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.

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.

More Fell Ponies in South Dakota

Lori Welbig at Dakota Fells showing her obvious love of her ponies.

My ponies and I are newcomers to South Dakota, but there have been Fell Ponies in the state for a few years.  The first Fell Pony to arrive was a Willowtrail one:  Kathleen Beech has had Willowtrail Mountain Storm since he was weaned in 2014.  The second Fell Pony to the state was, I believe, Crystal Young’s Stonecreek Onyx whom she brought to Reclamation Ranch, a riding center with a broad spectrum of services from therapeutic riding to coaching to riding lessons. 

At the moment, the largest herd of Fell Ponies in the state is at Dakota Fells, owned by Lori Welbig and Rick Kruthoff.  Lori and Rick graciously welcomed my friend Linda and me to their home and herd.  We split our time between talking over breed characteristics and pedigrees and wandering amongst the ponies.  I very much appreciated Lori and Rick’s sincere interest in the breed and their many good questions, as well as their desire to put their ponies to traditional uses such as packing. 

Lori Welbig and Alison Emslie-Smith’s stallion Hardendale Henry

Lori and Rick also deserve credit in their breeding program.  They have been working with Alison Emslie-Smith of Garrighyll Fell Ponies in Minnesota to bring many of Alison’s imported ponies back into the North American breeding population, further diversifying the bloodlines here.  Rick and Lori have been standing Alison’s stallion Hardendale Henry, and have foals coming next year from some of Alison’s mares.

I have not had another Fell Pony breeder in such close proximity before, so I look forward to staying in touch and watching the evolution of the Fell Pony breed in South Dakota.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

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.

Busted!

Mares and foals innocently following me into the corrals before I separated them for weaning. Such a tough process for all of us.

I received an email updating me about Mya the Wonder Pony. One of the stories made me chuckle.  Mya was my first pony and best friend for twenty years.  She’s now in semi-retirement with her new best friend Smith and his mom Ericka.  Ericka said she had decided to repurpose a heavy duty garbage can as hay storage.  She went out to fill it, and Mya was at the far end of the back lot.  By the time Ericka had returned to the house, she looked around, and Mya had come to investigate the garbage can, had tipped it over and popped the lid off and was feasting on the contents.  ‘Busted!’ was the caption to the photo Ericka sent me, as in ‘caught in the act!’  After I got done chuckling, I responded to Ericka’s email with ‘Busted’ stories of my own about Mya!

I hate the first day of weaning.  I try not to ‘hate’ but it’s just really hard on me to hear distress calls from my mares and foals.  It’s even more challenging this year because I have a mare that’s never been through the process before.  And we’re all in a new place with new routines and facilities so there’s not much familiar for the foals to fall back on when they’re separated from their dams.  I separated the mares and foals in the morning, putting the foals in a corral a couple of hundred yards away from my house, and the mares of course hung as near there as fences would allow.  The inevitable cries of distress from mothers and children weren’t as audible at that distance.

After dinner and dark, I sat down at my desk to work.  I was in the middle of a project requiring lots of concentration, so I hadn’t gone out for final feeding of ponies in the corrals at my usual time.  Suddenly there was a distress cry from my mare new to weaning, and it sounded like it was right outside my window.  It wasn’t, but it was at the fence as close to the house as she could get.  She could see me through the windows, and repeated her cry to me to ‘fix the problem.’  ‘Busted’ immediately came to mind – she could see me and ‘caught me in the act’ of ignoring her.  She repeated her call until I couldn’t ignore her anymore!

We will of course all survive weaning, and the good news is that the process is started and one day closer to being completed.  I will have to ignore distress cries that are normal to the process until those calls subside.  We’ll all be happier when that day comes, and until then we’ll muddle through the toughness together.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

You can find more stories about my life with Fell Ponies 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.

Fell Ponies on My Road Trip

Kimber Bishop at Kimberlake Fell Ponies with some of her ponies and horses.

Whenever I travel away from my ponies, I try to incorporate something pony-related into my journey.  My recent trip was no exception.  I attended the Suffolk Horse Association annual meeting in St. Louis, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And then on the way home, I stopped and met two fellow Fell Pony breeders which was icing on the cake.

