Committed to breeding hardy, healthy versatile Fell ponies of the traditional Northern English type
As a child and young adult growing up in the North of England, I rode Fell ponies and unregistered "hill ponies" of similar type, as well as other British pony breeds. I spent many happy summer days watching Mountain and Moorland pony judging, especially the Fell pony and Dales pony classes at local and regional agricultural and horse shows. From an early age, it seemed to me that the Fell pony was the quintessential mountain pony and personified the best characteristics of the British native pony breeds.
We moved to Minnesota in 1987 and have lived and worked here ever since. When I first started to look for a large pony suitable for an adult to ride, I was surprised to find that the type was essentially unknown here. Fell ponies were very rare in North America. Now there are over 150 and numbers are slowly but steadily growing as more people recognize this hardy, intelligent and versatile breed.
With the purchase of a small farm in the limestone country of Southeast Minnesota, an area that is quite reminiscent of parts of the North of England, my interest in Fell ponies was rekindled. Thanks to the enthusiastic help and support of several respected Fell pony breeders, and enthusiasts in England, I was able to locate most of my foundation stock in 2002. In some ways, this was an unusually good time to look for Fell ponies because the recent Foot and Mouth disease outbreak (though catastrophic to the local farming economy) had restricted all livestock movements in Britain. Many young ponies that would otherwise have been sold out of the area remained in the North of England.
The first Fell ponies were imported to Minnesota in 2003. The first home bred Fell pony foals were born at Bellwood Farm in 2004 and registered under the Garrighyll prefix
Garrighyll is the registered prefix for our Fell ponies. Fell pony prefixes are registered with the Fell Pony Society and with the Central Prefix Registry (CPR) in the UK. The CPR controls prefixes for other horse and pony breed societies and does not allow duplication of names already registered for other breeds. The name "Bellwood" was not available. I chose Garrighyll because I wanted a name that reminded me of the Pennines the chain of wild hill country that runs north to south from the Borders of Scotland to the Cheshire plain. When I drove home over the Pennines and Northern fells from working the West Midlands and London, a signpost to the village of Garrigill was the first sign that I was getting close to home! I chose to alter the spelling from Garrigill to Garrighyll. The pronunciation is the same - both "g"s are hard - as in "gate". Many pony breeders take their prefix from the farm, village or area that they live in (Hardendale, Ludworth, Greenholme, Sleddale and Townend are all places as well as Fell pony prefixes). I did not want to prevent a horse or pony breeder actually living in Garrigill from using that name as a prefix in the future.
© 2005, Bellwood Farm, Garrighyll Fell Pony Stud and Naked
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This page last updated: 2008-02-14
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