Grateful for Grandma

I came inside mid-afternoon soaked to the skin. Not long after, I received a text from a friend saying she had just gotten home and felt like she had driven through a hurricane. I’ve never experienced a hurricane, but I definitely knew why my friend said what she said. The wind was lashing the trees, and rain was pouring down, or more accurately, pouring at an angle. I had gotten soaked doing midday chores with the ponies. I was happy that the heaviest rain held off until I got most of my chores done.

Marie, as usual, coming to say hello despite having to come out into the storm to see me. Imperial is behind her. She also greeted me after Marie did. Love these two!

While doing chores, I was extremely impressed with my new filly Drybarrows Imperial who was running back and forth in her pen because of the wind and heavy rain. When it came time to be haltered and led out, though, she stood quietly and then led perfectly to be put out on the pasture. I then put my other yearling Willowtrail Marie out with her, as well as Grandma pony, Bowthorne Matty. I was pleased that the two young girls followed Grandma off towards the pasture, unlike their behavior just a day before. I had put this new herd together to help Imperial learn the extent of and hazards of the hill pasture. The day before, the young girls had stayed close to the barn initially while Grandma headed out to graze. Later I had an opportunity to be grateful to Grandma, as she had collected the two young girls from the barn and taken them out to the hill.

When it was time to go back out into the storm for my late afternoon/early evening check of the ponies, I knew I needed to be more thoughtful about my choice of clothing. I was certain to get soaked to the skin again, so I donned long underwear under my regular outerwear. Normally I wouldn’t gear up so conservatively in moderate temperatures, but I knew I would need to keep warm while wet.

Stepping out the door, I was grateful to Grandma again. She was easily in view, clearly soaked to the skin but grazing calmly with her butt to the wind. However, I didn’t see the two youngsters. I went out to see Matty, who was just past the two foaling sheds, and asked her where the girls were? Then I looked over my shoulder and they were both in one of the sheds, clearly also soaked to the skin but out of the wind. When they saw me, they came to say hello, and I could tell they were shivering.

I thanked Grandma for letting me know that she was doing her job, both showing the girls how to get out of the storm and making herself visible so I knew the status of things. Then she turned and set off at a trot up the hill with the two girls quickly following. I was grateful to Grandma yet another time because movement was the best antidote there could be for being chilled but with no end of the storm in sight.

Originally my plan had been to take Grandma and the girls back to the barn and put a different set of ponies on the hill for the night. Imperial wasn’t yet as accustomed to our green grass as I wanted her to be before spending a night on the hill. And the other two members of the Grandma herd were making it clear that their herd had been fractured and they weren’t happy about it. However, the strength of the storm suggested that Grandma indeed had the best plan, so I left her to her job and went to the barn to make the rest of the ponies as comfortable as I could for the night.

At the height of the storm, I couldn’t tell these two apart without stopping to really study them, which wasn’t appealing with sheets of water coming down. One is two year old Bracklinn Phoebe and the other is three year old Willowtrail Lettie. Can you tell which is which? The photograph is soggy in appearance; apparently my camera didn’t like the storm either!

While the intensity of the weather kept me pretty focused on the tasks at hand at the barn, I did find myself astonished and humbled while feeding in one paddock. I couldn’t easily tell the difference between my two-year-old imported filly and my three-year-old homebred filly in their rain-soaked states. But that’s a good thing; it means I’m being consistent on type in my choice of stock! That kept me smiling in the sheeting rain.

The next morning, the wind had subsided just a little bit but the rain had ended. We had over 2” in about 12 hours, while places not twenty miles from us had almost nothing. My neighbor said the storm was a record-breaker because his granddaughter’s large play structure got rolled across his backyard for the first time ever. Another friend said it was the longest, hardest, most sustained wind they’d ever seen. I was grateful to see that my pony sheds, substantially built but also moveable, were still upright and in place.

I stopped first at the barn to do a quick check of the ponies there then headed to where I thought I could see Grandma. Sure enough, she was once again near the foaling sheds, with one youngster lying next to where she was grazing. I was concerned as I approached, though, that I was missing my other yearling. When I got closer, I saw that the other filly was lying in one of the sheds nearby. Once again I was grateful to Grandma for making sure I could easily learn all was well and that she made sure all was well! Not long after, while I was busy doing chores at the barn, she moved the fillies to a location out of the chilly and increasing wind.

Grandma and her charges enjoying the enlivened green grass after the storm.

When I got done with morning chores at the barn, it was time to bring Grandma and her girls in. It was a half mile hike each direction to do so, and in my mud boots, it wasn’t a walk I looked forward to taking. But on the walk back, Grandma gave me another reason to be grateful. We were walking along (she’s nine months pregnant so I chose not to ride her) and suddenly she veered off our path and headed toward the fence. I remarked to her that that was strange behavior, but she wasn’t deterred. Not long after, I happened to look down just as she was stepping over a strand of wire fence. I asked her to stop and back up and found that two strands of the fence had been broken and were in the path frequently used by the ponies. Not good! I moved the wires out of the path and the pasture and then realized that more than simple fence repair was going to be required. A piece of equipment had been parked in a way to break the wires, so I would have to have help getting it moved before I could repair the fence. Thanks, Grandma, for bringing the situation to my attention!

I have said many times in my stewardship of Fell Ponies that one lifetime will not be enough with them. It’s times like these with Grandma that prove to me that I will feel the same everyday until my last day with them.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

A Reunion with My First-Born Fell

Karen is removing a grazing muzzle from Gina/Lily, a tool in managing a Sleddale line pony on abundant green grass.

When I realized a trip for a family wedding was going to take me close to where my first-born Fell Pony is now living, the idea of a reunion with her came to mind. I reached out to her owner who enthusiastically endorsed the idea. Karen has been in touch since shortly after she bought Turkey Trot Sand Lily who turned 22 earlier this year. Karen calls her Gina. Lily/Gina was born at Turkey Trot Springs, the ranch where I was living when I got started with Fell Ponies. My first prefix was Turkey Trot, mirroring the practice often followed in Cumbria of using prefixes that reflect the location where the breeder and their ponies live. I now use the prefix Willowtrail for the farm that I call home no matter where it’s located.

Lily/Gina is a daughter of my first Fell Pony, Sleddale Rose Beauty, and my first stallion Midnight Valley Timothy. Lily/Gina stayed with me for ten years and had two foals for me: Willowtrail Columbine whom I last knew was in the Houston area but sadly I have lost track of, and Willowtrail Jonty who is beloved by his family in Utah who stays in touch. Here, I have Lily/Gina’s half-sister Willowtrail Wild Rose, also a Beauty daughter, and Lily/Gina’s niece and Rose’s daughter, Willowtrail Lettie, Beauty’s granddaughter.

The Sleddale ponies were bred for more than one hundred years. The last Sleddale pony registered was in 2004. Gina/Lily’s grandmother Sleddale Rosemary won the Senior class in 1991 at the Royal Show in England. The judge of the class said, “[Sleddale Rosemary] had all the distinctive qualities of the Sleddale Ponies. I could have found fault, but for me it typified the Fell and I preferred it on the day to the other ponies in a strong entry. It may just be my feeling but I find the Sleddale very representative of an old-fashioned type of pony….” (1)

Gina/Lily and me, courtesy Karen.

Characteristics that other people name about Sleddale ponies include good feet and legs, good bone and substance, a broad back, wide through the chest, and sometimes an independent spirit, usually coupled with a willingness to work. Mr. Henry Harrison, the last breeder of the Sleddale ponies described the fell where the ponies lived as “a poor hill, no good feed…,” which I think contributed both to their hardiness/easy keeping qualities and their occasional hardness of spirit. Nonetheless, Mr. Harrison also said, “Besides its hardiness, thrift, strength, and being surefooted, it is the personality of the fell pony that means so much, a kind natured pony, ever eager to please and provide good company.” (2) I kept Lily for a decade because we had a bond, and Rose is my heart pony for good reason.