Like Fell Ponies, Suffolk Punch Horses are a rare breed and even more endangered.  I enjoying listening to the stewards of that breed talk about traveling stallions, looking for outcrosses, and striving to preserve type.  In January in Colorado there are two big draft horse shows, and it was disappointing to learn that Suffolks aren’t allowed to enter one of them because they aren’t Percherons, Belgians, Shires, or Clydesdales. Someday I’d like to hear more about that line of reasoning!  I also enjoyed watching the Y Bar Hitch of six Suffolk Punches pull an historic wagon around Suson Park.  If you’d like to see video I shot of the hitch, including getting to ride on the wagon, click here.

My first stop on the way home was at Kimberlake Fell Ponies between Kansas City and St. Louis.  Kimber Bishop was a warm and welcoming hostess as we toured around her paddocks and met all of her ponies save her homebred stallion and a gelding.  I had hoped to visit her stallion at a different location later in the day but I ran out of time.  I feel somewhat ‘related’ to Kimber and her ponies because two of hers are in Beverly Patrick’s four-in-hand that also includes Willowtrail Mountain Ranger.

Gina Schaffert of Prairie View Fell Ponies with her stallion.

My second stop was at Prairie View Fell Ponies in Aurora, Nebraska.  Gina Schaffert was likewise warm and welcoming, and I found her generosity of time amazing given she had a dog in labor that she needed to midwife!  On other trips to other places, I had met several of the parents of Gina’s ponies so it was fun to see full grown progeny.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed my time with her stallion, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been.  He is out of a Sleddale mare, distantly related to my first pony Sleddale Rose Beauty, and he captivated me!

I am grateful to all the breeders of Suffolk horses and Fell Ponies who made all those miles of driving worth enduring.  I always learn from other breeders and especially from seeing them with their ponies.  This time was no exception.  I came home looking at my ponies with fresh eyes, which is always a good thing!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

You can find many stories about breeders and breeding Fell Ponies in my book Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, 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.

Welcome, Ponies, to Scotty Spring's Ranch!

Willowtrail Spring Maiden by Bruce Murdock

Nearly six months of planning paid off on the day we transported nine Willowtrail Fell Ponies from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to our new home at Scotty Springs Ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  One trailer with three box stalls housed the three mares with their foals, and another trailer brought the stallion and two more mares.  The trip took seven hours, with the first few in intense wind, first at the head, then at the tail.  My friend and Scotty Springs Ranch co-owner Linda Murdock drove the big load, and I drove the smaller one.  We got off later than I’d hoped and pulled in after dark at 9:30pm. 

I couldn’t have been more pleased with how the ponies handled the trip.  The mares and foals all loaded into the unfamiliar trailer with little hesitation, despite it smelling strongly of cattle, which are its normal occupants.  Then in the other trailer, I devised a divider to allow two mares to lower their heads to eat without the dominant one picking on the lower ranking one.  At the other end of the trip, everyone unloaded without issue, taking deep breathes of their new surroundings while I walked them around their overnight housing and introduced them to automatic waterers which they’d never seen before and which the Murdocks graciously installed for the ponies’ use.  The Murdocks also removed as many of the unfamiliar weeds from the paddocks as possible so that burrs and dry bits wouldn’t get stuck in the ponies’ hair.  Nonetheless, a few ponies had adornments the next morning!

Bruce Murdock traveled ahead of us with hay bales from Colorado so the ponies would have familiar feed for the first few days.  I of course also supplemented their feed buckets the morning of the trip (and several of the previous days) with various edibles to improve the ponies’ ability to cope with the stress of the journey, trusting that the foals would get some benefit via their mothers’ milk.

Madie and Asi with a barn in the midground that we will be renovating for the ponies and the fell-like pony pasture in the background

It was with great relief that I watched everyone tuck into their hay piles immediately after entering their overnight paddocks.  I also was relieved when at least one mare in each paddock drank from the waterers, since I knew the others would follow suit at some point during the night. I was able to sleep peacefully after a tough drive.

With the long trip from old home to new complete, now we will get to explore this beautiful place and get to know it in depth.  It will be an exciting journey of a more grounded sort!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

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

Unexpected Returns

One of the big projects I have undertaken since my husband’s death is an auction of our business’s assets.  With the auction over, the items are now being dispersed to their new owners.  Due to my need to move and lighten my load, some of the items in the auction were pony-related, and I feared that when they went, it would be difficult for me to watch.  While there will be financial returns from the auction to offset the loss of these items, there have been returns in other forms that were unexpected and equally valuable.

