Fell Pony Population In North America Keeps Growing!
By Jenifer Morrissey

Amazing! The Fell Pony population in North America is now ten times what it was at the beginning of 2000. A record 40 foals were born in 2007, bringing the population at year's end to 305 ponies. Fourteen breeders had foals in 2007, compared to just 4 breeders in 2000.

Whereas the growth in numbers in 2007 was almost entirely due to births, the growth in numbers in 2006 was equally divided between births and imports. 2006 saw 33 ponies imported, the most in any single year ever. Imports were down in 2007, as a large number of the 2006 ponies that were brought into this country went on the market.

The distribution of color has changed only slightly in the past 8 years. Black ponies now represent 85% of the breed; in 2000 82% of the ponies were black. The portion of bay/brown ponies has remained constant at 6%, with the percentage of gray ponies dropping from 12% in 2000 to 9% today.

While the majority of imported ponies still come from England, there have been at least eight Dutch-bred ponies imported in the past few years.

In early 2000, there were 13 owners in the Fell Pony community. Today there are 132 owners. The word has definitely gotten out about Fell Ponies!