Dartmoor Pony Society endorsing Eating them to save species.

Wow, I am surprised at this. I do think it shows how up against the wall they are economically right now.
I also think establishing a valid marketplace and reasonable price point for the ponies will enable more resources and effort to be dedicated to responsible breeding, improving the breed and awareness. Long term it could enable them to move the breed forward enough not to depend on the meat market. I also think it would dramatically improve pony welfare at the point they come off the hill and into the marketplace onwards. TBH they're already selling for meat but being open about it will be much better for welfare.

I have eaten horse, donkey and what was supposedly zebra but might well have been one of the former. It was totally pleasant edible meat. I have an open policy on eating animals that don't eat others. I'd probably even buy it as a high quality, free range meat though I doubt we'd see it for sale in Britain any time soon.

Just my two penneth; I'd support it in theory and with my wallet.
 
The Dartmoor pony society must get so fed up with this type of publicity, this is relating to The Dartmoor Hill Pony society which is not a breed society, the ponies are poor quality in general, of mixed breeding, have no registration or controlled breeding programme and for many of the ponies ending up on a dinner plate somewhere was always their destiny, yes there are some nice ones that are in good homes but they need some form of control.
 
be positive said:
The Dartmoor pony society must get so fed up with this type of publicity, this is relating to The Dartmoor Hill Pony society which is not a breed society, the ponies are poor quality in general, of mixed breeding, have no registration or controlled breeding programme and for many of the ponies ending up on a dinner plate somewhere was always their destiny, yes there are some nice ones that are in good homes but they need some form of control.
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This! and if not a human dinner plate another beasts.
 
I always thought dartmoors were a rare species! Eating them will only make them rarer???

or are they on about all the none dartmoors on dartmoor?
 
Carrots&Mints said:
I always thought dartmoors were a rare species! Eating them will only make them rarer???

or are they on about all the none dartmoors on dartmoor?
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Well, there's always an excess of colts.... And horse meat is a rarity in that the older animals make better eating. TBH just establishing a true pure bred herd through the removal of non registered would be an improvement. I don't think they're going to be eaten into extinction.
 
be positive said:
The Dartmoor pony society must get so fed up with this type of publicity, this is relating to The Dartmoor Hill Pony society which is not a breed society, the ponies are poor quality in general, of mixed breeding, have no registration or controlled breeding programme and for many of the ponies ending up on a dinner plate somewhere was always their destiny, yes there are some nice ones that are in good homes but they need some form of control.
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Exactly! Feel very sorry for the reputable breeders in the Dartmoor Pony Society!

It seems the Hill pony breeders are in the press every week, they really need to get their house in order to cut back on these poorly bred & managed ponies :mad3:
 
be positive said:
this is relating to The Dartmoor Hill Pony society which is not a breed society, the ponies are poor quality in general, of mixed breeding, have no registration or controlled breeding programme and for many of the ponies ending up on a dinner plate somewhere was always their destiny
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Indeed.
Although I do think the DHPA does good work on the whole - they began the DHP performance competitions to prove that the ponies aren't all useless, and they were the ones who got the contraceptive trial going on Dartmoor.
 
Yup I don't know why the carry on trying to make money out of them rather than just get out of running them all on the hill.

The 'we need the (random) stallions out all year/every year to keep the herds separate/in order/so they graze properly' argument drives me mad when mare bands work fine in other similar areas.

I know some DHP that have made fab child's ponies - and have done some of the performance competitions and are quite smart but I think they are likely in the minority.

Contraceptive trial is a rather expensive way of going about things when it is easily resolved.
 
I would eat horse meat as long as a) it wasn't my own b) it wasn't halal

BUt I don't really know enough about the argument to voice my opinion on the rights and wrongs so will sit on the fence on this one!
 
I suspect that the biggest obstacle to sorting out the ponies, is the owners. It's similar on Exmoor. The owners are many, they will never all agree about contentious issues, so there will never be a concerted effort with all involved, to sort out the problems. It must be so frustrating for those wanting to help.
 
How about round them all up, take all the stallions out and give them the chop???? Then they cant breed? Or is that too simple?

Or a cull? (harsh but could be needed if they are out of control!)
 
Someone tell me how the situation got in a mess in the first place???

Have people just chucked un wanted ponies on the hillside and left them to roam including stallions????
 
I know on Exmoor that there are colts out there who have evaded gatherings for a year or two. It must be the same on Dartmoor - it's a huge area and there must be loads of places to hide away. It's all very well saying remove the stallions but if even one hid away and wasn't caught there would be breeding.
I'm not saying, it's not worth a try, just that it's not as simple as it sounds.
 
I have posted about this before... one of my best friends has done her masters on this exact subject... Here is an article on her research.

