[SallyintNorth]

I've posted this in Coffee Lounge as well as Horses, as it is of wider interest than simply the ponies, I think.

Even if the expedition and cause are not of particular interest to you, I would be very grateful if you would just click onto David's website, as they can use the attention it gets as one indicator of public support for the issue.

http://www.shadow-of-the-wall.co.uk/home.html

Briefly, David Anthony Murray, a freelance conservation and environment scientist, expeditioner and writer, who has a passion for native ponies, is deeply concerned that the semi-feral Fell Pony herds are reducing in number, range and productivity and hence that the specific characteristics of this incredibly tough little animal are threatened with extinction. 

Having been commissioned a few years ago by Defra to investigate the ponies and their role in a modern world, David realised that the breeding and keeping of Fell Ponies in semi-feral herds 'on the hill' was on the wane to a worrying degree.

In order to make the case for the preservation of these animals, he has undertaken an expedition to walk Hadrian's Wall with not one but two Fell Ponies as pack ponies.  Both are from semi-feral herds and have had a minimum of training before setting off.

We are one of the 150 farmers along the Wall with whom David has had to negotiate permission to bring the ponies along what his researches lead him to believe would have been the original Roman packhorse route.  He passed through our land on Tuesday 25th Oct; we caught up with him setting off from camp on our neighbour's ground on Wednesday morning.  That day was set aside for undertaking a re-enactment demonstrating how the ponies would have been used to pack the stone that built the Wall.

Along his route, David has been giving talks and demonstrations to schools, and holding interviews with knowledgeable and influential people along the way.

He is aiming to collate film and written evidence sufficient to convince the government to take action under EU biodiversity directives to introduce measures to protect and preserve the semi-feral breeding and keeping of Fell Ponies.

I hope that the expedition and cause will be of interest to many on here - but even if it is not of any particular interest to you, I would be very grateful if you would please just visit the expedition website, as the number of visitors to the website will be used as one of the indicators of public interest in this topic.

http://www.shadow-of-the-wall.co.uk/home.html

Thank you!

[Sylvia]

What an interesting story! Good luck to him and to the ponies. I hope the weather is kind to them

[Fleecewife]

What an amazing undertaking    The website got stuck when I looked but I will certainly be back. 

[Fowgill Farm]

Lovely story and good to see the horses doing the work they were probably bred for all those years ago.
I love to see working horses its one of the things i always go to see at many of the shows we go to.
Have visited the website which is good with plenty of information.
Good luck to him and well done.
Mandy 

[Sylvia]

I met my neighbour this morning and commented on her new Dartmoor foals. She'd been to the sales (sucklers  ) and said her four were the only ones sold and for peanuts. We all know what will/ has happened to the others.
It's a sad sign of the times, people no longer have the money to buy and keep a pony or two for the children and so folk just aren't breeding them. They're worth more as meat