My Education at Littletree

Seven Weeks in the Cumbrian Fells
or
"My Education at Littletree"

January 2-February 17, 2008

Generously welcomed by the Woolley Family of Littletree Stud

A photographic documentary/commentary

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weather - stud visits - conformation - breeding

Yours truly on Trevor

Weather I gained a new respect, in Cumbria, for the old pagan religions that deified the elements. Because Cumbrian weather is nothing less than a character in itself, sentient and powerful and yes, sadistic. I found that after returning home, I could hardly write about the birthplace of fell ponies without Weather elbowing its way into the picture. So to start with, I absolutely must share at least one (my favorite of the many) Weather-related anecdote from my journal:

Emma and I were casually tacking up ponies in one of the litte barns, lulled by the soft "ping-ping" of rain on the metal roof. She fastened the last straps of the bridle and nonchalantly led the pony towards the door, where she likely planned a quick dash to the indoor school so as to minimize their time in the rain. I kid you not, the instant the tip of Emma's shoe made as if to cross the threshold, the world outside went white with a roar of savage hail. The Cumbrian weather shrieked and howled, in stitches over the success of its joke. (Admittedly...it was pretty funny. Hysterical, actually).

This talk of weather, however, has more to do with fell ponies than merely describing their natural habitat. Here in America, fell ponies have become almost synonymous with "hardy" and "tough." I, and I am sure many others here, have always assumed that their toughness derives from learning to cope with cold and driving snow and other such conditions. But come to think of it, most horses don't have a terrible problem with cold and snow. So what makes a fell pony's natural environment so tough?

I learned from Nick Woolley that there is old saying that you can always tell the height of a breeder's ponies by the height of their walls. Apparently, the ponies that did well over the years were those who could grow to the height of the walls and stop, thereby avoiding the killer wind that rips across Cumbria. This wind, and the rain that soaks a pony's good winter coat all the way through, are the elements that have actually presented a challenge to our wonderful breed.

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Stud Visits: Lunesdale, Raisbeck, Murthwaite, Saunders'

I was incredibly privileged to be able to tour a few studs during my visit. Unfortunately for me, most of the herds were up the fell for the winter, but the Morlands, Tommy Capstick, Di Slack, and the Saunders were all kind enough to let me come by and get a tour of their ponies who were nearby. I am so thankful to each of these people, and glad to have met them and their ponies.

Lunesdale White Rose

Lunesdale: Lunesdale was, naturally, one of the studs that I was most eager to visit as my own dear stallion originated from the Lunesdale lines. We were welcomed most kindly by Bert and Carole Morland, who were happy to show us the ponies who were within "viewing distance" (ie. not up the fell!). I enjoyed visiting the flock of babies, and having dams and sires named as the furry black bodies scooted en masse from one end of their living space to the other. The highlight of the visit, however, was our side trip to visit a lower land allotment where the older ponies or ones who were having trouble up the fell were spending their winter.

Among this little band were legendary fell matriarch and Mercury's granddam Lunesdale White Rose and her reknowned daughter, Rebecca. They were aged 28 and 17 respectively, if I remember correctly, and oh they

Mother and Daughter

were marvellous! The wind screamed across their winter pasture like a pack of demons, racing on and on over the wide landscape, hemmed in by the fells and erased by fog in the distance. In this wild landscape of shivering beauty, I could not take my eyes off of the fierce, tough little white mare whose blood runs in my own stallion's veins. She was gorgeous, and as self-possessed and healthy at 28 as any pony I can name. I was immensely proud of her, and that a piece of her toughness and beauty was the legacy that I was continuing in a foreign country all the way across the ocean.

It is always such a treat to see ponies in the flesh that are related to my own, or to hear stories about my ponies from people I have never met before. There is a kind of uncanny discord in seeing the grandmother of your stallion trotting strongly about in the Cumbrian wind. It made me wonder if Mercury was missing this, the wildness of the weather, the wide and alluring countryside. Whatever the case, it was wonderful fun hearing Bert talk fondly about his beautiful ponies, Mercury's relatives.

