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Post by taklishim on Oct 24, 2014 15:37:26 GMT 1
logistics I would think. The stallions are semi feral, the only way to seperate them from the rest would be to drive them into the cattle yards etc and seperate them out.That would mean clearing the entire moor to get them all as otherwise any young colts that escaped the previous years drifts would be left up with the mares. The mares foal at vastly different times so you may end up driving a mare fast for a long distance over rough terrain who was hours away from foaling and then putting her through the stress of going through the yards etc. Plus of course this presumably happens in around June/July or so when everyone is working 24hours a day on the silage and hay. (those are the problems I would see, I have no idea what any of the Hill pony groups comment on the idea)
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Post by SarahW on Oct 24, 2014 21:30:21 GMT 1
Our mares used to foal at vastly diffeent times too - although within three months of each other - but that resolves itself once the stallions are brought in the very first time. Bringing the stallions in means that all of the foals are likely to be born with a month now. It has never been necessary to clear the whole Forest even for the wildest semi feral stallions - agisters, accompanied by a few commoners, are capable of bringing in just a handful ponies in at a time to whichever is the nearest drift pen. Terrain-wise ours is probably tamer than Dartmoor but we still have bogs, hills and lots of trees to sweep the riders off! The stallions are all brought in on the same weekend and I don't get the impression that it stops that much other work. I think we benefit a lot from having full time agisters who help to manage and police the Forest.
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