Willowtrail Mountain Honey and her foal in the paddock my late husband built for me just a year ago. The paddock fencing has now been sold and removed.

The first pony-related item to leave was a fence in one of the stallion pens that my husband had completed for me just a year ago.  It was the pen that my beloved stallion Guards Apollo occupied for nearly all of his fourteen years here and is shown in the picture.  When the purchaser of the fencing was due to arrive, I was concerned I would burst into tears.  Instead, when I learned that the purchaser ran an equine-assisted therapy program, our conversation was so inspiring that the expected sadness was replaced with excitement that the fencing would be helping facilitate such important work.

Another pony-related item to leave was a very large box of electric fence supplies.  I didn’t have the same emotional attachment to these items, so it was relatively easy to help the purchasers load them into their trailer.  I asked what they planned to do with the fencing, they replied that they too had horses.  I of course asked what kind, and they replied Friesians and Friesian sport horses.  It was easy to get them talking about their more-than-thirty-years as breeders of sport horses, and since I know nothing about that market, I learned a lot.  As they were about to leave, they asked what sort of horses I had.  When I answered, the response was, repeatedly, “You breed Fell Ponies!”  After three or four of these choruses, they said of course they’d like to meet my ponies, and we had fun meeting the whole herd in two different locations.  They were sufficiently appreciative of my stock to ask for a business card, a reminder to me of something else I must revise before I move!

A local rancher came to pick up some items for a friend, and they saw my ponies in a nearby paddock.  They shared that they feed with Percherons, including a Percheron-Friesian cross.  I enjoyed hearing their perspective on the conformation, temperament, and action of their drafts and draft-crosses.  The unexpected return from that visit, though, was hearing about the movie they’d just watched.  It was about pit ponies, so I shared about my first pony who was similar in conformation to pit ponies and about my first Fell Pony mentor who trained pit ponies when he was young.  You won’t be surprised to learn that I immediately came inside and ordered the movie!

One lot and its purchaser gave me a chuckle.  The lot contained a bunch of heavy duty free-standing fence panels.  I bought them nearly two decades ago when I purchased my first Fell Ponies.  Then I moved the panels here with me seventeen years ago.  And now I will see them at my new home after I move.  My hosts at Scotty Springs Ranch have purchased them!

Another purchaser wasn’t at all horsey, but I enjoyed their question about the ponies, who were watching us load timbers that my husband had milled.  They said, “Aren’t they too tall for ponies?”  I explained how tall ponies can be and how I appreciated their height when lifting harness and packs.  That was all they said, and we went on about our work. 

While it is still possible that I will be brought to tears by an auction item leaving, I now know that the visits by purchasers are bringing me unexpected returns, and for that I am exceedingly grateful.

© 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.

Breeds Have Unique Brain Traits

Research from Harvard University has shed some fascinating light on the impact we humans have in animal breeding.  Specifically, we have influenced the organization of the brains of dogs by the selection we do to create and maintain breeds.  Dr. Erin Hecht, an assistant professor of neuroscience in the department of Human Evolutionary Biology, found that “the breed differences weren’t randomly distributed, but were, in fact, focused in certain parts of the brain.” (1)   Companion-animal type breeds had different brain organizations than did herding breeds, for instance.  As one example of the way brains in breeds are organized, skill in scent hunting (think Bassett Hounds) is not “about having a brain that can detect if the scent is there. It’s about having the neural machinery to decide what to do with that information,” Hecht says.  In addition, “brain regions involved in movement and navigation were bigger in dogs bred for coursing, such as Greyhounds, than in dogs bred for companionship, such as the Maltese.” (2)

What might this research suggest about Fell Ponies?  Many Fell Ponies are hefted, having a knowledge of and relationship with a piece of ground on which they are expected to live and thrive.  Is it possible that hefted Fell Ponies have a particular brain organization that Fell Ponies living somewhere besides the fells might not have?  The researchers found that the brain organization changes occurred relatively recently in dog evolution, suggesting it didn’t take many generations for selection to have impact.  Is it possible that if fell-bred ponies continue to become rarer within the breed, we could lose relatively quickly the ability of Fell Ponies to be hefted to the fells?

In the Harvard research, working breeds had different brain organization than companion-type breeds.  Over its history, our breed has been bred to be multi-talented, to be used not only as a mount but also driven, packed, and in harness for work.  Today, the work that our ponies do, however, has changed.  What might we lose in our ponies’ brains as we select for this new type of work?  What might we gain?

