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Post by jill on Dec 9, 2007 13:33:03 GMT 1
They are only making a loss taking them to the sales Sarah, otherwise they just leave them as feral ponies on the moors and hills. So long as they can take care of themselves, after a fashion, they will leave them there, to carry on breeding.
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Post by jackiedo on Dec 9, 2007 13:41:16 GMT 1
money talks. grants and incentives for castration. inspection of breeding stock. conservation graing being done by geldings. that sort of thing. Tourists who like to see them on the hills knowing exactly what happens to them would be a start. Maybe a trust devoted to the welfare of British Traditional breeds could help....
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Post by rhillahorse on Dec 9, 2007 14:01:40 GMT 1
Why not lobby the Welsh reps of BHS and ILPH? I know for a fact that they are dedicated people and regularly attend animal welfare groups at the Welsh Assembly where issues like these can be discussed. That sounds like a good idea. I don't think many people are aware of how dire the situation is.
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melissa
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Post by melissa on Dec 9, 2007 14:55:30 GMT 1
Its a shame this can't get onto the news, is there anyway we could do this? Surely it makes a story?
People just don't know this goes on....I wouldn't have unless I came on here.
Disgusting, it costs more to buy a bloody rat in a pet shop!!!! (btw I like rats)
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Post by jackiedo on Dec 9, 2007 15:00:52 GMT 1
melissa, you are brill. what about getting in touch with countryfile.....
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Post by highlanderpony2002 on Dec 9, 2007 15:06:43 GMT 1
Their plight has been on the news on more than one occassion it did prompt the dartmoor hill pony sales to introduce a minimum sale price of I believe £8 a lot of good that would do but at least they tried.
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EMW-UK
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Post by EMW-UK on Dec 9, 2007 15:10:17 GMT 1
EMW will head any campaign to get this practice ended. these colts have NO future. It isn't the fault of the auctioneers nor the meat dealers who actually deal with the problem created but lands fair and square on the errant owners who continue to churn them out year after year after year with no regard to the future of them. emw xx
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Post by lindaandrascal on Dec 9, 2007 15:56:11 GMT 1
I was stood on Dartmoor one day surrounded by poor quality ponies and an Amarican tourist asked me "what happens to all these ponies, where do they go?" he was sickened when i told him most go for meat, a few to private homes and lots just get left to breed again, and again........ It seems people dont know the real story behind the cute fluffy foals that they love to see on the hills and moors. Its ignorance, but its past time people DID know. Threre are far to many small ponies for the suitable homes out there. RSPCA dont go to Henley sales either. They used to.
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Post by sarahfox on Dec 9, 2007 16:18:04 GMT 1
Im behind you EMW,any ideas on best way to proceed? I would think that its the breed societies or commoners associations or something? Try and get some controls brought in the way they did on the NF?
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Post by wally on Dec 9, 2007 16:48:02 GMT 1
EMW it sickesn me too that I was offered 2 colts for a tenner each. They breed and attach only value to the mares, and even some of them go for as little as £10.
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HeatherL*
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Post by HeatherL* on Dec 9, 2007 16:51:00 GMT 1
This just breaks my heart, so very sad. Life seems so cheap
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Post by joto on Dec 9, 2007 17:26:33 GMT 1
I think it might now be sometihng to do with the DEFRA subsidies. Have a look on the Defra web site about grazing animals local to the area, extra money is being given to farmers for keeping local breeds, eg highland cattle in the highlands, herdwick sheep in the lakedistrict etc, i think its around £80 per animal. therefore the farmers are getting subsidy for keeping the welsh hill ponies on the welsh hills. its pretty irrelevant if the foals dont make any money as they have been paid to keep the mares anyway. if it costs £200 to geld them and £20 in petrol to get them to market then its more cost effective to auction them and leave the stallion entire rather than have a bill from the vet for gelding him. i'll search the defra site when i get time nd put up the link if i can find it again, i remember it being in a obscure place. its our money, as tax payers, which is being dished out to these farmers , we should lobby the MPs about it.
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Post by jackiedo on Dec 9, 2007 17:40:41 GMT 1
joto, I don't think it applies to ponies, but I will have a look. I am right behind anyone who wants to deal with this problem where it begins xxx
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Post by fin on Dec 9, 2007 17:57:53 GMT 1
Hmmmm. The Carneddau ponies on the mountains here are actually pretty important to the mountain ecosystem, although there's a lot less of them than there used to be. And the farmers are actually attempting to 'improve' the stock by buying in better stallions. Unfortunately though they can't be registered in the Welsh stud book (I think it's possible under certain conditions, tho I can't remember what) so they're looked upon as worthless bad quality sec As when in actual fact they're nothing of the sort and may well actually be the oldest breed in Briitain. But they're not even recognised as a breed. I do actually think that continuing to breed them every year is pretty damaging. The colts tend to be removed, along with some of the fillies, every year, and I'm pretty sure the farmers make a huge loss in just trying to sell them off and in transporting them to market. I'm pretty sure DEFRA don't pay our local farmers a penny. It would be rather better if the breeding was rather more limited and if the breed was recognised--that way there might actually be a market for it. THey are actually cracking little ponies--very sturdy and bright and even though they don't exactly match show pony criteria they're a lot more tough and workmanlike than a lot of the 'improved' breeds (I have one). Catrin was saying on another thread that the article In Country Living on the feral ponies in Snowdonia had actually sold two of them to someone she knew (she went to work with the ponies). So there IS a market out there for them, if they can be successfully rebranded as a valued rare breed rather than substandard Sec As.
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EMW-UK
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Post by EMW-UK on Dec 9, 2007 18:07:06 GMT 1
I couldn't agree more finn, but to see them churned out eyar after year, some with obvious congentital defects, is soul destroying. I've always thought a subsidy for gelding is the way forward. we've taken many of these little lads and given them a chance, they do come round and become nice ponies, EMW Wales pony Brightling is a good example, an all rounder perfect PC pony, now in his third home teaching small children, not bad for a pony that came in at a scant 4 guineas as a weanling. The root of the problem is down to control of numbers and maintaining the strains through positive breeding practices.
emw.
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