The Scottish area Fell pony group held their autumn meeting on the 6th November 2011 at the Buccleuch Arms Hotel, Moffat. A really good attendance of nearly 50, met for lunch at 1pm and then on to the meeting at 2o'clock. 

The meeting took the form of a panel of four speakers and the topic was 'The Fell Pony of The Future'. 

The speakers spoke for approximately 15-20 minutes each then the meeting was thrown open to questions. 

The speakers were; Sheila Brookes, a Highland pony breeder and past chairperson of the NPS and also a very experienced judge. 

Christine Robinson, Fell breeder and council member, spoke on the topic from her perspective as the vice Chairman of the society. 

Russell Sutcliffe, Fell breeder, past council member and very experienced judge, gave a very detailed insight into what we should be looking for in a Fell pony, emphasising the importance of movement, shoulder, and good length of front on a pony to enable it to excel as a ridden pony, as that is where the demand for most Fell ponies is coming from. 

Andrew Thorpe is a council member and also the owner of the largest remaining hill herd of ponies and he gave an insight into what it is he looks for in a pony and also stressed the importance of marketing ponies properly and the need for breeders to change the way they market their ponies,


The meeting was very ably chaired by Janice Boyd and a big vote of thanks is due to Janice, all of the speakers who so kindly gave their time and passed on such wise advice, and also to the area committee for organising a very enjoyable event.

Ian Smith