Checking moorland ponies

In your opinion how often should owners of moorland ponies check on them on the moor?

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I assumed like amymay that a close eye would be kept on them. Most farmers/ large owners of livestock have a quick once over of animals daily. It isn't hard to walk around looking for signs of problems even if you don't see all everyday you at least have a chance of seeing something.
 
I thought they were checked twice a year, rounded up, wormed, trimmed, and the spare ones sold. I assumed they collected any bodies of those who didn't make it, at the same time. I thought they were treated this way because they were semi feral.
 
igglepop said:
Just wondering after sugar and spice post are you saying looking at horse to check its basically standing or do you mean caught etc?
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looking visually, checking for any apparent signs... I am quite willing to admit that as the owner of domestic horses I have been known to glance over fence and see them walking, eating etc and that is enough for me, do not mean catching and close inspection.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
I thought they were checked twice a year, rounded up, wormed, trimmed, and the spare ones sold. I assumed they collected any bodies of those who didn't make it, at the same time. I thought they were treated this way because they were semi feral.
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apparently domestic and semi ferral are counted as requiring the same attention in the welfare act... I never assumed that they were checked twice a year, I would be appalled if that were the case:mad::mad:
 
As sheep farmers, we would never dream of leaving it more than 24hrs between checking our stock!
We walk all the flocks every day, even if its just a quick once round the field. During lambing we are in the fields more than at home!!

Surely if the owners of these horses had a riding horse at home it wouldnt take more than a couple of hours to go round their animals?
 
I don't know why people don't check them, just thought they didn't, judging by the condition of them. But then when you hear of ponies sold off the moors etc going for a few pounds in sales, maybe that's the reason they're not checked. Perhaps the owners think its not financially viable. I didn't know semi feral ponies were covered by the same laws as domestic ones.
 
Rosehip said:
As sheep farmers, we would never dream of leaving it more than 24hrs between checking our stock!
We walk all the flocks every day, even if its just a quick once round the field. During lambing we are in the fields more than at home!!

Surely if the owners of these horses had a riding horse at home it wouldnt take more than a couple of hours to go round their animals?
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RH this is entirely my view, I agree with you, if other livestock owners can do it, so can the owners of moorland herds. Just out of interest, what acreage do you keep your sheep on?
 
I would like to think they were checked on a regular basis by somebody, however after spending the last two years next to a sheep farmer who comes down every couple of months if that.

We spend half our time picking them up untangling them etc and he is not even quick to pick up deadstock if at all, it does not surprise me in the least that these ponies are left unchecked.

In some ways the care of some animals seems to be getting worse in this country.:(
 
I really surprises me that people wouldn't walk field daily even if you drive past you can spot the sick animal on its own. Do agree that animal care is getting worse.
 
We are talking hundreds of acres of moorland here, not just a few acres of fields.
These ponies roam the moors, and while they will have a pattern of grazing, they will not always stick to it, so could be miles away in another direction and not easily found, probably easier to check in winter if owners put out hay. A lot of owners will be farmers so will not have half a day or more every day to check every pony!
 
Fii said:
We are talking hundreds of acres of moorland here, not just a few acres of fields.
These ponies roam the moors, and while they will have a pattern of grazing, they will not always stick to it, so could be miles away in another direction and not easily found, probably easier to check in winter if owners put out hay. A lot of owners will be farmers so will not have half a day or more every day to check every pony!
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but once a week surely they should set this time aside?? Furthermore, I appreciate that it is a wide expanse of land, but its not generally an issue of looking for one horse since horses are herd animals, I also agree that incentives can be laid down for livestock to make checking them easier
 
Rosehip said:
As sheep farmers, we would never dream of leaving it more than 24hrs between checking our stock!
We walk all the flocks every day, even if its just a quick once round the field. During lambing we are in the fields more than at home!!

Surely if the owners of these horses had a riding horse at home it wouldnt take more than a couple of hours to go round their animals?
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I used to have a field on the side of a mountain. Through my gates were 2000 acres of mountain, and that was a small mountain. To ride that amount of land, checking the draws, coverts and anywhere else a creature could hide would be impractical, even knowing their routine, would take all day - and the rest. What farmer has time to do that?

