Mission

Feathered Foothill is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and breeding of quality Fell ponies, true to breed type as outlined by the Fell Pony Society, from imported, hill-bred stock in Cumbria, UK. Our herd lines includes Greenholme, Drybarrows and Bybeck ponies. The focus is on Mountain Trail and Working Equitation (ease of handling and dressage) for riding disciplines, with a dash of ambassador work, showing in-hand/ridden and doing recreation miles on trail to showcase the versatility of the breed.

About Feathered Foothill

We are welcome to visitors on appointment, please contact us! Always happy to meet folks at the shows and clinics as well, for a face-to-face meet and greet of a Fell pony.

Jane Snar, owner of Feathered Foothill has a full-time career in the field of neurology / neurosurgery.

Breeding, raising, training and showcasing Fell ponies is a hobby endeavor and passion project come to fruition and a decade in the making.

Her sister took her on her first trail ride when 12 years old. Her mother also had a passion for horses with many lovely stories of trail riding horses on Belle Isle in Detroit as a teenager in the 1950s, as well as about an unruly pony her family once owned on Harsen’s Island on her parent’s land.

Raised in the suburbs, opportunities to ride were far and few, but an early college courses in English riding with a steadfast jumping horse in Michigan, along with fits and spurts of trail riding over the years, sewed an early seed that would grow and bloom much later in life with a new career that made it possible.

A little manifest destiny happened before Jane owned her own ponies, moving out west to the beautiful state of Oregon to do a graduate degree at University of Oregon from the midwest and setting up a smallholding on twenty acres on a steep foothill with gorgeous views, plenty of forage and lustrous canopies of the beautiful trees of the Northwest.

Jane met her first Fell pony by happenstance while jogging at Mt. Pisgah, in Springfield, Oregon in 2014. Mary Ka, a trainer Jane had been in contact with, had recommended a few beginner-friendly breeds, the Fell pony was one of them.

From breed recommendation, to a Google search, and then the discovery of a lovely 4-year-old mare for sale, twenty minutes from home. JKL Istas was born at Kathy Haines’ farm, of the JKL prefix, and on the coast of Oregon. Istas was acquired by Kathy while in utero to her dam, MustaHevonen Rhegeds Inkeri, after a herd dispersal sale, following the untimely and tragic death of the beloved Wendy Ihlang of Musta Hevonen farm. Wendy served as the Chair for the Fell Pony Society of North America in its early years.

Unsure of whether the match would be suitable and just coming off a bit of a fall without injury with another horse that had to be walked away from for safety, Jane spent a month with Istas on the ground at eye level, learning to trust again, then purchased her in the late fall of 2014. A green pony for a green rider returning to horses late in life; not the wisest decision at face value at the time, but the surest winning bet, as the last decade with Istas has been grand.

Jane has been working with Fell ponies and a few other British Native Ponies (Dales, Shetland, Highland, Gypsy (pony-size)) close to a decade now, completed an apprenticeship in Natural Horsemanship locally, has attended many horsemanship, dressage, Mountain Trail, Working Equitation and ranch riding clinics over the last seven years. Many lessons learned from trainers such as JR Robles, Brent Graeff, Julie Fisher, John Saint Ryan, Clay Wright, Kim Ewalt, Kimberlee Barker, several Mountain Trail judges and many others, in addition to attending seminars in equine neuroscience and behavior lead by Stephen Peters, the co-author (with Martin Black) of “Evidence Based Horsemanship.”

Jane currently practices positive reinforcement training, still participates in clinics, works at liberty and continues to show in several disciplines. Feathered Foothill’s second imported Fell pony, Bybeck Victoria, was started to saddle by Equine Harmony Training (Mary Ka) in 2023/24. It’s been a circle to that special trainer, Mary Ka, that recommended the Fell years ago.

Ambassador, Council work and Performance:

Fell Pony Society of North America & Mile Challenges:

Ponies residing at Feathered Foothill have also participated in the Fell Pony Society of North America’s (FPSNA) Performance Points Awards (PPA) program every year since 2018.

Jane serves as a Zone 5 representative for the FPSNA which includes portions of Canada the the West coast. And as Co-Chair for the FPSNA in 2024.

JKL Istas earned the All-Rounder Award in 2023, achieved with combined points for both showing and breed ambassador work, winning many ribbons along the way and participating in “100 mile challenges” with the FPS in 2022. Littletree Matador joined “Team Dreamhayven” for the Queen Elizabeth II’s Memorial “96-mile Challenge” in 2023. Greenholme Peggy & Littletree Matador had their first PPA entries for 2023 and 2024 approved as well.

JKL Istas was an ambassador at the Western States Horse Expo in a Rare Breed show hosted by the Akhal Teke Foundation in 2019, and represented Fell ponies at the Mother Earth Magazine Fair in Oregon in 2018 and 2019 working in partnership with the Livestock Conservancy. Their mission is to “To protect America’s endangered livestock and poultry breeds from extinction.”

JKL Istas participated in a Working Equitation Clinic over three days at the Northwest Horse Expo in 2023. Have enjoyed exploring a new discipline and Istas has taken to it with ease. Istas has competed in two schooling shows in Working Equitation in 2024. Looking forward to something more official in this discipline in 2025. The turtle wins the race; embarking on this journey to enrich our partnership, camaraderie with other WE enthusiasts and grow vs compete.

Mountain Trail:

The Pacific Northwest is the birthplace of the discipline of Mountain Trail in 2001 at the Oregon Horse Center. Fell ponies excel at this sport, due to their sure footedness and sensible temperament. Mountain Trail showcases the calm disposition, athleticism, agility and curiosity of this wonderful breed and this work can be applied to the rugged wilderness of our region. It is acceptable and welcomed to ride both English and Western and show in-hand in Mountain Trail.