The day of my reunion with Lily/Gina was a beautiful one, and Karen’s property shouted spring time. When I first saw Gina/Lily, I was immediately struck by how she reflects what I have learned about the Sleddale Fell Ponies over the years. Her shape indicated she was an easy keeper like her mother was; Beauty was two hundred pounds overweight according to the vet who examined her when I bought her. Both Gina/Lily’s sister and niece display similarly rounded figures compared to my ponies from other lines. Gina/Lily also gave no indication that she was going to be distracted from the green grass before her just because a visitor had shown up. I recognized that attitude, too! Nonetheless, Karen and Gina completed the Fell Pony Society 96-mile challenge in 2023, just as Rose and I did. My experience with the Sleddale line is that they thrive on having a job, which also keeps them from becoming too rotund!

Don't let me interrupt your grazing!

A few days after I returned from visiting Lily/Gina, a friend came to visit. They greeted all the ponies, and then said, “Rose is the only one who doesn’t want to say hello to me.” I told them that’s in that line, remembering how I had felt when Lily/Gina treated me similarly! I do think Lily/Gina recognized me despite her perceived indifference, and I know Rose was aware of my friend’s presence.

The late Mrs. Ailie Newall, breeder of the Dene Fell Ponies, once said, “I reckon really that the Sleddale ponies are the only true ponies that have always, constantly, been a true pony.” (3) My many years working with ponies, Fells and non-Fells alike, have shown me that part of loving a pony is learning to earn a relationship with them. Gina is lucky that Karen has developed a relationship that she assures me means Gina is in her forever home. For that I am profoundly grateful.

1. Tabelin, Alan. “Royal Show 1991 – Judge’s Notes,” Fell Pony Society Newsletter, Autumn 1991, p. 19.

2. Harrison, Henry. Fell Pony Society Calendar, 2005, January page. Mr. Harrison was the President of FPS at the time of the calendar’s publishing.

3. Millard, Sue. Hoofprints in Eden, Hayloft Publishing, Kirkby-Stephen, Cumbria, England, 2003, p. 52.

   © Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Traveling the Hill

After sitting in a vehicle all day, I was thrilled to return home to find sunny skies and my three Fell Pony sisters high on the hill. It was an immediate excuse to take a long and much-needed walk to see them. My dogs were thrilled as well, since because there are lots of calves around the barn, they aren’t allowed to be loose there, so they enjoy traveling the hill even more.

There was a pony in the background, but not with this framing! Just pretty pasqueflowers!

My initial climb to where I saw the Three Sisters herd had the benefit of going past numerous pasqueflowers in bloom. They are my favorite early spring flower. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to get a picture of them with a pony because the flowers live under pine trees, and the ponies prefer to be in the open. I took the picture here hoping it had a pony in it in the distance, but alas I got the framing wrong thanks to the sun in my face!

The Three Sisters had moved since I had first seen them, to the southwestern edge of the pasture.

The ponies weren’t where I had seen them but instead about a quarter mile farther, in the upper southwest part of the pasture. I had been wanting to visit that area, so I was doubly happy for an even longer walk. The light was unusual due to haze; I wasn’t sure whether it was dust from the high winds we’d had or humidity. At sundown when I felt the wind on my cheek, I concluded the latter. And I admit that the weather forecast I’d heard confirmed that! The views from the spot were amazing and definitely justified the hike.

Rose and Ace add to the beautiful view!

After I greeted the ponies, I began my descent diagonally across the hill towards the east and home. About five minutes after I’d left the ponies, I was surprised to hear pounding hooves. I looked uphill, and sure enough the Three Sisters were passing by above me and then continuing below me. They would get to the bottom long before I did!

I barely caught the Three Sisters in this photo as they descended above me.

After I had gotten all the way down to my house farther east, I got a text from my partner saying the ponies were at the northwest corner of the pasture at the bottom, about three-quarters of a mile to the west. They had apparently had as much fun traveling the hill as I did, though going a much longer distance in less time!

Willowtrail Wild Rose mid-descent with my canine companion Ace at right.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

That Time of Year

Not visible to the human eye, but there’s enough green out there to be distracting!

It was a warm morning. When I got to the barn, the Three Sisters herd wasn’t at the gate to be let in as they had been all winter. Instead, they were just out on the hill where they could see my activities at the barn. I fed the Grandma herd and my stallion, then I opened gates to welcome the Three Sisters. As I did a few other things, I was surprised that the Three Sisters ran towards the barn from the hill. I had thought it might be that time of year when emerging green grass is too much of an enticement to stay out rather than come in.

I spread hay in the Three Sisters’ corral, and I was mightily impressed that my heart pony, Willowtrail Wild Rose, came trotting in. Normally, she enters at a walk. She came directly to me to greet me, and I gave her a hug and thanked her with a treat. Then she spun around and trotted right back out again! Ha! I thought. Definitely that time of year! In less than a minute, the Three Sisters were back out on the hill where they had been. I hadn’t even had an opportunity to close the gate on Rose!

I wasn’t feeling well, so I had been really hopeful for my cooperative ponies who bring themselves in like clockwork. But in the end, I smiled all the way out onto the hill with a halter, remembering Rose’s demonstration that it is indeed that time of year!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Communication through Scratching

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

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

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

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

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Humble Pie and Summer Blacks

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

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

How We Lead

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

The mud channel in the paddock presented a learning opportunity!

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

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

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

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Keeping Fell Ponies Warm in Winter - 2

When our recent extremely cold weather was due to hit, I was very thankful for my more-than-twenty-years of keeping Fell Ponies warm in winter. When we were at 9,000 feet above sea level in Colorado, I often got the question about how to keep the ponies warm. Blankets haven’t ever been an answer to that question, which astounded many of my inquirers. Instead I rely on the ponies’ natural abilities. My first article on this subject, which is included in my first Fell Pony Observations book, said, “They have four strategies: winter fur coats, movement, cover, and digestion. My goal in winter is to support these strategies as best I can so that these ponies retain their native hardiness.” (1)

My Fell Ponies twenty years ago in Colorado at 9,000 feet above sea level. We had snow there more than half the year, so I learned how to keep them warm in winter.

South Dakota winters are very different than Colorado winters, of course. Where we are now, there’s less snow, more ice, and more wind. Until this latest storm, the coldest temperatures had been similar. With this latest storm, we had wind on top of the coldest temperatures I’ve experienced, so I pondered a lot how to keep my ponies warm. As it turned out, it was just supporting their four strategies as I’ve always done. I realized, though, that I’ve added new ways to support those strategies and some of the ways I support them are different here than they were in Colorado.

I support my Fell Ponies’ healthy winter coats, one of their natural strategies for keeping warm in winter, in part through my nutrition program. My stud colt Globetrotter Moth’s coat shines when it’s not covered in frost!

One of the ways that I support their strategy of healthy winter coats is the nutritional program that I have them on. While that support was initially based on loose free choice minerals, I have in the past several years also added a dry-lot-support formula that includes healthy fat and copper which has added even more body and sheen to their coats. It is heartening to see and feel the health of the ponies’ coats in the depths of winter and to see that they are well protected by the hair’s ability to stand up, its length, and its thickness. Moth’s coat shines when it’s not covered in frost!

Fell Pony Stud Colt Globetrotter Moth in his paddock with lots of features to help him stay warm in winter.

The picture of my stud colt Globetrotter Moth in his paddock shows a few of the other ways that I support the ponies’ strategies for staying warm in winter here in South Dakota. His paddock is large, and you can see from his tracks through the snow that he makes use of its size to move around. He can easily go at a canter or gallop if he wants to; I’m grateful for this stallion-housing here.

Another difference from Colorado is wind direction. Our typical winter winds are from the northwest. Moth has a shed where he can get out of the wind. It’s just behind where I took this picture. But Moth prefers to stand out in the weather, as most of my Fell Ponies do. His favorite place to stand when the winds come from the normal direction is at the end of the barn near where he’s eating in the photo. However, unlike where we were in Colorado, winter storms can come not only from the northwest but also from the east. Providing cover from both directions, then, is always on my mind when I have ponies in paddocks rather than out on the hill.

The photo shows that when the wind came from the east, Moth used the west side of the shed (note all the hoofprints in the snow near where I took this picture) to protect himself from the wind. The summer sun shelter shown at the bottom of the paddock that I bought after moving to South Dakota is designed to be moveable and for its roof to be dropped so it can be a wind screen. After experiencing this recent storm, I may drop the roof and move it seasonally for Moth to give him options for seeking cover when winter wind blows from the east.