Our breed standard calls for broad foreheads which are often thought to allow our ponies to have great intelligence.  That intelligence is needed for them to survive on the fells but also makes them adept at any job we put them to, hence the Fell Pony Society’s motto, “You can’t put a Fell to the wrong job.”  Researcher Hecht diplomatically points out that “This research suggests there’s not one type of canine intelligence… There are multiple types.”  No doubt the same will be found to be true in equines if and when our breeds are studied similarly. 

I had a visitor who runs an equine-assisted therapy program.  They said they prefer to use the more primitive types of equines because of their brains.  More commonly bred equines don’t interact with the clients in the same way.  In their case, they use Haflingers.  When I told a fellow Fell Pony enthusiast about this research, their reaction was that it was telling us what we already know: the brains of our ponies are different!  The therapy program person has certainly found that to be the case.

In the Fell Pony breed, as in the dog breeds in the study, we humans who are selecting breeding stock are influencing how our ponies’ brains are organized.  Even if the work they do is changing and the place they are being raised is changing, our ponies will likely remain intelligent.  How might that intelligence manifest, though?  And will it mean our breed is changed?  Breeders making selection decisions have these questions to keep in mind.

1. Radsken, Jill.  “Hunters, herders, companions: Breeding dogs has reordered their brains,” The Harvard Gazette, 9/3/19, at https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/09/harvard-researcher-finds-canine-brains-vary-based-on-breed/

2. “A dog’s breed is a window onto its brain,” Neuroscience, nature.com, 9/2/19.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

More about the Fell Pony breed, breed standard, and breeding can be found in my book Fell Pony Observations, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

One Thing After Another

I needed to escape my desk, and the convenient excuse was to take my stallion Asi and his girlfriend Madie to pasture and to spend time writing while they grazed.  It was a good thing I wasn’t as tired as I thought I was because I had one thing after another happen that kept it from being the relaxing time I had hoped for!

The first unexpected happening was when I arrived.  The mares and foals were lining the fence and watching with great interest as I unloaded the two newcomers.  Asi was reasonably well-behaved despite the mostly female audience, but I still had to modify where I was going to put he and his girlfriend because I didn’t want a lot of cavorting at the fence.  I thought I had a good solution, but it depended on the mares and foals respecting the river as a barrier.  That didn’t work!  Calista climbed up the three foot nearly-vertical river bank to tease Asi.  After trying to drive Calista back across the river, I realized I was faced with too many hormones, so I caught Asi and moved him to another pasture then I returned to the river bank to drive Calista across the river again. 

My presence on the river bank had the opposite effect than I wanted, as all the mares and foals headed my way.  It was incredibly flattering, but I really didn’t want pressure on that fence line.  Claire created the second ‘event’ by climbing the river bank onto a narrow ledge where the fence was.  Again it was incredibly flattering that Claire wanted my attention, but I didn’t like her being on that narrow ledge along the river.  I realized the only way Claire was going to go back down into the river and not try to come through the fence to be with me was if I disappeared.  So I went and hid in the shed and watched her.  Eventually the rest of the herd went across the river and disappeared. 

Claire, though, stayed at the fence and kept looking in my direction (she could tell I was close because she could see my dog Tika who was near me).  But eventually when she realized the herd was gone, she scrambled down the river bank and crossed the river and called and ran to join them.  Finally I could retreat to the trailer and sit and do some writing (and video production) while Asi and Madie grazed without company. 

There was to be one more bit of excitement.  Just before dark, Tika, who’d been laying near me, took off at a full run straight north.  I saw in front of her a flash of orange which suggested it was a fox.  They quickly disappeared.  I hastily wrapped up what I was doing, and when Tika hadn’t returned, I started calling her.  It was a long five minutes (and getting dark) before she came to me panting hard from behind me, from across the highway, and soaking wet.   Obviously the chase had taken her through the river and across the paved road.  I’m so thankful traffic was light and she wasn’t hit because she pays no attention to traffic when she’s on the scent of something. 

After all that, I was glad Asi and Madie weren’t too full of themselves at departure time.  They led and loaded easily to come home.  The upside of all the commotion was some beautiful photographs at day’s end.  And of course an improved attitude for dealing with my desk due to spending time with all my friends.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

You can read many more 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.