in family settings. (1)  Further, the research says that the stories provide important senses of identity for youth and may also help them navigate difficult emotions when they hear how other relatives have done the same.

After hearing about this research, I asked myself what story I would tell at the holidays if I had the chance.  It didn’t take long before I knew it would be about how important animals are in my life, especially this year.

When my husband was killed in an accident, I instantly knew I had to move, but I didn’t know where.  And I knew I wanted to keep my ponies, but I didn’t know how.  Then the shock that took over my body wore off, and it was easy to think about just lying in bed.  But the ponies needed to be fed and the dogs needed to be let out, so I got up and going.  Over and over again.  Day in, day out, several times a day.  In hindsight it was a great way to put my grief in context.  While life was different, it also went on in many ways as it had before.

I spent that first month after Don’s death ‘poking the universe,’ seeing how it responded to various ideas about where to go and what animals to keep.  I chose not to view feedback from the universe as good or bad but rather as information.  Reactions came as useful information or nothing at all. 

Despite thinking that my ponies and dogs would be with me until the end of their days, I knew I was physically unable to care for all of them alone.  I poked the universe, and suddenly there were opportunities that made alternative realities easier to ponder.  As it turned out, I placed four ponies very quickly in fabulous homes and two dogs also in great places.  But I still needed a place for me to land, hopefully with the ponies that I still had.

I have my dog Tika to thank for solving that part of the puzzle of my new life.  The people who bred her had evolved from acquaintances to friends and had even started learning about Fell Ponies.  They reached out soon after they heard about Don’s death, and what they offered fit like a proverbial glove.  Every time I poked the universe about it, the reaction came back richer than the time before.  It felt then and continues to feel like a miracle, and strangely at the same time it feels like a natural evolution of things.  As one small example, they were disappointed that they sold Tika, and now they have her back!

I’m still dealing with transitioning my life.  And my dog and ponies are still helping me navigate the tough emotions that sometimes surface.  Tika still needs to be let out, and on occasion she gets very intense hugs when I need to give one and get one back.  And while the ponies don’t require as much feeding now that many of them are on pasture, they still like to see me and appreciate their feed buckets.  Some of them are even pretty good at receiving and returning hugs!  I always come back inside feeling better than when I went out. 

Prior to Don’s death I had never lived alone, sharing living space with family or a roommate or a spouse.  While I may no longer share living space with a person, I do have a new appreciation for the companionship I have from my animals.  I recognize now that companionship has dimensions far beyond what I previously understood.  While it isn’t uncommon to be given support and assistance from people when one is grieving, I can testify to the fact that animals are also capable of giving, and the assistance can be profoundly helpful.

So be sure to tell stories this holiday season, and don’t be afraid to let your stories evolve as you gain perspective.  If you can, include your animals in the tale.  Sometimes when people aren’t able to give us answers that we need, our animals can and do!

1. “The Psychological Benefits To Hearing Family Stories This Thanksgiving,” All Things Considered, 11/26/19, npr.org

 © Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

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

Hiding!

A dark spot on an otherwise white landscape gave me a focus for my search for three missing ponies

I was doing midday chores, and it was time to bring the mares and foals into the corrals.  I had seen them at dawn off in the distance moving away, so I opted to bring them in later in the day rather than spend more time outdoors at zero degrees Fahrenheit.  When I started midday chores, they weren’t anywhere to be seen, so as I did preparatory things, I kept sweeping my gaze across the landscape.  Before long I saw one and then another come into view, heading my way. 

I counted my blessings as I welcomed the first pony and then the second, third, and fourth.  When the other three weren’t in view, I shut the first half of the herd in and pondered my search strategy.

There were six inches of snow on the ground, so I opted to follow the hoofprints of my arrivals back in the direction from which they’d come.  I went down into the ravine and up the other side then headed west, slowly climbing a small rise.  From that summit, I still didn’t see any ponies, so I kept tracking north.  Finally I saw something suspicious, a dark spot interrupting the white landscape.  It didn’t look like a pony, but it looked like a possibility, so I headed in that direction, thinking there’s an advantage to black and brown ponies versus grays in a winter landscape!

Found!

