The University of Manchester is researching the Carneddau Ponies and WKF cic is there to document their findings.
The Carneddau Ponies are a unique breed where fact and legend tiptoe around each other. But no matter their origins one thing is true, they are much loved by our community and we want them the be happy, healthy and trotting across the Carneddau for many years to come. The University of Manchester steps in to help with that. :
"There's something incredibly special about those little ponies. You can go out there, and particularly when I'm data collecting; me, the dog, some snacks, going and sitting out on the mountain and some of the most beautiful scenery you could ever imagine, even when it's raining, and just watch them" - Jessica Irving, University of Manchester
"So what we were particularly interested in is understanding the challenges and stressors for ponies that live in a remote mountain habitat. Because what we really want to know is how healthy those ponies are." - Susanne Shultz, University of Manchester
Each year Gareth Wyn Jones runs a pony "round up" to bring the ponies off the mountains for monitoring and health checks. This year, however, is different because Susanne and her team came and collected samples such as blood and faeces to be tested at their lab. The test will hopefully shine a light on many things including the diet of the ponies and what kind of parasites they may be carrying and whether or not these parasites are harmful to them.
We know how we do it with domestic horses and that tends to be a lot of sort of veterinary interventions. So this particular project is saying we have this population of ponies where we do very, very little intervention. So how are they doing?" - Susanne Shultz, University of Manchester
The research also goes far before our little ponies as the data gathering will help create a testing procedure that can be used on wildlife in other countries such as Zebras and Rhinos.
It's an exciting project to be involved in and the views aren't bad either.
Comments