Lunesdale ponies

Raisbeck: I had heard great things

Lunesdale Tigerlily at Raisbeck

about the well-known mare Raisbeck Casino and was excited to visit her and the breeder of Raisbeck ponies, Di Slack. Aside from Casino, there were a few lovely youngsters and broodmares to visit, one of which was a grey mare who was half-sister to Orton Hall Danny, the sire of my first fell Poppy. After meeting the fells in the barns, we made the particularly beautiful trek up to the pasture where four stunning mares were spending their winter. I was loathe to have to look at the ponies and their fabulously dramatic landscape through the camera shutter, but I resigned myself to it with the promise of a few good photos to take home! Casino was actually the most difficult to get a decent shot of, as she stuck right with the people and wouldn't walk off alone to pose :-). There was a great deal of joking around as we compared the muddy, windblown pony in the pasture with us to the sparkling-clean, show-conditioned Casino in her photos! On a non-fell note, we finished the visit with an absolutely fantastic meal and excellent conversation.

The Saunders': My last stud visit

Guards Jester, aka Pookie

was to the yet-unprefixed farm owned by Paul and Carolyn Saunders. Aside from being exceptionally nice and interesting people, the Saunders are the new owners of Guards Jester, whom I have always been dying to see! Called Pookie for his irresistably grab-able cheeks, he was a treat to visit. Jester is a lovely stallion with an immense measure of presence, especially for his relatively small size. I find it particularly evident in the case of Guards Jester why so often the first impression of a fell pony is that of an imposing and large animal. It is not until you stand right next to one that you come to realize that they are only between 13 and 14 hands tall! Besides Pookie, there was also a beautiful grey filly by Murthwaite Windrush that I was particularly glad to see, even from a distance as she stood on a hill in her pasture. The Saunders are looking forward to their first foals to come in the next few years, as am I!

Grey mares at Murthwaite

Murthwaite: I reserved Murthwaite Stud for last because I raved so effusively in my journal about the landscape of it that I know it will be quite long as a result. I couldn't bring myself to edit and crop the words that I had so enthusiastically written! So here they are:

"Murthwaite Stud was the most otherworldly place I have ever experienced. Its sheer literary beauty left me gasping for breath, for words, for the ground under my feet. Driving up was like traveling through the landscape of my daydreams, and the road climbed higher and higher until nowhere on earth could be seen but the vast, staggeringly beautiful fells. They lay in arresting, sensual folds all around,

Heltondale Misty

below, and above us, existing in the sort of overwhelming state of loveliness which the English language lacks the will or ability to describe. To help the dramatic topography, the weather was obligingly wild and volatile. A properly howling wind pinched at our ears and cheeks, and clouds like shadows on water crowded overhead, a strong and impossible cerulean. Despite them, the dauntless sun still clawed gaps through which to pour its narrow pillars of light."

And after that poetic silliness, we'll get back to talking about the ponies! If the land existed in such an "overwhelming state of loveliness," so too did the ponies. I was especially excited to see the

Murthwaite Look at Me

well-known Murthwaite Look at Me in the flesh, and also Tommy's latest stud the excellent stallion Murthwaite Windrush. I am struck over and over by the phenomenon described by many fell owners that while pictures look amazing, nothing at all can prepare one for meeting a pony in person. Such is how it was with Look at Me and Windrush: pictures just don't do them justice.

I was expecting to not see many ponies at Murthwaite, as I had heard that they would mostly be up the fell. So I was doubly excited when, after visiting the stallions and babies, Tommy took us just a short way up to the fell gate, where we were greeted by a panorama of windblown mares unconcernedly browsing through the hay left for them. Perhaps because they fit so seamlessly into the backdrop of their world, I was staggered by

Murthwaite Windrush

their ethereal dignity. Tommy Capstick is one of the breeders who loves feather and hair, which is evident upon meeting any of his ponies. With the wind whipping the extra hair about with cinematic perfection, I could hardly imagine a more stirring sight. Though my camera ran out of batteries just as we walked in among them, we spent most of time there with the mares, pointing out different ones and discussing bloodlines, breeding, the merits and faults of this or that pony, and endless other such fascinating topics. I am much obliged to Tommy for taking the time to traipse all over his land with us, chatting with Emma and I about--what else?--fell ponies.

