Dartmoor ponies return to the moor with fresh hope of a future
Watch Jacquie Bird's report
There is fresh hope to protect Dartmoor Hill ponies in the shape of a special project to DNA test the animals.
The Dartmoor Hill Pony Association and Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony charity are working with scientists at Aberystwyth University to develop and pilot a new genetic testing procedure for the moor’s semi-wild pony herds.
Genetic information will be taken from tail hair samples to analyse the animals' parentage.
The ponies are crucial for the moorland. By grazing they keep the land fit for people to visit it without the vegetation making Dartmoor overgrown and inaccessible.
But unlike other animals, there is no money at all in the ponies despite their huge value to the land.
Every year around the end of September beginning of October the Hill ponies are brought off the moor be tracked and checked over.
This year the new project alongside the drift will DNA test the animals so a clearer picture of their heritage can prove what a valuable resource they are to farmers.
It follows an IBERS study which found that Dartmoor ‘Hillies’ have distinct genetics not seen in any other breed before. It is hoped they'll give clues as to how they have evolved to survive and thrive in a harsh upland environment.
For Dartmoor Hill farmer Charles Mudge, keeping these animals is a way of life and a tradition that he wants to pass down to his own son.
It costs money to take them off the moor, microchip them, try to sell them but Charles says he could not imagine a world without them.