Another thing that I began doing about a decade ago to support the ponies’ stay-warm strategy of movement was how I feed hay. In the first photo from twenty years ago, there was a pile of hay for each pony. In Moth’s paddock recently in contrast, you can see that there are small piles spread out to encourage him to move as he eats, just as he would if he were grazing a pasture. Whenever I feed hay now, I spread it out in as many small piles as there is space for, each pile being 1-2 pony lengths apart. If you’re familiar with Jaime Jackson’s Paddock Paradise and track systems, this is my adaptation of that idea (you can read about my Alpine Pony Tracks by clicking here and here.)

I am grateful that my Fell Ponies have all come through this recent cold snap so well. I am sure that I will continue to tweak how I steward my herd in winter as new support strategies come to me. And I know my ponies will continue to teach me how I can better support their natural abilities to stay warm in winter. I also admit that after this last cold snap, at least for the moment, I’m thankful that winter here doesn’t last as long as it did in Colorado!

1. Morrissey, Jenifer. Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding. Willowtrail Farm and Amazon, 2013, p. 120.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Moth and Minerals and Water

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024

Minerals and the Moon

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

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

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

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

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

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

   © Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

At the Sentinel's Request

The Sentinel is my senior Fell Pony mare Bowthorne Matty. She has earned that name by repeatedly standing apart from the herd looking into the distance, as if watching for trouble. The picture here shows the same behavior in the corral, letting the three younger ponies nap while she stands watch.

When my ponies get their feed buckets, they are often tied to a fence so that each pony gets their bucket without competition. (The buckets contain vitamins, probiotics, and other supplements; minerals are available loose and free choice.) The other advantage of giving them buckets when they’re tied is I can tell if they’re eating what I’ve given them, instead of the bucket being emptied by someone else. Even when they’re tied, I watch to make sure each pony is enthusiastically focused on their bucket, eating its contents. If that’s not the case, I investigate to correct whatever is keeping the pony from eating.

Occasionally, the Sentinel will stand back from her bucket and not touch it. When I first saw the behavior, I was puzzled. I figured out the situation by going to her and standing next to her bucket to watch. She would then start eating. Once she started eating, if I attempted to leave, she stepped back again and quit eating. But if I stayed there, she would finish the contents of her bucket.

I have responded to the Sentinel’s request and she is finishing her bucket in thanks.

I can’t know for sure, but the conclusion I’ve reached is it usually happens when we’re having windy weather. She seems to be requesting that I take over the sentinel job while she eats. I assume it’s because she can’t hear what’s going on around her because of the wind, and her sentinel responsibilities mean she must keep watch rather than eat. Now when I see the behavior, I recognize the Sentinel’s request. I join her and don’t leave until she has completed eating. When I respond to the Sentinel’s request, she cleans up her bucket just like normal. There aren’t many beings in my life that take their job that seriously. Always something to learn from my ponies!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Phoebe's First Day on the Hill

Putting my new Fell Pony filly Bracklinn Phoebe out on the hill for the first time here at Willowtrail Farm didn’t go like I thought it would, and it was at the same time a perfect reflection of her wonderful temperament. Phoebe arrived here from Scotland the day before Thanksgiving after three weeks on the road. I kept her in a separate pen for three days to let her get used to the altitude and my management routine and as a transition from the confinement of travel. She could exchange air across fences with my mares to introduce herself but didn’t have to immediately deal with their more physical expressions of herd behavior.

Phoebe on the periphery of the Grandma Herd

I put her in with the Grandma herd for a few hours in the corrals the fourth day and then permanently the next. This herd has Bowthorne Matty, the overall herd leader at 17 years old, then Willowtrail Lettie, a two year old, and Willowtrail Marie, a weanling. It’s my hope that Lettie and Phoebe will bond. Of course at this point, Lettie is trying to maintain her place in the herd and is therefore pushing Phoebe, who is taller, around. By comparison, Marie and Matty rarely acknowledge Phoebe at all!

The hill pasture where the Bracklinn herd runs in Scotland is in the distance over the grey mare’s rump.

In Scotland, Phoebe spent part of the year on a hill pasture with her family herd, so I knew she’d understand what running on a hill would be like. What I needed her to learn from the other herd members here was how to get to the hill from the barn and back again, where the water is, and where there’s cover when the weather is adverse. For her to learn these things, she needed to stay with the herd when I let them out onto the hill. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I watched carefully after I put them all out.

For a few minutes, the four of them ran around just outside the corral. Then all but Phoebe ran off to the hill. I wasn’t sure if Phoebe didn’t see them leave or chose not to follow them. When I saw her alone, I went out to her to let her know I’d help her find the herd, then I began tracking them in the fresh snow. They had descended into the ravine that separates the barn from the pasture, then ran out of sight. Phoebe didn’t follow me when I went into the ravine then out the other side into the pasture, so I returned to the barn for a halter and lead rope.

Once Phoebe understood where the herd was on the hill pasture, she willingly stayed with them to graze.

I have been so impressed by Phoebe’s ground manners, better than many yearlings I’ve imported, and the next few minutes cemented that impression. The wind was gusting, and she was in completely unfamiliar terrain, but she politely followed me down into the ravine and up the other side then out onto the hill pasture. She only got anxious when she spotted the herd. I took the halter off and watched her run to the herd. Lettie immediately began keeping her a dozen yards distant from Matty but Marie was willing to graze with Phoebe. I went back to the barn and watched the herd for the next half hour as I was doing chores. Satisfied that Phoebe was hanging with the herd as I needed her to do, I went inside.

Just before dark, I was thrilled to see four black dots on the hill together. Phoebe was staying with the herd!

Just before dark, I headed out to check on the herd and determine if Phoebe was okay to spend the night on the hill. Again, I needed her to be hanging with the others and the others needed to keep her in sight. Upon stepping outside, I was immediately thrilled with what I saw. Midway up the hill, I could see four dark spots in close proximity to each other. Sure enough, when I climbed up to the herd, they were indeed acting as a herd, though Lettie was still keeping Phoebe a good distance from Matty.

Bracklinn Phoebe on the hill at Willowtrail Farm.

I greeted each of the ponies, which mostly meant standing still as they each came to me, then I began my descent. Phoebe tried to follow me, so I modified my route to encourage her to stay with the other ponies. She eventually got the idea, turning around and climbing back up the hill and calling to the others. I was thoroughly impressed at her desire to connect with me, her willingness earlier to follow my leadership, and then her desire to be a part of the pony herd on the hill. She’s a delight in so many ways!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Thankful 2023

Bracklinn Phoebe in Scotland shortly before her trip to me. Note the abundant green grass! Courtesy Alistair Smith

This Thanksgiving I am thankful
For the safe arrival on the farm
Of a yearling Fell Pony filly
Who’s delighting with her charm.

Bracklinn Phoebe arrived from Scotland,
A long journey to be sure.
But her calm and friendly temperament
Made it easy for her to endure.

Phoebe at the layover stable in Lexington, Kentucky where her friendliness made photography challenging. Typical Fell POny! Courtesy Newtown Stable.

We had the chance to get to know her
On the final leg of her three-week trip.
From Colorado through Wyoming to South Dakota,
Unlike for us, for her was just a blip.

Phoebe’s gray color intrigues me
And caused one of her transporters to laugh.
She looked at the halter tag saying ‘gray mare’
And thought it was some sort of gaff.

Phoebe’s near-black color had confused her,
But to me the gray color is there.
Splashed on her cheeks and around her nose
Amongst the dominant black is the odd white hair.

Left: Phoebe looking out at the non-green landscape of Wyoming. Right: Meeting my herd upon arrival. She’s in a pen separate from my two mare herds.

At a water and hay stop in Wyoming,
She glanced out at the scenery in awe.
Not a blade of green grass was visible anywhere,
Unlike at her home in Scotland that we saw.

She arrived the day before Thanksgiving.
Then the holiday brought a winter storm.
Cold, snow, and wind began intensely
In typical South Dakota form.

Phoebe handled the snowstorm the day after she arrived without concern.

As the temperature dropped and wind increased,
I worried how Phoebe’d do.
Her breeder assured me it’d be no problem,
And that’s certainly what ended up being true.

Now begins the considered work
Of integrating Phoebe into my herd.
Balancing her safety amongst lots of newness
And with the excitement her presence has stirred.

Phoebe in the background and the Grandma herd in the foreground, getting acquainted at feeding time with a fence keeping Phoebe safe initially.