Mares at Murthwaite

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Conformation and Movement Before I was able to experience fell ponies en masse in Cumbria with the Woolley family, my repertoire of fell pony-specific comformation facts was limited to dozens of relatively useless phrases like "flinty flat bone," "clean and defined," "good length of rein" and the like. Even our beloved breed standard could easily be boiled down to "What makes a good fell pony is a pony with a good head, good legs, good neck, good hocks, good..." and you get the point. "What does "good" mean?!" I wanted to shout, because until these phrases can be defined and explained, they are quite meaningless. So my task in this little report is to crack into these cherished phrases and talk about what they mean in practical terms. PLEASE NOTE: I am not setting out to write down everything I know about equine conformation, but rather to focus on the fell-pony-specific details that I learned to take into special consideration while in Cumbria. A treatise on conformation would take volumes and volumes to fill, and can be researched independantly of fell pony studies. I hope this sketch of fell pony conformation is enjoyable and informative!

legs - body - head & neck - movement

Legs

Of all the little catchphrases that one hears in

Defined, clean legs with perfect expression of feather.

reference to fell pony conformation, the one to treat with grave reverence is this: Judge a Fell Pony From the Ground Up.

Because, as I learned, there is no such thing as a good fell pony with bad legs.

Flat Bone: To be technical, flat "bone" is actually determined by how far set back the tendons along the cannon bone are. Tendons set well back will give the lower leg a look of being wide when viewed from the side and deceptively thin when viewed straight on. In terms of judging a fell pony's bone, it is easiest to note "flatness" by looking at the legs first from straight on (stand in front for the forelegs, behind for the hind). Notice how below and just above the knee or hock, the leg is thinner. If the bone is flat, these parts will be noticably skinny and have a "clean" look, or lack of puffiness. Below and just above the joint, the leg should be roughly equal in width.

Next, the legs should be viewed from the side. There should be a

Hock study

general look of boniness to the leg. Any poofiness, swelling, or coarseness is a fault. The lack of those faults is what horsepeople will call "clean." The grooves defining the forearm and between the tendons and the cannon bone should be visible: this is what is meant by the term "defined."

Good Pasterns: Pasterns often seem to be a bit overlooked among fell ponies, but Emma Woolley's (understandable) repetition of their importance spurs to me to mention them. Emma's interest in pasterns is particularly well-founded due to the amount of riding she does with their ponies. A pastern must be long enough and sloped enough to absorb the concussion of footsteps, especially when a pony is carrying extra weight. It's hard to define "enough" in this circumstance, as there is no magic measurement to alert a person as to whether the pastern is too long or too short. However, a nice piece of pony-lore was handed me in the form of this idiom: You should be able to balance a matchbox on the pastern and not have it slide off.

Good feather and pastern: note how the feather can distort the look of the joint.

Rule of thumb: if the pony has a shoulder that is long and laid back enough to provide "good length of rein" (defined later), then its pasterns are likely to be of similar good quality, and vica versa.

Good Knee and Hock: Joints are exceptionally important. When judging knees, they should look from the front to be square or rectangular. The sides of the joint should be flat and the width of it significantly greater than the width above and below (see "Flat Bone"). From the side, they should have flat fronts that do not stick out in front or appear further back than the rest of the leg. Avoid rounded fronts.

The hock should be as wide, when viewed from the side, as the gaskin. It should have a distinctly bony appearance, with no puffiness and noticable grooves to define the point and muscle attachment. It is said that the one should be able to fit four fingers comfortably on the front side of the hock...though if you are like me and have very slim hands you may have to imagine an extra finger or two for that to work!