Most farmers I knew had their sheep and cattle bought closer to the farms for lambing/calving, but the ponies - well, they just had to get on with it. Occasionally I would find deadstock, or a broken pony that I told the farmer about, he'd go out with a gun to deal with it, if he went at all, they partially relied on local riders to let them know if there were problems. It wasn't unusual for me to ride back with a lamb across the saddle that I'd picked up by a dead ewe. If they fed them in winter then they could do a vague headcount when the stock came down to feed.
 
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The ponies don't all stay as one big herd, there can be several smaller herds some with only half a dozen mares and foals. When I was down there we saw herds belonging to the same farmer over an hours drive apart and those were just the ones close to the roads not the ones further onto the moor. It would be nice if they could be checked at least every other day but it is not feasible, even the sheep and cattle aren't checked that often.
 
Queenbee said:
but once a week surely they should set this time aside?? Furthermore, I appreciate that it is a wide expanse of land, but its not generally an issue of looking for one horse since horses are herd animals, I also agree that incentives can be laid down for livestock to make checking them easier
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But they dont always all stay together, there are a number of reasons a pony or three will get split from the herd! Some herd dynamics get too big, they will then split into a series of smaller groups. A lame pony will not be able to keep up with the herd and be left behind, the same maybe with a pony foaling, or one getting caught in the boggy ground!
I understand what you mean, but it isnt as easy as keeping a pony at pasture, even if that pasture is huge!
 
I'd like to think daily, but know I'm wrong. I know of one Dartmoor pony charity which found some grazing for weaned foals, and didn't check them at all - one drowned in a bog, and the land owner requested that were taken away, they had made the assumption that the foals would be regularly checked and were horrified at the lack of interest/care.
 
igglepop said:
Surely then if they wont all be together it will be more a case of looking for a straggler even if its a case of using binoculars.
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It's not that easy though....This photo was with a 70-300 camera lens, how many ponies are there?

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This was when we got closer, same herd

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The ones behind bushes and laying down weren't visible from further away, there were also some foals in the grass in the background, if you look closely you can see a couple.
These ponies were some of the friendlier ones and were near a picnic area, the ones further on the moor would not allow us this close.
 
QB what you seem to fail to understand about these horses is that they are effectively wild! :rolleyes:They know the moors like no human ever would and they dont stay still so you would be going around in circles forever trying to find them. What you have also failed to answer on several of my post on other threads is how you would go about doing anything about a problem if one were to arise. THESE HORSES ARE NOT DOMESTIC HORSES you cannot simply walk up to them and catch them you would be lucky to get within a 1/4 of a mile of them certainly not close enough to check every lump bump or scratch.:rolleyes: Oh and turning up to check them all daily would over time reduce their independence and make them more reliant on people which is the last thing that should be allowed to happen. :rolleyes:
 
I see your point it just seems strange that it seems acceptable for an animal to be loose and barely checked. All farmers i know check often and ones with larger farms put something out to attract animals so they can be monitored. Its a shame that as they are horses different rules apply.
 
igglepop said:
I really surprises me that people wouldn't walk field daily even if you drive past you can spot the sick animal on its own. Do agree that animal care is getting worse.
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we are not talking about animals in a field though! We are talking about semi feral ponies high up on remote moorland :rolleyes:
 
igglepop said:
I see your point it just seems strange that it seems acceptable for an animal to be loose and barely checked. All farmers i know check often and ones with larger farms put something out to attract animals so they can be monitored. Its a shame that as they are horses different rules apply.
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Deer run wild unchecked, except for culls!
 
It is a shame that there isn't a way they could be checked but still retain their 'wildness', I don't know lots about how often they are checked or how but when I was there a couple of months ago we saw several herds where the ponies had their tails cut and we were told this was to show they had been wormed so obviously checks are done even outside of the drifts.
 
igglepop said:
I see your point it just seems strange that it seems acceptable for an animal to be loose and barely checked. All farmers i know check often and ones with larger farms put something out to attract animals so they can be monitored. Its a shame that as they are horses different rules apply.
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alot of the farmers will put food out for them particularly over the winter but that does not mean that you will get your own horses turning up more likely a mixed herd containing horses from several different farms.
 
I'll probably be reported for this but the foals in those pictures will be available for homing through a HOPE dartmoor rescue around the end of September-October time.
 
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