I plan to put her first with the Grandma herd
Where the energy is a little lower.
I’m hoping two-year-old Lettie will, like me,
Really like her when she gets to know her.

Phoebe enjoying a chance to move after three weeks of being confined while on the road.

Her breeder told me Phoebe’s movement
Was a characteristic he especially admired.
I saw it here as she moved about with the herd
And is certainly something I desired.

So, I am very grateful,
At my favorite holiday of the year,
For friends and family and home and work,
And that a new pony has landed here!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Humbled by My Herd

It happened again. And it reminded me of a twelve-hour period this summer when they did it twice. ‘It’ is my Fell Ponies making choices that lighten my chore load when they could easily choose differently. They leave me pleased, surprised, touched, and humbled.

My mares and foals came into the barn to eat the hay I had left for them, humbling me by then staying there until I returned to shut them in for the night.

Earlier this fall, we were going out to dinner, and I couldn’t find the mares with foals out on the hill before we left. I had been putting them out on the hill in the morning and in at night and then letting the open mare herd out at night and in during the day. I fed the open mare herd in their paddock then opened the gate to the other paddock where I spread hay in hopes that the mares with foals would come in while I was gone. When I returned after dark, the mares and foals had indeed come in, eaten the hay, and then stayed, despite the gate still being open to the hill. Of course, it wasn’t just me that was appreciative. So was the rest of the herd so they could go out for the night.

The next morning when I arrived at the barn, there was something odd about the area near the round bale of hay that I had been feeding out of. Some spoiled hay that I had set aside had been disturbed. Then I saw a pile of equine manure nearby. My mind immediately began wondering which pony was out and then how did they get out. The mares and foals were in the corral where I expected them to be, and I could see ponies in the draw near the barn on the hill pasture. I thought maybe they had breached the fence in the draw, but when I double-checked, all the open mares were also where they should be. It was very odd, then, to find manure near the hay bale. Surely it was one of the ponies and not someone else’s equine? Someone else’s equine would have had to travel miles to get to that spot, with lots of more interesting grazing in between. But how had one of my ponies gotten out of the pasture and who had put her back in?

The answer came an hour later when I was reminded that fence repair was underway on the cattle corrals on the other side of the barn. The repair work involved tearing out old fence and putting in new. Some of the fence along the pony pasture had indeed been torn out but had not yet been rebuilt. Then the gates to the lane from the corrals were open. Okay, that explained how a pony could have gotten out, but who had put them back in? That question remained unanswered.

Next I decided to check the fence repair project. Sure enough, there were pony tracks going through the opening in the fence and then through the cattle corral toward the lane. And then the unanswered question got answered. There were also tracks going in the opposite direction. The wandering pony or ponies had put themselves back where they were supposed to be. This was despite the availability of a hay bale and ungrazed grass and unexplored territory. This was despite needing to reverse a 50 yard venture that navigated two corrals and two gates, a distance of lane, plus the opening in the pasture fence. I found it remarkable that the escaped ponies had unescaped themselves.

I am humbled that my ponies, when they could choose to stay up on the hill where there is plenty of grass to graze, instead come to the barn when I need them to.

I pondered my mares coming in and staying in the night before and then a wandering pony putting themselves back where they were supposed to be after being out on an adventure. I progressed from being pleased to being surprised to being touched to being humbled. They had clearly made decisions with me in mind. They recognize my patterns of care for them and they were responding to them. It wasn’t just one pony; it was several of them, running in two different herds. I am obviously not telling them what to do or forcing them to do these things. They are choosing to do so just as they choose to follow the lead of a head mare on the pasture when they could do otherwise. They were acting as though I am a respected member of their herd. I am still pondering the implications of that honor.

Despite being more than two decades in, it’s a humbling experience sharing life with these ponies.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Packhorse History of Miterdale

The valley of the River Mite in the Lake District of England is said to have three sections, each with its own distinct character. The lower portion runs through fields on its way to Ravenglass harbor, with Muncaster Fell on its southern side. The middle section is a woodland river, with more grade and faster water. In its highest reach, the river is a mountain stream running through a narrow valley. All three sections of Miterdale were historically traversed by important packhorse tracks. The packhorse era is generally considered to have been from the 12th to the late 18th century, though in some places packponies were used into the very early 20th century, and there is evidence that the Romans used packhorses during their stay in northern England from 100AD.

The middle reach of the River Mite in Miterdale in the Lake District. Courtesy Dr. Phil Brown

I was recently corresponding with someone in the UK who didn’t know that the Fell Pony is the native pony of northwest England, including the Lake District. Even if people do know about Fell Ponies, they often don’t know how ancestors of today’s ponies contributed to the early industrial activities of the region as pack animals. While packhorse bridges are often recognized as historic and picturesque parts of the region, the many other features that harken back to the packhorse era, including the ponies themselves, are not given equal recognition.

Wordsworth's view of the features of the Lake District as spokes of a wheel radiating from the hub (red dot) at ScaFell. Our progress documenting the packhorse history of the region is hatched in green.

Previously, we have looked at the packhorse history of the valley of the River Esk, to the south east of Miterdale. The two valleys are connected by a low rise at Eskdale Green. Other areas that we have explored in this series on packhorse history are shown on the map at right that illustrates the poet William Wordsworth’s wheel of lakes in the Lake District, with the hub as a red dot not far from the top of Miterdale.

The map of Miterdale below shows many of the features there that are related to the era of packhorses. For more detail about the general association of these features with packhorse history, see the beginning of the previous article on Eskdale (click here.)

While ‘packhorses’ is the usual term, history says they were ponies by stature since they were usually less than 14hh. Stout but shorter equines made it easier to lift the loads onto the pack saddles. Some of the packhorses in use during the peak of the packhorse era were imported: jaegers or jaggers from Germany for instance. But some were also locally reared and therefore ancestral to today’s Fell Ponies, the breed that calls the region home today.

We will begin our exploration of Miterdale at the head of the valley. It appears on the map, and many people assume, that the River Mite has its source in Burnmoor Tarn. Having walked there in 2015 with pack ponies, it is easy for me to see both the confusion and the truth. It turns out that there is a slight rise on Burnmoor that separates the Mite drainage from that of the River Esk, whose tributary Whillan Beck drains the tarn.

Burnmoor Tarn looking toward the head of Miterdale in 2015 on our packhorse day trip. It’s easy to see where ‘the Highway’ came up onto the moor. We and our pack ponies went off to the left, down along Whillan Beck towards Eskdale.

One website acknowledges the confusion and describes the truth this way, “The top of the Mite is rather unusual. Looking down on the area from above, it looks as if Burnmoor Tarn must drain into the Mite, but a slight rise in ground level means that the tarn actually feeds Whillan Beck. Instead the Mite rises in a rocky glen, a wide point in the valley surrounded by low crags on all sides with waterfalls dropping down in several places.” (1)

A packhorse track labelled ‘The Highway’ is shown on the map as a green line paralleling the headwaters of the river. Mary Fair, the noted local historian and archaeologist of neighboring Eskdale wrote more than once about the Highway. In her circa 1921 article “Some Notes on the Eskdale Twenty-Four Book” in the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society (Transactions), Fair wrote, “According to an old landowner still living in Eskdale [the Highway] means the ancient pack-horse track (now almost lost in places), up Miterdale over Tongue Moor and into Wasdale.” (2)

At the head of the Highway, at Burnmoor Tarn, a fishery is indicated on the map. In David Bradbury’s booklet The Mighty Mite: Water Power around Eskdale and Miterdale, Cumbria, the author says that the fishery at Burnmoor Tarn was valued back into the Middle Ages. (3) Numerous references say that pack ponies were used to carry fish prior to the availability of other forms of transport, so it is possible that the Highway might have been traversed by pack ponies to move fish from Burnmoor Tarn to market towns. (4)

Coming down the Mite on the Highway, at the confluence of two river branches, an inn and a bridge are shown on the map. Robert Gambles, in his book The Story of the Lakeland Dales, says there were six farmsteads in upper Miterdale, with the earliest records of them dating from 1294. Their names included Bakerstead, Browyeat, Sword House, Miterdale Head, and Low Place. (5) The historic Nanny Horns Inn was at Sword House.