Good Hooves: A strange phenomenon that we discussed at length in Cumbria is that quite a few fell ponies have lost the perfect hoof structure that the breed calls for. Many ponies, we noticed, had white souls even if their hooves looked perfectly blue when standing still, for example. So it is important as we breed to keep in mind that hooves should be blue and large in

Clean, defined hind legs

proportion to the height of the pony (they ARE draft ponies, remember!) and also to check their soles. Avoid "boxy" hooves, which will look quite small with upright walls, instead preferring larger, round hooves, particularly in front. Hind hooves tend to be smaller and a bit more upright.

Good Feather: Feather! The coveted, flashiest feature of our beautiful native ponies! The breed standard says this about feather: "Plenty of fine hair at heels (coarse hair objectionable), all the fine hair except that at point of heel may be cast in summer." Well, if you've noticed, most breeders seem to be erring on the side of "plenty of fine hair ALL THE TIME!" While some breeders still prefer moderate to very little feather and others prefer loads and loads and loads, there are some general guidelines as to what makes good feather.

First, as stated, the hair should be as straight as possible. Straight hair sheds dirt and provides a direct route for water to take. When clean, it should start high up the back of the leg (sometimes up to the knee or hock) and just touch the ground. In front, it will not start very high as is required for heavily-feathered breeds like Gypsy Cobs. Instead, it is important to look at the "spat," the little fringe of hair that covers the front of the hoof. Usually, not the entire hoof is obscured and often the spat is lost to mud or water, but for show season people do their utmost to be sure that their ponies' spat is preserved and as long as possible.

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Body

Note the long, sloped shoulder and resultant short back, with matching long, sloped pasterns. This pony has an excellent conformation in general as well.

Don't get TOO caught up on bodies, as I tended to do before LEGS LEGS LEGS got pounded into my vocabulary. There are just a couple of points that are necessary to point out about fell ponies, the rest is just common horse conformation knowledge.

Back: Not too long! Especially where riding ponies are concerned, long back=weak back, and should be avoided. For driving ponies, this is a bit more lenient, but long backs are never preferable. The back from withers to croup should be shorter than the underline from elbow to stifle.

Hindquarters: Strangely, hindquarters are like some kind of fiction among fell pony literature. They never talk about them! And because the breed standard says little about them, breeders are rarely that concerned. The following is partly what I gathered in Cumbria, and also what I pull from my general horse

"Applebutt" effect!

knowledge: Avoid tails set on too low, and quarters that are steeply angled. This is very very common in the fell pony breed, but weak, short quarters lead to all sorts of problems once the ponies are put into work, and should be avoided at the get-go just to make things easier for the future. Look at the angle of the shoulder, and it should roughly match that of the hindquarters. Similarly, a horse with a short back will likely have a good angle and length to its shoulder and hip as they are all affected by each other. On this note, it is important to also avoid the other extreme, which is high tailsets with flat croups--at this end there is danger of losing type altogether. Also bear in mind that hindquarters are often something grown into by fells. Do not judge a young one without proper muscling poorly, so long as the structure itself has the desirable angle as discussed above. One funny thing to not worry too much about is that sometimes the point of croup seems to be strangely high and far back when looking at the fell ponies from the side. Often (though not always, so check!) this is just due to the "applebutt" effect of muscular hindquarters that protrude above the croup itself, distorting its actual location.

Shoulder: For a fell pony intended for riding, a good shoulder along with the previously mentioned good pasterns is essential for comfort. A straight shoulder will jar badly, especially at the trot, and also break down the front legs much faster than one that allows for proper concussion. A good way to check the length and angle of shoulder is to draw an imaginary line from the point of its shoulder to the wither. Again, there is no foolproof formula or specific angle in degrees of what a proper shoulder is, but clues about the adequacy of the shoulder lie in the length of back (short), and length of rein (see "Head and Neck"), which have more definite ways of being assessed. Another rule of thumb is to check to make sure that the wither is behind the elbow when the pony is lined up squarely.

Girth: The underline (elbow-stifle) should be significantly longer than the back and relatively level all along (deep at the stifle AND deep at the elbow).

