Fell Pony Podcast: Recent Episodes
Tom LLoyd
Fell Pony podcast is a series of conversations hosted by Fell pony Breeder, filmmaker and adventurer Tom LLoyd, with friends and guests that include riders, drivers, breeders, judges, adventurers and beyond.
Eliza recently completed the Cape Wrath Trail travelling over 300km of wilderness to the most north-westerly point of Scotland with Fell pony Hades Hill Pansy.
A series of conversations with friends and guests including riders, drivers, breeders, judges, adventurers and beyond.
There have been Fell Ponies at Lownthwaite since at least 1889, when Thos Wales and his mother Mary moved to Lownthwaite at a time when equines were the “power house” of agriculture. Today the Lownthwaite ponies are one of the last semi-feral herd of Fell Ponies to roam the Northern Pennines and are managed by mother and daughter who are the 5th generation of the family.
So I would like to introduce my guests Christine Morton and Alison Bell, Christine is President of the Fell Png Society, and Alison site on the Fell Pony Society Council.
In this show Tom talks about the history of Lownthwaite, ponies forecasting the weather, Clydesdale v Shire horses, Pit Ponies, Gallowas and Jaggers, the cycle of the seasons, and asks “Why do we do it?”
Sarah Charlton who has been around the Linnel ponies in one way or another for the last 45 years. The Linnel ponies are one of the very oldest Fell Pony studs with a legacy as long as you arm.
Sarah talks about her early days with an old pit pony, a Welsh and a Dales, Jillarooing in Australia, working for Roy Charlton in the 70’s and 80’s.
We move on to the Linnel heritage, R B Charlton’s book “A Lifetime With Ponies”, the Dales Pony Improvement Society, pit ponies and milk floats.
Sarah talks about rebuilding bloodlines, Highland ponies, and exporting Fell ponies to the Spanish ministry of Agriculture.
Bob Charlton was chairman of the FPS at the time of the Foal Imunodefficiency Syndrome, and talks about the next generation, the custodians of the herd, fashion and the decline of work ponies and returning to hill breeders for hardiness.
Performance Trials, Fell and Highland Pony Camp, British Eventing horse trials
and then asks What about the future?
We’re going a little off piste to talk about to just Fell ponies, but also some of the other less well known native breeds that my guest has spent the last couple of years photographing in their native habit.
So I would like to introduce Ruth Chambelain who many of you will know trough her Instagram account Ruth On the Hoof
Ruth talks about being a cowboy in Montana and learning the Pirelli natural horsemanship and herd behaviour .
Ruth talks about growing up near Caldbeck Common and the Waverhead stud, starting out with a camera and documenting native ponies for her project “The Hidden Hoofbeats of Britain and Ireland”.
We learn about Eriskay ponies, the Carneddau ponies of Snowdonia and how ponies adapt o their environment. The Highland deer ponies, Garrons and Ghilliesand the Highland ponies at Balmoral.
We finish by talking about Dales ponies, Exmoor ponies and conservation grazing.
On todays show we are talking all things ecology, conservation grazing and bringing ponies on ready for the outside world with my guest Nicola Evans whose Helmside ponies graze on The Helm outside Kendal, Nicola also sits on the Fell Pony Society’s Conservation sub group.
Nicola talks about the ups and the downs, problems and pitfalls of conservation grazing , combining ecology, agriculture and business and producing riding ponies for the big wide world
Nicola talks about the Helmside prefix, breeding without owning your own stallion, handling un-handled youngsters, the Fell Pony Display Team, Fell Pony Camp and managing the dynamics of a herd
We’re travelling across the pond to South Dakota, talking about the practicalities of establishing a herd of ponies in another country, genetic diversity how data from stud books can help establish a breeding program and a whole host of subjects that my guest has written about in her 8 books so far.
Bert Morland is a judge and breeder of the Lunesdale Fell ponies who have won shows at the highest levels. On todays show we’re going to go into the finer points of breeding with Bert who’s credentials in the show ring tell you that anything he doesn’t know about breeding Fell ponies isn’t worth knowing.
Bert talks about his early days working with General Purpose ponies, Joe Baxter the stallion walker, Storm Boy and Master John, his mentor Ted Benson and Pit ponies in the 1950’s
Bert remembers Heltondale Sonny Boy, Lunesdale Rebecca
and talks about line breeding, the finer points of breeding, conformation, Stallions. round bone, semi-feral herd, and harness racing.
We finish up talking about Dales ponies and his trip to Olympia.
Libby Robinsons journey has weaved its way through 3 countries but has always kept coming back to working ponies. A couple of years ago she managed to move her herd from France to re-establish them as a semi-feral herd on a Cumbrian Fell and now her journey has turned into a quest to to establish a Fell Pony Heritage Centre in the Lake District to protect the Fell Pony breed characteristics and preserve the working practices for future generations.
In this show Libby talks about her first encounters with working ponies that shaped her future and living on working museums with horses.
Competition driving, The Heritage of the Fells exhibition, The Fell Pony Heritage Centre and the importance as ponies in farming systems as part of the ecosystem.
Bill Potter breeds the Greenholme ponies on Birkbeck Common.
Having been bred and reared in the harsh conditions of Shap, they are tremendously hardy and will do well in any situation. Some of the mares have never been handled and
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As well as being current Chairman of the Fell Pony Society, As well as being current Chairman of the Fell Pony Society, Peter Boustead is a Fell Pony and Mixed Mountain & Moorland Judge and Breeder of the Summerhouse Fell Ponies.
In this show we’re going to talk about all things Fell Pony Society -Judging, the breed standard and a few stories about some of the old guard of the Fell Pony Society.
In this show Vyv talks about her adventures from Land End to John O’ Groats. from the Isle of Skye to Smithfield market in London, and her journey to visit the white chalk horses throughout the British Isles.
The Drovers roads and Horseland trekking to the ancient white chalk horses of the British Isles
Vyv talks about the kit she needs and the challenges one faces while ravelling on horseback.
Sue Millard is an author, editor of Fell Pony Society magazine, webmaster of the Society website and for the last 15 years has been a member of the Fell Pony Society Council. In 2002 Sue created the online Fell Pony Museum. As well as her non-fiction, Sue is about to publish her 6th novel and somewhere in her life finds time to drive her Fell pony mare Coppyhill Suzanne.
In todays show we dig down deep into the history of the breed, it’s origins and hear a few pearls of wisdom from the many stories author Sue Millard has gathered over the years for her many books..
Fell pony breeder Andrew Thorpe established the Wellbrow Stud in 1995 and has risen to be one of the most successful and prolific breeders of the last 25 years.
Andrew talks about running a herd of semi-feral ponies on common land and how he chose the right bloodlines managed to get started by buying the right mares at the Heltondale dispersal sale.