When Bob Orrell and his pair of Fell Ponies went on their Saddle Tramp in the Lake District in the 1980s, Bob chose to extend their trip slightly and go up Miterdale from Eskdale Green. At Bakerstead Farm, he met an elderly woman out walking who admired his ponies. She then told Bob a story about the Highway. “Eeh, Grandfather used to tell a tale or two about when they used to take stuff about on pack-ponies. In them days there were no roads like there is now and he, and his father, had to take their wool over the fells to Keswick. There’s a place up Miterdale called ‘the Highway’ but he used to frighten me sister and me to death with a tale about a murder at a farm up there. Every year I come back on holiday, but I’ve never plucked up courage to go and see the spot yet.” (6)

I understand the woman’s lack of nerve. I found the ghost story on the internet, and I wish I hadn’t read it, as I have far too vivid an imagination. Should you wish to read it, though, click here and scroll down to the recounting of the Beckside Boggle at Miterdale Head. Even Bob Orrell was unnerved by the story: “Having listened to the old lady’s gruesome story I was glad to leave the dark shade of the hedge and return to the heat of the sun. I half expected her to vanish into the air, pulling the hood of a cloak over her head, but instead she trotted merrily down the road…” (7)

Paul Hindle’s book Roads and Tracks of the Lake District is considered a reliable source when studying roads, tracks and bridges in the Lake District. In his discussion of packhorse bridges, a map illustration shows four bridges in upper Miterdale. (8) The Detailed Old Map 1888-1913 that I have referenced repeatedly in this series about packhorse history shows five bridges. (9) Through the wonders of the internet, I have been able to see photographs of them and place them on the map. Today some are foot bridges and one appears to carry a road, possibly accessing a quarry.

Packhorse bridge giving access to the ruins of Miterdale Head Farm. Courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson and copyright Maureen Fleming

The first bridge encountered on the map as we descend Miterdale accesses the ruins of Miterdale Head Farm and Sword House. It is often photographed and is called a packhorse bridge; it is shown here courtesy my colleague Maggie B. Dickinson and her friend Maureen Fleming. The second bridge near it on the map is currently a footbridge that accesses what was once Bakerstead Farm and has more recently been an Outward Bound School. This bridge is also labeled a footbridge on the Detailed Old Map. It is possible that at one time there may have been a packhorse bridge at this location, based on where modern tracks lie, suggesting where the Highway once ran.

The inn shown on the map at the confluence of the two river branches in upper Miterdale is referred to as Nanny Horns, as already mentioned. Some historians have not found evidence of it on the ground and consider it a storytelling device from the 19th century (10). On the other hand, Nanny Horns Inn is included on the 1923 list of Ancient Monuments in Irton township and is labeled there as being on a packhorse route. (11) The very comprehensive Lakes Guides website and Old Cumbria Gazetteer, compiled by Jean and the late Martin Norgate, include close-ups from numerous historic maps clearly showing an inn in upper Miterdale as early as 1579. (12) Maps more recent than 1695 do not consistently show this inn, explaining perhaps why there is confusion.

Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales very definitively says that the Nanny Horns was at Sword House. “The ruins of Sword House have been identified as those of the former Nanny Horns Inn, once a hostelry on the major communications route between Keswick and Ravenglass, a route known to all as The Highway, a tough, hard road along which sturdy packponies carried wad [pencil lead], wool and slate to the quaysides at Ravenglass and brought sugar, rum, salt and tobacco on their return…. For all these travelers and packhorsemen the Nanny Horns meant warmth, rest and refreshment after the long and often arduous trail from Wasdale Head over the bleak moors below Scafell. We may safely assume that the inn and, no doubt, the other farmsteads hereabouts did a thriving business providing food and shelter for both man and beast. (13)

Coming further down the river, we see two pitsteads on the map across from Low Place. Mary Fair wrote in her Transactions article about early iron smelting sites called bloomeries: “There are numerous pitsteads for charcoal burning in the wood opposite Low Place, though careful search has revealed no bloomery site here.” (14) Pitsteads were used for creating charcoal, and if the pitsteads were in operation during the pack horse era, pack ponies would have been used to bring wood to the pitstead and charcoal away from the pitstead to the nearby bloomeries.

The bridge shown near these pitsteads on the map is currently a footbridge and is also labeled as such on the Detailed Old Map. Given the tracks on the Detailed Old Map, though, it seems likely that the Highway crossed the river here, suggesting that a packhorse bridge may once have existed at this location.

Two bloomery sites and two more pitsteads are shown slightly further down the river. About these features, Mary Fair wrote in her Transactions paper: “On the ancient road leading from the Whitehaven road to Low Place through Porterthwaite wood, there is the site of a small bloomery on the east bank of a little stream to the north of the road… and two charcoal pitsteads adjoining…. A quarter of a mile east …along the old road, beyond the gate, about 40 yards south of the road at the edge of a hollow at the bottom of which runs a little stream, is a bloomery site.” (15) Her ’ancient road’ is the lower end of the historic packhorse track, The Highway.

Another bridge further downstream appears in photographs to be a modern vehicle bridge, possibly to access a quarry on the north side of the river. It is labeled a footbridge on the Detailed Old Map, but like the one above it crossing the river on the map, its location suggests a packhorse bridge may have existed at this location previously.

Bridge over the River Mite at the north end of historic Smithybrow Lane.
Copyright Peter Trimming and used via Creative Commons license 2.0

Coming down the river on the map, when we reach Low Holme, the historic Smithybrow Lane comes in from Eskdale Green. Mary Fair referenced Smithy Brow in her Transactions article “Packhorse Days in Eskdale.” The lane connects Eskdale Green with the track to Strands and Whitehaven. A blacksmith shop was also in this area, hence the name of the Lane. Where the track crosses the River Mite, there are numerous features with packhorse connections. A bridge is shown on the map and in the photo above. With its low parapets and on a known packhorse route, it deserves to be investigated as a possible historic packhorse bridge since such a bridge certainly existed at the location during the packhorse era.

A mill is also shown. David Bradbury, in his booklet The Mighty Mite, says that a carding mill was established at this location in 1797 and that it was converted to a bobbin mill early in the 19th century, making spools for the Lancashire cotton industry and also making other turned articles such as furniture. (16) Cart drivers were still shown to be employed at the mill as late as 1861. (17) It is possible that pack ponies would have been used to bring raw materials to the mill during its history since passable roads were late in coming to remote parts of the Lake District. It is also possible that locally reared ponies could have been put to the mill’s carts. Today the mill is a holiday cottage.

On the north side of the river, another bloomery is shown on the map. Mary Fair wrote, “There are traces of somewhat extensive workings to the right of the Eskdale-to-Strands road, just over the bridge across the Mite… In the western face of this mound is a large heap of clinker and heavy slag of the usual type where the smelting process has been somewhat primitive, and between the mound and the road is the foundation of a circular building approximately 44 feet in diameter. Across the road at the foot of the first hill are further remains of bloomery workings in a hollow adjoining a little stream which comes down the wood, flowing into the Mite…. There are several charcoal pitsteads adjoining these workings, two being on the top of the mound previously alluded to.” (18) Fair’s description of the workings as primitive suggests that these features may have been operated during the packhorse era when packponies would have had many roles: carrying wood to pitsteads, charcoal from pitsteads to bloomeries, ore to bloomeries, and smelted iron away to markets.

Also on the north side of the river, a potash kiln is shown. Mary Fair wrote, “Porterthwaite Wood is full of pitsteads, and there are also the remains of kilns used for burning bracken roots for soap making…” (19) Some of the soap was used to clean fleece and cloth at fulling or walk mills, such as the one downstream. If the kiln was used during the packhorse era, as the mill downstream was, pack ponies would have been used to bring bracken to the kiln and then taken potash to the soap makers.

Bower House Inn in Miterdale, with its history beginning with coaches in the 18th century and likely on the site of one serving drovers and packhorsemen before that. Courtesy Dr. Phil Brown

Descending the river to the second track from Eskdale Green into Miterdale at Longrigg Green, we see a bridge and an inn. The Detailed Old Map names the bridge Bower House Bridge. The inn is also called Bower House, with a notation suggesting it was once called Hound Inn. The inn’s website and other histories say the building dates to 1751 and was a coaching inn. (20) The bridge is modern now but the Lakes Guides/Old Cumbria Gazetteer website includes a map from 1774 showing the bridge adjacent to Lowkay Hall, another name for the inn at this spot. (21) Given the number of historic packhorse tracks in the area, it is possible there was a bridge at that location previously that was used by pack ponies during their era.