Slowly the dark spot began to take the shape of a foal’s hind end, sticking above the edge of a draw.  A few more minutes walking, and I arrived at the head of the draw where the two missing foals and the head mare were grazing.  I suspected the mare was hiding from me to avoid the discomfort of part-day weaning.  Nonetheless, she came to me as I approached and accepted the halter.  I tied the lead rope into reins and hopped on.  I hadn’t ridden her in awhile, but she carried me willingly where I needed us to go.  It was a thrill to be riding for the first time in some time across a beautiful landscape on a pony I love, the highlight of my day.

And a ride in that was the highlight of my day.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

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

The Purple Bucket

I woke up and tipped my head off the pillow to look out the window.  There through the trees I could see a pony walking across the hillside.  Such a blessing to have that view from my bed!  And it was such a contrast to the day before that I jumped up and headed out to greet my friends.

The previous day I had looked in all the usual places that the ponies like to be in the morning, and I didn’t find them.  Finally I discovered them far to the west, across a ravine.  So I was thrilled when they started heading to me as soon as they saw me, navigating the ravine themselves rather than me having to!

I gave the mares their vitamin buckets, then I greeted each of the foals and then the mares individually.  When everyone had had their fill of my attention, I went to pick up the buckets.  I found three, and then realized one was missing.  I surveyed the bench we were all standing on above the ravine and confirmed that it was nowhere to be found.  Then I chuckled and looked where I didn’t want to, and sure enough, there was the missing purple bucket at the bottom of the ravine.  I would have to navigate the steep climb after all!  Fortunately the view up towards the ponies was pretty awesome, especially when young Henry began descending to see what I was doing!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2018

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

My New "Friend" Gumweed

I’ve now relocated my Fell Pony herd twice during my stewardship of the breed, and each of the three locations we’ve lived together have had tremendous good characteristics as well as occasional challenges.  It took my ponies less than a week to find the challenge in our current location. 

When I visited here prior to relocating the ponies, I saw what I thought were burrs in the horse pasture.  I was immediately transported back in time.  At our first location, Turkey Trot Springs, I put my stallion and mare into a new pasture I had fenced, and when I went to fetch them a few hours later, Midnight had completely filled his forelock with burrs from burdock plants.  I of course never pastured my Fells in that pasture again!

Willowtrail Wild Rose and her ‘horn’ after I worked briefly to remove gumweed from her forelock

Here my new ‘friend’ is called gumweed.  It took the ponies several days to find it, and I was hopeful during that period that I had been wrong about seeing burrs in the pasture.  And technically gumweed isn’t a burr; it is a sticky seed head as its name suggests.  It therefore has an advantage over burrs since those require gloves to remove, and gumweed can be comfortably pulled barehanded.  But the two are common in the amount of rearrangement they can do to my ponies’ beautiful manes and forelocks.  Even the foals with their short manes have adornments! 

I have been told this is a particularly productive year for the weed, and I have been told by locals that it is an inevitable factor in equine ownership here.  We did do some mowing around the sheds and waterers where we thought the ponies might be getting into gumweed, but I think my friend Bruce probably made the observation that will shape my management strategy:  there is likely something particularly tasty growing under and around the gumweed that has attracted the ponies’ attention.  He suggested it might be late season cheatgrass, and a USDA publication confirms that gumweed is often found alongside that species. (1)

Each pony will likely require an hour or two of work to get their manes and forelocks to flow free again.  I’m pleased that my stallion and one mare have been confined and therefore haven’t modified their appearance like the other seven have.  Two ponies in particular have strikingly new appearances.  Drybarrows Calista looks like she has been roached:  she has not a single strand of her mane or forelock flowing free.  It is really odd to see such a ‘clean-headed’ Fell Pony!  And after I worked for a few minutes on Willowtrail Wild Rose’s forelock, all I had to show for my efforts was what looked like a unicorn’s horn.  Maybe that creature isn’t as fictional as we think!

The definition of a weed that I find most useful is ‘a plant growing where you don’t want it.’  Gumweed does have beneficial qualities.  It is attractive to and useful for late-season pollinators, and since pollinators are having a rough go these days, that gives gumweed some redeeming value.  Native Americans also apparently used it:  “A decoction of root was used for liver trouble, and a paste made from flowering tops was applied to skin diseases, scabs and sores.” (2)  I also found the Latin name for gumweed entertaining:  Grindelia squarrosa!  I will keep that entertainment in mind during my hours of work making my ponies look like Fells again!