JKL Istas earned Champion and Reserve Champion titles in riding and in-hand showing at the National Mountain Trail Show at the advanced level at the Oregon Horse Center in 2022, 2024 and many ribbons. 2025 will be our seventh year showing in the sport.

Littletree Matador earned his first ribbons in 2022 in the Oregon Horse Center’s Summer Mountain Trail show. He has particular talent in ranch riding which was part of the summer show.

Greenholme Peggy, her 2yo first imported filly, was shown in-hand obstacle at the Nationals in 2023 and had a splendid first go at it. She returned to the practice course after a year off and after Nationals to show her stuff. And thereafter was sold to the Archer family in Ohio, to continue her training, be started to saddle and become a potential broodmare.

Breeding, Raising and Training Foals:

In the spring of 2022, Feathered Foothill experienced and supported its first Fell foaling out of Felllegend Betony. Feathered Foothill Fjola is now living a joyous life in a mixed herd being raised in Kansas currently and has been shown in 2023 and 2024 in the FPSNA Virtual Show. Felllegend Betony has been sold to a rider in Southern Oregon, originally a broodmare, restarted to saddle by Kim Ewalt after weaning her foal, and they enjoy trail and all types of clinics including Mountain Trial and cattle sorting in southern Oregon.

Feathered Foothill imported Bybeck Victoria in foal to The Reggae King, with her lovely brown filly, Harrison Winter Skye, in 2022. We congratulate Victoria on her foaling of a lovely, friendly seal brown filly on June 14, 2023. Bybeck Victoria is in foal currently to Lunesdale Warlord (holding multiple championship titles in the UK). See the 2025 foals page for more info as this foal will be available at weaning to a stellar home.

Drybarrows Havana (by Drybarrows Dynamic) and Drybarrows Illicit (by Bluecaps Gilbert), bay and grey fillies, joined us in 2024, imported from Cumbrian hill breeders, acquired through the Northwest Auction’s “Hill Gem” Sale. Greenholme Peggy was Feathered Foothill’s first imported filly in 2021, from the Annual Fell Pony Society hosted by Northwest Auctions. Greenholme Peggy now resides with the Archers of Ohio, up and coming Fell pony breeders/showers, with a Bybeck stud, they will have two lovely ponies to start to saddle this spring and we congratulate and support them in their future with the breed.

Mentorship, Ongoing Education and Travel:

In pursuit of knowledge and true discovery and exploration of the Fell’s origin, travel to Cumbria has been essential to understand the breed and its future.

In 2019, 2022 and 2023, Jane joined a tour group, “Ponies and Pints,” hosted/organized by Melissa Kreuzer, of Dreamhayven Fells. A small tour group of like-minded adventurers embarked on a journey learning about the herds, hill breeders and their history.

This has included attending the annual FPS Breed Show, visiting the the Fell Pony Museum and enjoying the Appleby Agricultural Fair and other local fairs hosting native breed shows. It’s been fascinating learning about the geography, people and culture tied to Fell ponies through castle tours, seeing old pack pony bridges, exploring the Lake District, and other historical landmarks of note.

Ashbeck, Bracklinn, Bybeck, Brackenbank, Carrock, Drybarrows, Dalewin, Globetrotter, Greenholme, Hades Hill, Hardendale, Lownthwaite, Lammerside, Peepings, Runsedales, Ralfland, and Waverhead stud visits have provided rich learning opportunities to meet ponies, observe behavior, and listen to stories told by the breeders themselves including family, as it’s almost always a family affair, sometimes spanning several generations with some inherited herds. Contrast and comparison, in 2023 and 2024, attended a Dales pony breed show and observed some Dales showing the local fairs, including ponies from the Roandale, Griseburn, Carrock, and Westwick prefixes.

During the 2022 Centenary Celebration (100 year anniversary of the Fell Pony Society) there were daily activities for learning and lectures on history and conformation at the Court House in Shap. Lownthwaite and Carrock (two favorites that went “all-out”) hosted educational farm visits in the centenary year. Our tour group was the first to go hiking with Fell Pony Adventures in 2019 and again, we joined them in 2022. Riding and packing with Fell Pony Adventures were had in 2024.

Venturing to Scotland in 2023 and 2024, we visited Bracklinn Stud. This was an incredible trip and we were so welcomed by these beautiful ponies, Alistar and family. A bonus to that visit: meeting the legendary stallion, Carrock I’m Yer Man.

Training Philosophy:

Jane's horsemanship is a blend of learned truths, strategies, and wisdom gleaned from spending time practicing with mentors, exploring on her own with her ponies, and utilizing what strategy works for the equine on the equine’s time clock, as well as reading as much as she can about equine behavior and physiology. A firm believer in “Evidenced Based Horsemanship” type philosophies.

She believes the path to knowledge is achieved via a life-long journey with these ponies, and there is an infinite learning curve.

Jane's life partner, Robert, a.k.a. in-house Renaissance Man, Lead Trail Excavator and Lord of Land Management, has been along for this crazy ride from the get-go and is a practicing neurologist along with the other hats he proudly wears and has been a tireless and at times, tired, supporter. The ponies show him the most unconditional love without a doubt.

The Future:

We look forward to a more active breeding program when all these lovely fillies grow up. Plans are in the works for a 2025 foal from Bybeck Victoria. And showing in Mountain Trail and Working Equitation. Ambassador work will potentially be done at the Northwest Horse Expo in a breed demo. Horsecamping and trail riding and doing miles’ challenges will happen too. Check the ‘Events’ page for more info and ongoing updates.

Thank you for visiting this site and being interested in Fell ponies! Feel free to reach out anytime for more info on sales referrals, travel to Cumbria, Fell pony training, help with registering stock, and anything else Fell pony.