Hindle, in his book Roads and Tracks of the Lake District calls the route out of Eskdale Green towards Santon Bridge a drove route, along which cattle were moved to market. “The main drove route northwards has been identified, and can be followed on foot from Eskdale right through to Cockermouth. From Eskdale Green it followed the present road to Santon Bridge and then along what is still an excellent example of a drove road to Strands where it crosses the River Irt. Beyond here the drove headed north-westwards and out onto open country, remaining on the lower fells in order to avoid the hedges of the enclosed farmland.” (22)

Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales elaborates, “..the drovers’ road (now the motor road) along which for 500 years thousands of cattle were driven to markets and fairs at Bootle, Ravenglass, Cockermouth and much further afield to Kendal, Penrith and Appleby. The traffic here must have been intense as this road also served as a major packhorse route and wagon trail. The waters of the Mite no doubt quenched the thirst of many a tired beast.” (23)

Sometimes packhorsemen and drovers used the same routes and inns, as Gambles suggests. Or it may have been that the packhorsemen used the route from Eskdale Green via Smithy Brow Lane to Strands, leaving the Santon Bridge route to the drovers, in which case there may not have been a packhorse bridge at Bower House, since drovers could use fords instead.

Continuing downstream, we see on the map at Burn Booth a mill and bloomery. The Detailed Old Map shows a Walk Mill in this location, also called a fulling mill, as previously mentioned. David Bradbury in The Mighty Mite says this mill dates to 1494. (24) Mike Davies-Shiel’s map of fulling mills for Cumbria Industrial History Society suggests this mill dates to pre-1350. (25) With such a long history, it was certainly serviced by packponies during their era.

A Duddon Valley Local History Group document explains about fulling: “Once spun, wool needs to go through a ‘fulling’ process whereby it is cleaned and pounded to produce a cloth with a close-knit weave. Cleaning was traditionally undertaken using lye soap. This soap was made from a fine, potassium-rich ash or ‘potash’. The potash was produced by local farmers to supplement their income. Most was produced from burning harvested green bracken which is very rich in potassium sulphate, although sometimes wood was used.” (26)

Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales explains an early sheep-keeping task called salving that explains why cleaning was such an important part of the production of wool cloth. “[Generations] of farmhands would have been familiar with all the arduous tasks involved in tending large flocks of sheep, not least the former custom of ‘salving’ to rid the animals of the various parasites which torment them. The ‘salve’ was an obnoxious mixture of rancid butter and tar and each sheep had to be vigorously massaged for 20 minutes or so. Three dozen sheep required 16 pounds of butter and one gallon of tar and kept one man exhaustingly occupied for three long days. This unpleasant chore began to disappear in the mid-19th century when Bigg’s sheep-dipping apparatus became more widely known. Resistance to change meant salving was still practiced on some Lake District farms until 1905 when dipping became compulsory. Most farmers by then had been persuaded to use the new method by the simple fact that the cost of dipping was considerably less than that of salving, and the cleaner, dipped fleeces were far more marketable than the tarry, pungent fleeces which had been so thoroughly anointed.” (27)

Pack ponies would have been well employed when fulling mills were in operation, bringing wool to the mill and then away from it but also possibly bringing the soap to the mill, the soap having been created from materials that they would have also likely hauled, as previously discussed regarding the potash kiln in Porterthwaite Wood.

Regarding the bloomery on the map at Burn Booth, Mary Fair wrote in her Transactions paper about bloomeries in the area, “On the north bank of the Mite, opposite the ruins known as Walk Milne (formerly a fulling mill), are traces of foundations of some building (the place is called ‘Burn Booth’), and patches of red oxide puddle. No slag heap located though it is said the site was a bloomery.” (28) Certainly the name ‘Burn Booth’ suggests there was a bloomery here! If the bloomery was in operation during the packhorse era, pack ponies could have brought charcoal and ore to the bloomery.

Another mill is shown on the map in this area in the upper reaches of a tributary to the Mite. The Detailed Old Map calls the buildings in this vicinity Mill House. Bradbury in The Mighty Mite suggests that there is evidence that a mill did indeed exist at this location at some time but isn’t shown on a map from 1774. (29) If a mill existed here prior to 1774, it was likely served by pack ponies.

The next feature downstream from Burn Booth is Murthwaite Bridge. Murthwaite at the foot of Muncaster Fell was a farm, but it is no longer in existence. (Note this is not the same Murthwaite of the recently dispersed Fell Pony herd, which was near Ravenstonedale.) Murthwaite in Miterdale today is a stop on the railway that takes tourists from Ravenglass to Dalegarth. The Norgates on their Lakes Guide/Old Cumbria Gazetteer website date Murthwaite Bridge to the 1860s. (30) However, Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales shows on a map an historic packhorse track crossing the river at this point, suggesting that there may have been a packhorse bridge here during the packhorse era. (31)

Wellbrow Drifter and Vyv Wood-Gee’s partner Chris in 2021 on the historic packhorse track along the railway on the north side of Muncaster Fell near Murthwaite. Courtesy Vyv Wood-Gee

On our map, the historic packhorse track is shown as a green line along the north edge of Muncaster Fell from Ravenglass to Murthwaite. At Murthwaite, the track turns north to go over the Mite, as suggested by Gambles. Mary Fair wrote in her article “Pack-Horse Days in Eskdale” in Transactions: “There was also a road under the north side of Muncaster Fell, following the course of the narrow-gauge railway track in places; in others it may be seen (notably near Murthwaite) adjoining the line.” (32) The photograph above shows Vyv Wood-Gee’s partner Chris and his Fell Pony Wellbrow Drifter on this historic track near Murthwaite in September 2021. In another article in Transactions in 1928, Fair wrote, “During the digging of a very deep drain for an engine pit at Murthwaite stone-crushing station of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a well-made road was cut through, with a good stone foundation and surface of rammed gravel.” (33) The well-made road may have been the historic packhorse track or even older, such as a Roman Road.

Near to Murthwaite Bridge on the map are two green circles indicating the presence of two Grounds. The Lake District National Park World Heritage Site documentation says about ‘Grounds:’ “Following a formal agreement between the Abbot of Furness and squatters in 1509, a series of permanent steadings was established by carving out small, irregular fields from the monastic commons, and building a basic, humble farmstead or ‘Ground’. Each ground is named after the original family….” (34) These Grounds are called Kitchen and Eelbeck, and families with these names could be found nearby into the 19th century. (35)

My colleague Maggie B. Dickinson considers the monastic era, roughly 1100 to 1500AD, to be the beginning of significant use of packhorses for moving goods. Places like Grounds, as part of Furness Abbey’s network, would have been serviced by packhorses. An historic packhorse track crossing the Mite at Murthwaite Bridge would have linked Furness to the south with these two Grounds. An older bridge here also would have given access to the port at Ravenglass.

Muncaster Mill Bridge is a modern bridge carrying the Cumbrian Coast Road today, but there has been a bridge at this location for centuries. Photograph © N Chadwick and licensed for use under Creative Commons 2.0 and viewable on geograph.org.uk/photo/1332148

On the map, continuing down the river nearly to Ravenglass, we see a bridge and mill. According to Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales, there is evidence that a mill has existed at the site of today’s Muncaster Mill as early as the 13th century. (36) David Bradbury in his booklet The Mighty Mite calls the mill a corn mill, also indicating that in 1735 there was a kiln there for drying the grain. A stable was still on site in 1808. (37) Bob Orrell in his book Cumberland’s Rum Butter Coast says “Muncaster Mill [was], for many years, right up to the 1990s, a water-powered working corn mill and a tremendous tourist attraction.” (38) It is now a private residence. With such a long history, it is very likely that the mill was serviced by pack ponies during their era.

The bridge shown on the map near the mill is called Muncaster Mill Bridge. It now carries the Cumbrian Coast Road, but a bridge is shown at this location on a 1679 map, so during the packhorse era. (39) Mary Fair, on the other hand, says the route over this bridge is called the ‘New Road’ and dates from around the turn of the 19th century, so after the end of the packhorse era. (40) However, with the mill being located on the south side of the river and having a history back to the 1200s and the closest arable ground across the Mite on the north side, it certainly seems likely that a bridge gave access to the mill from the nearby farms prior to the 19th century and would have been used by packhorses or ponies put to carts or wagons.