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Head and Neck

Neck-set of Lunesdale Rebecca

Heads The variations on head preference make it difficult to say exactly what to look for in a good one. Most people prefer a head that is not too big or coarse. Like the legs, look for a clean, defined (read: bony!) look. Don't be a stickler for refinement though--that can start leading down the Arabian-heads-are-best route, and fell ponies are first and always a hardy little native pony that evolved in wind, rain, snow, and hail.

Necks The phrase "good length of rein" is an ever-present phrase that I really hate but have finally been forced to start using. The reason that I hate it is because it

3 y/o filly with good length of rein

is a bit nonsensical: it has pretty much nothing to do with the length of the reins you use when riding or driving. All it means is that the topline of the neck (wither-poll) should be significantly longer than the underline (throatlatch to where it joins to the chest). The topline of the neck should be comparable in length to the wither-to-tailhead measurement, not significantly longer or shorter. This is to allow for ease of collection and the rounding of the back desirable for riding and driving.

The neck should have a clean, defined jugular groove. It should always be slightly visible. There should be no thickening on the underside of the neck, particularly in mares. Stallions will naturally have thicker necks than mares, but bullish ones should be avoided. There should be a little flat space at the throatlatch: the neck should not meet the head at a sharp angle. Similarly, the neck should join the chest relatively high, leaving a noticable "step" of free chest.

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Movement

(Still under construction!) Movement is a bit more difficult to describe in paragraphs and with still images as supplemental material. So, I hope to start compiling videos to put up here, and am trying to decide what format to do that in. Also, it will be quite a while before I'll be back in Cumbria where I can video a wider variety of ponies. Also, I have been trying to avoid personal bias on this page, and therefore excluded images of my own ponies or my very favorite ponies from Littletree, which makes this section in something of a stall for the time being. In the meantime, though, I will do what I can to sketch out some basics of fell movement for people to mull over.

Straight Movement The term "straight movement" is actually quite complete and self-explanatory, unlike many conformation terms. Fell ponies should ideally move each leg in a nice straight line, without the hoof flipping out to the side or inward. This is good for several reasons. A pony that moves straight is distributing pressure more evenly and therefore less likely to go lame. It also helps keep them surefooted, saves energy (dishing and swinging in add wasted motion), and in the case of the pony whose hooves swing inward will prevent the hoof from brushing against the opposite leg which can lead to soreness, lameness, or even splints. A nice way to tell if a pony is likely to have straight action (besides just watching it move) is to pick up the hoof and flex it. If when the leg is bent the hoof does not line up with the pony's elbow, it is unlikely to move straight.

Knee and Hock Action Breeders' preferences with regard to flashiness of movement differ somewhat. A noticable lift to the knees and hocks is always desirable, however. This fancy, active trot is a trademark of the fell pony. As stated at the beginning, it is very difficult to describe a good trot without video to accompany it. In this case, I will state my own opinion, which is that I like a fell pony's trot to immediately attract attention. I find an active, high-stepping trot to be 100% riveting and absolutely can't look away. I know that's not too helpful yet (I WILL get videos up eventually), so here's something more concrete: It is

Fell pony tracking up well at the canter

most important to judge the movement of a pony's hocks. If at the trot the pony seems a bit straight in the hind leg, it is probably working its back legs from the stifle and neglecting to properly bend and flex its hocks. Good use of the hocks will allow the hind leg to lift comparably high to the pony's knees, and the hind leg will set the hoof down well under the pony's body (see "Tracking Up" below).

Tracking Up Tracking up refers in part to the length of a pony's stride. A pony that "tracks up well" is one that engages its hind legs such that the hoofprint of the hind hoof falls directly over or slightly in front of the front hoofprint. This is also what is being referenced when someone says that a pony's hind leg comes "well under the body." This is something to look for at all paces.

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Well! I think I have just about covered it. If you have found this little report to be helpful, adequate, horrible, or anything else, I would love to have feedback regardless. Please email me at offbeatparadigm @ gmail.com (remove the spaces!) to let me know what you thought, or if you have any other questions about fell ponies or Cumbria!

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Ending Thoughts on Breeding Coming soon!

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