Exmoor Pony Foals - A Good Future

Absolutely shocked today (1 March 2019) to hear that some of these poor foals are STILL confined to barns WAITING FOR DNA PARENTAGE VERIFICATION to register as Exmoor ponies and sold to good homes. They were gathered from the moor in Oct last year (2018) and all passed inspection! Four months inside! What is going on? These are Exmoor ponies from a herd of pedigree registered mares, sired by a pedigree registered stallion. Registration delays like this are why foals get culled. These foals should have been running around outside for the past months, using their joints and maturing as native ponies should do. Buyers are waiting for some of these foals if registration is sorted out. It's absolutely heartrending that the Exmoor pony registration system causes these welfare problems for moorland Exmoor ponies, year after year after year. Burdening farmers with excessive keep, management and registration costs and taking up precious stock space, where winter grazing is not available.
#DEFRA Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) #ExmoorPonies
This is a short film from the awesome Withypoole Herd 23 Exmoor pony gathering on Exmoor in October! :) A small number of beautiful foals are looking for good opportunities after their inspection. Colt foals particularly cannot return to the moors and must find roles elsewhere as soon as possible after gathering. Herd 23 is the world's oldest family-owned herd of Exmoor ponies, which this year celebrates its 200th Anniversary!
Herd 23 Exmoor ponies are famous for their bright bay and golden colouring. They're strong and well put together, up to height and retain the desired True Moorland Type through living and breeding in a truly semi-feral, free-living environment. So they can make excellent riding and driving ponies as well as conservation grazers. The Herd 23 stallions, Knightoncombe Royal and Combe Royal, run out on the moors with the mares.
You can read more about Herd 23 and find contact details for herd owner, Rex Milton, here: www.mepbg.co.uk/withypoole-her...
The Exmoor pony breed is endangered and under 60 female foals were pedigree-registered world wide for 2017, so each and every Exmoor pony is important. If you're interested in helping to safeguard and conserve the indigenous Exmoor ponies of Exmoor National Park then please see the MEPBG Breeders Directory for contact details of herd owners working together on Exmoor. Link: www.mepbg.co.uk/about-MEPBG-di...
From this autumn, MEPBG herd owners will be able to issue a special MEPBG Certificate of Authenticity for their Heritage Exmoor ponies born and bred in Exmoor National Park.
Production and copyright: Dawn Westcott, Exmoor Pony Project www.WildPonyWhispering.co.uk
Music: Thanks to www.bensound.com

[@elijahglasser1421]

Beautiful and pretty ponies

[@sylviajb5762]

A lovely film of beautiful Exmoor ponies. I hope the foals will be found good caring homes especially the colt foals who can't be returned to the moor.