Fair suggests, however, that the majority of pack horse traffic coming down the river probably crossed the Mite using the ford shown slightly down river. A packhorse track extends either direction from it, to Ravenglass on the south and towards Whitehaven on the north. In her 1928 article in Transactions called “An Ancient Ford of the River Mite,” Fair describes a causeway in the river bed with kerb stones that were visible at low tide. “As the causeway leaves the river-bed the recent floods have chewed out a bite from the North bank, where along the edge of the muddy bank, the road is seen, its east kerb having fallen into the river recently. This section shows as a line of heavy, flat stones forming apparently the road bed, with another layer of some 18 inches or 2 feet of similar stones above…” (41) She also indicates that the ancient track way heading to the north leads to a ford of the River Irt.

Fair said that at one time tolls were charged to use the ford of the Mite. Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales confirms this, saying “All who crossed here had to pay a toll, and in 1703 the tolls paid here equaled all the tolls taken within the town and port of Ravenglass.” (42) Both Fair and Gambles suggest that a Roman Road crossed the Mite in the vicinity of this ford, and certainly Fair’s description of the causeway’s construction brings Roman road-building to mind.

There is a second ford shown on the map further down the Mite. This one is called Saltcoats, which Fair says was built towards the end of the 1700s. Horsedrawn traffic was still using it in 1928. (43) Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales says, “The name ‘Saltcoats’, meaning salt-cots or salt-huts, suggests that this was a place where salt-pans were situated and the salt was stored in nearby huts. No record of salt-making specifically on this part of the coast has yet been found but it is known that there were extensive salt-pans further north near Maryport.” (44) As Gambles indicated above, salt was one of many items carried by packponies during their era.

Two inns are shown to the north of the fords on the road to Whitehaven. About these, Fair wrote, “Bell Hill and many of the Carleton Green tenements were taverns in pack-horse days, where trains of pack-horses could wait for the tide at Saltcotes or Mitebank to be low enough for the crossing.” (45) Farther north still on this ancient track from Ravenglass to Whitehaven but not shown on the map is a packhorse bridge across the River Irt. It is believed to date from the Middle Ages (1066 to 1485), so clearly packhorses transited this area for centuries. (46)

The last feature on the map with packhorse connections is the fishery in the estuary of the River Mite near Ravenglass. David Bradbury in The Mighty Mite says that a fish trap or fish garth was located there as early as the fourteenth century. It was sometimes referred to as Monkgarth or Mytgarth. Bob Orrell, in his book Best Guide to Ravenglass, says, “…records mention very little of Ravenglass village until the 16th century, when there is a hint of an industry associated with fish curing and exporting.” (47) Like at Burnmoor, pack ponies during their era may have been used to export fish caught at Monkgarth, just as they have been documented to have carried fish out of other parts of the region.

Finally, the Detailed Old Map shows multiple smithies [blacksmiths] in Ravenglass. It’s no wonder, given that the town was an important destination or stopping point for packhorsemen as well as drovers. Both ponies and cattle needed their feet shod to journey far and wide across England.

Miterdale today is considered one of the quietest places in the Lake District, especially above the reach of the railway. Without a through road or lake, it doesn’t draw as many visitors as other valleys. However back in the packhorse era, with the Highway traversing it top to bottom, and three routes crossing the valley, it was undoubtedly more lively than it is now. Fortunately, many of the features that are associated with the packhorse era are still visible today so that the ancestors of today’s Fell Ponies can be remembered for the key role they played in the commerce of the region.

The author is grateful to Christine Robinson for facilitating our packhorse day hike over Burnmoor in 2015, and I am grateful to my late husband who humored my desire for that journey; he is pictured in the second photo. The author is also grateful to Maggie B. Dickinson for sharing of her treasure trove of materials about packhorses and to her friend Maureen Fleming also for sharing photos. And the author is grateful to Vyv Wood-Gee for sharing her photographs of her 2021 ride in the valley of the River Esk and Miterdale.

1. https://www.knowledge.me.uk/areas/lakes/river_mite.html as accessed July 2022.

2. Fair, Miss Mary C. “Some notes on the Eskdale Twentyfour Book,” CWAAS Transactions, 4/7/21, p. 78.

3. Bradbury, David. The Mighty Mite: Water power around Eskdale and Miterdale, Cumbria. PastPresented: Whitehaven, Cumbria, 2006, p. 60.

4. Richardson, Clive. The Fell Pony. J.A. Allen, Allen Guides to Horse and Pony Breeds, 2000, p. 5. And Hindle, Paul. Roads & Tracks of the Lake District. Cicerone Press, Milnthorpe, Cumbria, 1998, p. 74.

5. Gambles, Robert. The Story of the Lakeland Dales. Phillimore & Co. Ltd., Shopwyke Manor Barn, Chichester, West Sussex, 1997, p. 55.

6. Orrell, Robert. Saddle Tramp in the Lake District. London: Granada Publishing Limited, 1982, p. 176.

7. Orrell, Saddle Tramp, p. 177.

8. Hindle, Paul. Roads & Tracks of the Lake District. Cicerone Press, Milnthorpe, Cumbria, 1998, p. 125.

9. Detailed Old Map at https://www.archiuk.com/cgi-bin/build_nls_historic_map_archi_sub.pl?map_location=%20Fisherground%20XXXXFRMXXXX%20Cumbria&search_location=Fisherground%20XXXXFRMXXXX,%20Cumbria,%20NY1500,%20NY%2015%2000&os_series=1&is_sub=&pwd=&latitude=54.388360&longitude=-3.310447&postcode= as accessed July 2022.

10. Bradbury, David. “The "Percy Survey" 1578, Tenants At Will In Mitredale,” PastPresented.info at http://www.pastpresented.ukart.com/eskdale/percysurvey3.htm as accessed July 2022

11. https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/sites/default/files/am_irton.pdf as accessed July 2022.

12. https://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/LK08042.htm as accessed July 2022.

13. Gambles, p. 55-7.

14. Parker, Dr. Charles A., and Miss Mary C. Fair. “Bloomery Sites in Eskdale and Wasdale – Part 1,” CWAAS Transactions, 7/7/1921, p. 91.

15. Same as #13.

16. Bradbury, The Mighty Mite, p. 18-19.

17. Bradbury, The Mighty Mite, p. 21.

18. Parker and Fair, p. 90.

19. Parker and Fair, p. 91.

20. https://www.bowerhouseinn.com/ as accessed July 2022.

21. https://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lgazfram.htm as accessed July 2022.

22. Hindle, p. 111.

23. Gambles, p. 60.

24. Bradbury, The Mighty Mite, p. 37.

25. https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/documented-fulling-mills.pdf as accessed July 2022.

26. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs: Archaeological Discoveries in the Duddon Valley, Cumbria. (R2R) Duddon Valley Local History Group, 2009, p. 68.

27. Gambles, p. 59.

28. Parker and Fair, p. 92.

29. Bradbury, The Mighty Mite, p. 39.

30. https://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lgazfram.htm as accessed July 2022.

31. Gambles, p. 56.

32. Fair, Miss Mary C. “A Relic of Pack-Horse Days in Eskdale,” CWAAS Transactions, 7/7/1921, p. 99.

33. Fair, Miss Mary C. “An Ancient Ford of the River Mite,” CWAAS Transactions, Vol 29, 1929, p. 263 as read 9/18/1928.

34. Lake District National Park Partnership, “Description of the English Lake District, Section 2.a,” Nomination of the English Lake District for Inscription on the World Heritage List, p. 104

35. Kitchen: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/22fc1268-67d4-4700-81b1-814e88a423f0 and Eelbeck: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrington,_Cumbria

36. Gambles, p. 61.

37. Bradbury, The Mighty Mite, p. 40.

38. Orrell, Bob. Cumberland’s Rum Butter Coast. Seascale, Cumbria, England: Bob Orrell Publications, 2012, p. 61.

39. https://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lgazfram.htm as accessed July 2022.

40. Fair, “An Ancient Ford of the River Mite,” p. 263.

41. Fair, “An Ancient Ford of the River Mite,” p. 260.

42. Gambles, p. 61.

43. Fair, “An Ancient Ford of the River Mite,” p. 263.

44. Gambles, p. 61.

45. Fair, “An Ancient Ford of the River Mite,” p. 263.

46. https://wikishire.co.uk/wiki/Drigg_Holme_Packhorse_Bridge as accessed July 2022.