1. https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_grsq.pdf

2. Same as #1

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

Hefting the Ponies at Scotty Springs Ranch

Drybarrows Calista surveys our progress so far while others graze. The ranch road to my house is behind the pine tree at upper right.

On their first morning at our new home at Scotty Springs Ranch in South Dakota, my Willowtrail Fell Ponies had yet another adventure before them.  The mares and foals, after our long trip and late arrival, spent their first night here in a paddock.  After checking and feeding them at dawn and then giving them their late morning feeding, though, it was time to acquaint them with their pasture.  I had planned it to be a special experience because where they now live is unlike anything I’ve ever been able to provide them.  It is so much like a Cumbrian fell that a few English friends who have seen pictures have indeed called it a fell.  And now after seeing the ponies on the ground here, it does feel much like my own experiences on the Cumbrian hills.

Fell Ponies on the fells in Cumbria are often referred to as extensively grazed.  They range over large tracts of land, able to wander to find the food that they want and return to water and minerals as needed.  Movement is a regular feature of their days, and hills are climbed as needed for forage and to cope with weather conditions.  I am so very fortunate to now have an extensive grazing situation for my ponies.  I have the ponies’ minerals in sheds near my home, and water is available in an automatic waterer several hundred yards away at the ranch paddocks.  Pockets in the hills above create diverse forage opportunities as well as providing shelter from the wind, while higher elevations are available to catch those same winds during warm weather and insect season.

My house is near the one seen in the distance above Calista’s rump. Willowtrail Henry looks ahead.

To be hefted is to have a knowledge of and relationship with a piece of ground on which the animals are expected to live and thrive.  When I was doing research on hefting a herd of ponies to a new place a year ago, I learned that equines can become hefted to a piece of ground by learning from other equines there.  However, here, the Scotty Springs Ranch herd was moved off the pasture in order to give the ponies their own place, so the ponies would need to learn the boundaries and key locations another way – from me! 

My plan involved haltering the two lead mares and leading them around the perimeter of the pasture, along the way showing them where the minerals and water sources were.  I chose to lead two mares and not one because I feared that the second mare might not follow, and then others might choose to stay with her.  It ended up being a good choice to have a mare on each side as we were climbing and descending steep slopes; I often hung onto their necks to keep upright and to keep up!

It took us well over an hour to circumnavigate their pasture.  I don’t know its size, but I do know we didn’t get to the most distant corners.  The Murdocks told me that their horses rarely went that high, and when I climbed to the top earlier in the summer, it was true that I didn’t see horse manure past a certain elevation.

The fall colors are just now peaking here, especially the grasses.

What a magnificent experience it was to see Fell Ponies climbing fell-like hills!  Four mares and three foals made the trip around the pasture with me, and I felt so blessed to see these ponies both free and yet with me.  I chose to walk with them rather than ride because there were so many unknowns:  new terrain, foals at foot, extreme steepness, etc.  While my legs at the end wished I’d ridden, I didn’t regret sharing the experience of walking the terrain the same way my ponies did.

My only fell-born pony, Drybarrows Calista, is usually a follower in the herd, but here she led us up and onward, often at a canter across ground that didn’t seem suitable for that gait.  She appeared truly in her element, and I had to think she was remembering running above Haweswater a year earlier.  None of the ponies seemed winded or hesitant about our trek.  I was especially appreciative of the senior mare Bowthorne Matty who was fell bred (Wansfell) but not born; she was quiet and accepting of being constrained by the halter and lead rope and also patient with me grabbing on when I needed help staying upright or matching her pace.

One of the sheds my late husband built for the ponies that the Murdocks so graciously transported here from Colorado. The ponies’ minerals are out of the weather inside. The boundary of the pasture is the ridgeline.

The only regret I had was that there wasn’t someone else with us to photograph me with my ponies on our adventure.  I tried as best I could to capture the ponies running with joyful abandon, stopping to enjoy grazing when we would take a break, and looking out at the vistas which were many and varied.  And when we were back down to the ranch paddocks and everyone was getting a drink, I assured Willowtrail Wild Rose that next time she’d be carrying me on Scotty Springs Fell!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

More stories like this one can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.