On todays show I’m talking with a man who’s journey from very humble beginnings has taken him to the pinnacle of horse culture. You may know him from the image of him standing on the Long Walk at Windsor castle with Carltonlima Emma paying his respects to the late Queen Elizabeth So I would like to introduce my guest Terry Pendry who for the last 28 years served as head groom to the Queen and was awarded the title of Military Knight.

On todays show we’re talking about driving, about riding, about showing and we’re also going back in time to when my guest first started handling ponies in the 1950’s Paul Metcalf is the breeder of the Rye House Fell ponies. Paul is also the Vice Chair of The Fell Pony Society.

On todays show we’re talking to a breeder with a legacy as long as your arm, who has spent pretty much all of her life in the show- ring. Penny Randell, along with her mother Margaret Wilson are custodians of the Townend herd of Fell ponies that were bred by the late Eddie Wilson.

Charlie Parker is a horseman and forester who is one of a handful of horse loggers keeping this ancient art alive, and together with his wife Gina breeds the Roandale Dales ponies. This podcast was recorded January 2023

On todays show I have something a little bit different for you, and have put together a show from all the archive interviews I have of my dad Walter who died in 2018 age 93. I had done many interviews with him over the years, mostly about his travels to Appleby Fair with our ponies which he lived for every year, and also from some interviews recorded with children at Settlebck school in 2010.

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.

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.

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.

We’re going a little off piste to talk about not 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

We talk 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.

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.

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.

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 live in feral conditions, trusting to their instincts in hard weather; In a recent wildness survey, the Greenholme ponies came in the top 5% of wild equines in Europe

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.

Long Rider and adventurer Viv Wood-Gee rode on horseback with her daughter Elsa from John O'Groats to Land's End and from Dunvegan on Skye to Smithfield Market in London, retracing old drove roads used to move cattle reared in Scotland to markets in England.

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.

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.