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk...artmoor-help/story-21656972-detail/story.html

The results show that taking the stallions out of the equations does not drastically alter the grazing and behavioural habits of the mares and youngsters.

She is currently trying to negotiate with everyone to take stallions off the moor but it is not an easy job. She is an absolute inspiration though!

I grew up on Dartmoor and the quality of the ponies these days is enough to make you cry. Yes, there is the occasional well put together, useful and talented pony but the majority are pitiful. Horrendous conformation, too small to be a useful, all round child's pony and mainly coloured, a world away from the registered and unregistered Dartmoor ponies I grew up on.

Its a very sad situation.
 
suestowford said:
I know on Exmoor that there are colts out there who have evaded gatherings for a year or two. It must be the same on Dartmoor - it's a huge area and there must be loads of places to hide away. It's all very well saying remove the stallions but if even one hid away and wasn't caught there would be breeding.
I'm not saying, it's not worth a try, just that it's not as simple as it sounds.
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No they know they are up there, they aren't hiding! You don't have to find them all on year one but just to leave as many as you like up there is irresponsible as far as I am concerned.
 
Carrots&Mints said:
Someone tell me how the situation got in a mess in the first place???

Have people just chucked un wanted ponies on the hillside and left them to roam including stallions????
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Irresponsible farmers mainly... There is one in particular who put a spotty stallion up there years ago and that seemed to start the craze and it means with ended up with these mishmash ponies.

There has always been the occasional 'random' stallion up there but they used to tend to be bigger so they'd throw chunky 13.2hh types which were fairly useful ponies.
 
Completely agree that the current dartmoor hill ponies are very poorly bred. On the moor by me which is separated from the rest of the moor by the A386 the stallions have been gelded and there has been no foals this year. Which is great as the last stallion up there was an extremely poorly bred coloured which just produced more badly bred stock year after year. I'm not sure whether they are experimenting with the idea of gelding the stallions on this part of moor (which is odd as I thought it would be more expensive) and seeing how it pans out. They are definitely gelded as I had a look not long ago and there were certainly no 'bits' underneath and the lack of foals this year has proved that.
Though the main problem now is that we have now got 3 freshly gelded shetland crosses who now gang up on any mare outside the herd and mount them (but that's another story!)

Just hope something is done as the last thing I heard was that they (not sure who 'they' are, maybe the dartmoor national park) want to get rid of the dartmoor pony all together which in my mind is a very bad idea! Not only would it dramatically affect the moorland itself but tourism as well.
 
I got a couple of DHPs from an organisation called HOPE who have been working with farmers since 2010 to get them to remove their stallions. It's not an easy job - it requires a lot of diplomatic communication but the lady who started HOPE is a local and has been successful with one or two of the farmers. The attitudes are ingrained and difficult to change. Not sure why Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony have decided to promote eating the ponies as a solution - that's absolute balls. They were on about making the ponies into drums last year.
 
Izzwall said:
Completely agree that the current dartmoor hill ponies are very poorly bred. On the moor by me which is separated from the rest of the moor by the A386 the stallions have been gelded and there has been no foals this year. Which is great as the last stallion up there was an extremely poorly bred coloured which just produced more badly bred stock year after year. I'm not sure whether they are experimenting with the idea of gelding the stallions on this part of moor (which is odd as I thought it would be more expensive) and seeing how it pans out. They are definitely gelded as I had a look not long ago and there were certainly no 'bits' underneath and the lack of foals this year has proved that.
Though the main problem now is that we have now got 3 freshly gelded shetland crosses who now gang up on any mare outside the herd and mount them (but that's another story!)

Just hope something is done as the last thing I heard was that they (not sure who 'they' are, maybe the dartmoor national park) want to get rid of the dartmoor pony all together which in my mind is a very bad idea! Not only would it dramatically affect the moorland itself but tourism as well.
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Great news about no foals but bad news about not keeping the ponies!!

What is the situation like in the new forest??
 
char3479 said:
I got a couple of DHPs from an organisation called HOPE who have been working with farmers since 2010 to get them to remove their stallions. It's not an easy job - it requires a lot of diplomatic communication but the lady who started HOPE is a local and has been successful with one or two of the farmers. The attitudes are ingrained and difficult to change. Not sure why Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony have decided to promote eating the ponies as a solution - that's absolute balls. They were on about making the ponies into drums last year.
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I wish they wouldn't put colts up for rehoming though :(
 
ester said:
I wish they wouldn't put colts up for rehoming though :(
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They geld as many as they can afford to before they go out, but they just don't have the funds to do all of them. Or indeed to keep them until they are ready to be done. It's not ideal but they do get references and check homes and keep the ponies on loan agreements, so there is as much of a safety net as a small organisation can stretch to.
 
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