Why Dartmoor's famous ponies are being rounded up

  • Watch Jacquie Bird's report

Wild ponies are a common sight on Dartmoor, but this week they have been rounded up by the farmers who own them in what's known as the 'pony drift'.

Ponies have been roaming Dartmoor for thousands of years. They are the only animals that eat the gorse on the moors and so are integral to preserving Dartmoor's biodiversity.

While they are allowed to roam free, the ponies are technically owned by farmers - and so once a year they are rounded up and checked over before being turned out again.

But not all of the animals will return to the moor, with some foals instead going to auction at the only pony sale still running, in Tavistock.

There are now only around 1,000 breeding mares left on Dartmoor - which means their value is increasing.

"These ponies are very important to me," said farmer Phil Abel.

"I've kept them all my life, they are very important to the ecosystem of the moors. Financially wise, they are a loss. But it's more a part of tradition and heritage."

The ponies are all microchipped and DNA tested as part of a conservation project Credit: PA

The pony sale itself is also seen by many as a tradition which cannot be lost. It is generations old, with many farmers simply taking part because their parents did - as did their parents' parents.

Meanwhile a campaign to protect the ponies which remain on Dartmoor is working hard to ensure the rare breed of wild animals do not become extinct.

The Dartmoor Hill Pony Association carries out a programme every year to make sure they are microchipped, as they have to be by law.

It also DNA tests the ponies, creating a genetic map of these animals on the moorland.

Charlotte Faulkener from the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association, said: "We're doing a DNA map because we've discovered that they have incredibly rare genetics.

"If you take blood from any one of these ponies, 97 per cent of them you could tell that they came from Dartmoor and nowhere else. They're that rare. They might look like any other pony but actually they have something inside them that makes them able to thrive and survive up here.

"They've probably been here for 60,000 years - we're just waiting to prove that."