Libby Robinson – Fell Pony Heritage Trust
Some lives with horses are built over time. Others feel as though they were always there from the very beginning. Libby was nominated for her years of dedication to native pony breeds and carriage driving, a lifelong commitment shaped by experience, place, and a deep respect for the horse’s role in our world. Her story begins in Ireland, growing up on her father’s farm and watching the quiet, working partnership between people and horses. These were not ornamental animals, but an essential part of daily life, still carrying out much of the farm work in the early 1960s. It was here that the foundation was laid, an understanding of horses not just as companions, but as partners, trusted and relied upon.
By the age of eight, she was living in Cumbria, where her connection to the Fell pony began. Drawn to their versatility, intelligence, and grounded nature, she found something in them that reflected the landscapes they came from. Ponies shaped by the wild fells, learning their instincts from the herd and developing a kind of common sense that made them dependable, capable, and quietly remarkable. From 1979 onwards, Fell ponies became a constant presence in her life. They were not just part of her world, but the centre of it. She built a life and livelihood around them, working on an organic smallholding powered by ponies, teaching carriage driving, and later helping to establish a working carters yard at a living museum, bringing history to life and showing the role these ponies once played in everyday working life.
That journey continued beyond the UK, taking her to France, where she spent two decades farming with sheep and breeding Fell ponies under her own prefix. The connection remained consistent, rooted in an understanding of the breed and what it represents. Because Fell ponies are not just defined by their use, but by the environment they come from. The Cumbrian fells shape them, and it is that wilder, instinctive side that makes them what they are.
In 2018, she returned to Cumbria with a renewed purpose, to support the hill breeders and herds who maintain the heart of the breed, to help protect not just the ponies themselves, but the landscape, knowledge, and way of life that sustains them. Because without that, something far greater would be lost.
Spending time with Libby, what becomes clear is that her work is not about recognition. It is about preservation. A quiet, steady commitment to something that has shaped her life, and that she, in turn, continues to protect.
If you’d like to follow Libby’s journey and the work she does, you can find her here:
Website: www.fpht.co.uk
Instagram: heritagefelltrust
Facebook: FellPonyHeritageTrust
