How to reduce the foal count down to 200- A natural herd management system. Credit for this must go to Peter Donck who planted the seeds. In natural wild horse and pony populations the ratio of male to female is approximately 50/50. The majority of males forming bachelor bands. The mares within harems. On Dartmoor the ratio is about 15/85. So the mares by far outnumber the stallions. The most affective way to reduce the number of foals born is to gradually REDUCE THE NUMBER OF BREEDING MARES. Bringing up the number of male bachelors to approximate the number of mares. Not only will a more natural herd structure be established but the FOAL COUNT WILL BE HALVED. A fact! At the present time there are around 8-900 breeding mares. Lets call that 900. There are about 1-150 stallions, lets for arguments sake call that 100. Each year there are born around 700 foals (fpa). By gradually halving the number of mares the number will fall to 350 fpa. Much lower, but still thats a lot of foals to rehome. But this number of 350 can be lowered to around 210 fpa by utilising the methods of birth control such as contraception, vasectomy, stallion removal etc. These methods would work on some parts of the moor and not others. In terms of distribution there are about 300 ponies in the south upland, about 300 in the north upland, and around 300 in the far east and west on the commons around Widecombe and Haytor, and on Roborough Down. If the birth control methods were effective for arguments sake these 300 ponies have 0 fpa. With this in mind the number of foals would be around 210 per year. In all actuality lower because natural horse populations grow at 20-30 percent. So were talking in the range of 180 fpa ! As such a form of Natural Herd Management represents the fairest, kindest and most affective way of reducing the overall foal count, while at the same time maintaining a viable population. Theres more to it. In order for this to work farmers would have relinquish the ponies to the National Park. In this way the ponies would be managed by a single organisations answerable to us tax payers, and in many ways would collectively be owned by the tax payer. The park would need to employ three pony rangers and these would be supported in their work by the main pony charities and volunteers. A great way for people to get involved. Farmers would have to be compensated so their subsidy would be adjusted for this. But they will still be involved in the drifts and other forms of management. And so will not loose the tradition. Done this way the ponies are protected from commercial pressure. Theres more still. Gradually efforts could be made to bring back the native type to the open moor. Coloured ponies could be bred in the east. In this way all the charities get what they want. The DPHT can preserve the native type, SWEP get the foal numbers reduced, The National Park gets its bay ponies, The DHPA can continue to support those who want to breed, with an emphasis on quality and welfare. Its a win win situation. Ultimately by reducing the number of mares and establishing a more natural herd structure, the ponies will be living more like they would in the wild. They would no longer need to be hot branded or confined to particular commons. The moor would benefit, the ponies would benefit and we could all relax and smile.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 08:47:26 +0000
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