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Welsh Mountain Ponies
Some History Of The Ponies
The Welsh mountain ponies are a strong breed going back to at least
the Celtics. They are well suited to the extreme weathers they face
on the mountain range of Snowdonia. In the Tudor times of around 1509
King Henry VIII ordered the ponies to be destroyed because they
could not carry a knight in full armour, luckily they did not succeed.
The Romans however admired the ponies for their strength and agility
and used them whilst in wales and even shipped some of them back to
Rome to carry out various tasks on their homeland.
In the 19th century they were used to pull carts in the coal mines,
now the mines are closed there is no work for them, so now they roam
the Carneddau hillsides grazing. They once roamed in herds of up to 30
mares to 1 stallion, but now the stallions are kept apart from the mares.
The ponies can easily be spotted all year round. In 2005 all ponies had
to have a passport and a chip. This would have a burden on the farmers
who look after them, but luckily the CCW and the Snowdonia National Park
stepped in with funding so they are now safe to continue grazing on the Carneddau.
The ponies share the Carneddau with about 8000 sheep, so the 22 graziers
now bring their sheep down in the winter months and return them in the
summer. By doing this the upper reaches of the mountains will have a
chance to recover from grazing and the lower part of the mountains will
be kept short to encourage small wildlife like the Chough and hopefully
the Peregrines and Merlins.
The ponies are looked after all year round by the society members
while they graze, and are rounded up at least once a year to have
a thorough check over.