47. Orrell, Robert. The Best Guide to Ravenglass. Gillerthwaite, Ennerdale, Cumbria: Best Publishing Company, 1976, p. 5.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

The Rosehip Trip

Several weeks ago when I shared a picture of bright red rosehips and my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose, a Fell Pony colleague in England commented on the photo and mentioned rosehip syrup. I’d never heard of rosehip syrup before, so I reached out to the colleague, Christine Robinson, for her recipe. My curiosity was further raised, so I then put collecting rosehips on my list. We were in the midst of warm fall weather at the time, so I began watching for our first hard freeze since several sources suggested waiting to pick rosehips until then.

I spotted this rosehip patch while riding on the Mickelson Trail through the Ranch as part of the Fell Pony Society 96 Mile Memorial Challenge.

In the meantime, while riding the Mickelson Trail with my friends Paula and Torrin, I saw a huge patch of rosehips. It happened to be on a section of the Trail that is on the ranch where I live, so I made note of the location to return to. Previously I’d assumed my rosehip picking was going to be in widely dispersed and lightly populated places. This patch, though, meant I could get everything I needed in one spot.

Rose on the MIckelson Trail in search of the Rosehip Patch.

One morning when weather was pleasant after a run of freezing weather, I decided it was time to go pick. Paula had wisely suggested it was an excuse to put a pony to work, so I hitched the horse trailer, loaded Rose, and we headed to the far end of the ranch to a trail head. It was the first time I had ever taken Rose to a trail head by herself and then ridden her, so I wasn’t sure how she was going to feel about it. As it turned out, she did fabulously.

I couldn’t remember how far it was to the rosehip patch from the trail head, so my dogs and Rose and I headed out. It ended up being a mile and a half to the patch. The weather was pleasant so it was another beautiful autumn ride. When we got to the patch, I looped Rose’s lead rope over a fence post so she could graze, and I set to work picking, moving Rose to another fence post occasionally for her to have fresh grazing.

Rose was contentedly engaged with grazing while I picked rosehips nearby. I moved her from fencepost to fencepost as she needed new forage.

After about a half hour, I heard a twanging sound and soon figured out it was the wire fence that Rose was tied to. She didn’t seem concerned that the wires were jiggling, but I was. It turned out that one of my dogs had found something of interest on the top wire of the fence and could only get to it by jumping and snapping at it. The twanging was essentially her plucking the fence like a guitar string! I smiled but also took it as a sign to finish up my picking chore and head back to the trail head. Rose put her foot to the Trail as capably as she had on the way in. We saw only cattle and a rabbit on our trip, just the sort of outing I enjoy, on beautiful country with just my pony and dogs for company.

The fruits of our labors: rosehips!

The Rosehip Ride was the day after I had completed the Fell Pony Society 96 Mile Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Challenge. I was once again thankful for the Challenge for getting Rose and me in riding condition. Our spontaneous trip to the rosehip patch wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Now it was time to make rosehip syrup!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Lettie Helps with the Challenge

With the cooler temperatures of fall, I began to ponder the Fell Pony Society 96 Mile Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Challenge that I signed up for in the spring. At the start of summer, I had only completed 13 miles, and then I took the hot days of summer off. The challenge has to be done by the end of October, so I know it will be a push to finish it.

Lettie up high on the hill, rudely interupted from grazing to have her picture taken!

Fortunately, the ponies that I signed up to assist me with the Challenge, including Willowtrail Lettie and Willowtrail Aimee, seemed, like me, more interested with the cooler weather. In all, I signed up three youngstock, including Lettie and Aimee, and one mature pony. Aimee and Lettie spend most nights out on the hill with two mares. They sometimes are up quite high, as shown in the picture here. My thinking regarding including the youngstock in the Challenge was that hand walking them often and in new environments is good experience for them and solidifies their leading skills. And walking with me is quite different than how they spend most of the hours of their days, so it’s good for them to live a domesticated life for a few hours!

One walk with Lettie contained many of the new experiences that I hope for on our outings. We walked along the ranch lane a half mile out and back, so a mile total. While walking, we met a pickup on the lane and then a tractor. We passed cows with calves in pastures along the lane and wild turkeys wandering around. Lettie was fine with all these features of our walk. So I was surprised what caused her to go on high alert.

Lettie suddenly on high alert on a walk for the Challenge.

We got almost to the end of our half mile outbound walk when she stopped and raised her head as high as it would go. I followed the direction of her gaze and smiled. She had spotted a mature bull in a pasture. The bull was moving in our direction, though nearly 100 yards away and over a fence. Then I watched Lettie shift her gaze slightly, and there was another bull also moving in our direction from similarly far away. I think the bulls were headed to a favorite midday resting place, so their movement had nothing to do with us. Nonetheless, these animals are impressively massive, and while Lettie sees cows and calves quite often, she hasn’t had the chance to see mature bulls very often, especially away from her herd and all together.

We’re having fun together working on the Challenge!

Eventually Lettie relaxed, and we completed our walk without incident. I was pleased that she didn’t get busy feet when she saw all these new sights. Much safer for any humans she is with. Aimee has been similar when we’ve been out and about, so we’ve had a lot of fun together all through September.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

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

Under Heavy Skies

I went out later in the evening than I probably should have. I was assuming that the mares and foals had come into the barn on their own as they had been doing every night for awhile. I was especially hopeful they were in because the skies were very heavy: dark and full of moisture with thunder and lightning punctuating regularly.

When I stepped outside to go to the barn, though, I could see I was out of luck. On the other hand, at least I knew where one mare was. Her foal was silhouetted against the dark sky high on the hill. I cast an eye in the direction of the lightning and then towards the pony up high and decided we had a window of time to get up there and down safely. So we, my dogs and I, started climbing. We stayed under trees as much as we could, and I counted between every lightning flash and thunder boom to make sure those features weren’t coming our way.

When we got up to where I had seen the pony silhouetted against the sky, I found only one mare and foal instead of two pair. We were very exposed, so after walking a short distance to see if I could find the other pair, I decided we’d have to go down without them and hope they would join up with us eventually. Usually the two pair are together.

Just as we had when climbing up, we stayed under trees as best we could, and I took a round-about way to the barn that was less out in the open. The ponies didn’t seem nearly as bothered by the booms and flashes as I was (and my thunder-fearing dog). The other mare and foal never joined us, leaving me wondering what that meant for the remainder of the fading light I had available.

In the end, I was thankful for the other pony pair. They had made it to the barn on their own, showing good sense from my perspective. And I really can’t complain about the pair that made me climb because they were cooperative and calm coming down off the hill under those heavy skies. My ponies definitely provide me with plenty of adventure!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

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

The Cactus Line

I’ve decided to nickname my bay line of Fell Ponies the Cactus Line.  Followers of my Facebook page will know that since moving to South Dakota, Willowtrail Mountain Honey has on more than one occasion had a cactus bud stuck to the end of her nose.  Then one day her mother Bowthorne Matty had a similar adornment.  I have never seen any of my black Fell Ponies similarly decorated.

Daughter and Mother sporting cactus buds on their noses.

Willowtrail Amber is Honey’s 2023 bay daughter.  I now realize she was showing me there’s something about this line and cactus.  When she was just two days old, she straddled a large cactus and peed on it.  I laughed heartily.

Make me laugh: Willowtrail Amber peeing on cactus at two days old!

But leave it to the matriarch to really take the cake for the Cactus Line.  At the end of August she met me at the barn as she always does, but I could see that she had an odd pattern of color on her body.  When I got closer, I discovered that she had apparently rolled on a cactus because she had ten large cactus buds on one side of her back and flank.  She didn’t seem particularly bothered by them.  I, in contrast, was cursing them for a week.  I made the mistake of using my hands in leather gloves to remove the buds from Matty.  In the process, some of the spines embedded themselves into my gloves without being obvious and it took several days to make my gloves comfortable to wear again.  I later received advice to use pliers, which was very wise advice indeed!  But at least Matty was freed of her spiny display for the Cactus Line!

Matriarch takes the cake for the cactus line!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023

Starting to Walk Together at Liberty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2023