I am directly involved in this. This is a really real situation. Some of the media have twisted and dramatised the situation but the ponies are really seriously under threat.
Firstly for background. Dartmoor Hill Ponies are semi feral, which means they are owned but live a feral life on the moor. They come in annually in the autumn drifts for weaning foals and health checks. They are then returned to the moors. Farmers (or commoners) own these ponies and they have specific areas of the moor on which they are entitled to graze them.
Dartmoor Hill Ponies are on the at risk register. As are Dartmoor Ponies. Many mix the two up. The Dartmoor pony is actually a modern breed. It was created in the Victorian era to form a standardised pony from Dartmoor. It was created by using foundation stock from the hill ponies and breeding with a mix of exmoor, Welsh & Arab ponies for form the Dartmoor Pony we know today. There has always been a wide variety of ponies on the moors so the Dartmoor Pony Breed was created to form a breed standard for the showing ring.
So what’s happening now?
Natural England want stocking numbers on Dartmoor reduced by up to 92%. That is across cattle, sheep and now Dartmoor hill ponies - which were formerly excluded from their calculations. Why? Because Natural Englands assessment of Dartmoor is that it is in an unfavourable condition and is lacking in biodiversity. They claim it is overgrazed.
The commoners and local groups feel very differently. Whilst they agree some areas are overgrazed (primarily by sheep) they feel the lack of biodiversity comes from the rapidly spreading Molinia grass. Molinia grass is a rapidly growing grass which quickly outcompetes other plant life.
1980 it was estimated that the Molinia grass covered 1% of Dartmoor. Today it is estimated that it covers over 40%. The only proven method of managing Molinia grass is grazing by cattle and ponies. Sheep will not eat it. Over the same period (1980 - 2025) the numbers of cattle and ponies has already fallen by approximately 80%. This is due to policies which have already slashed the numbers of grazing animals on the moors and the unviability of keeping ponies out due to financial pressures in the last decade.
Farmers have been warning about the Molinia grass for at least 15 years. I personally was at a talk with a farmer in 2012 who was talking about it back then.
Natural Englands policy not only makes farming on Dartmoor almost completely unviable. It risks endangering the population of hill ponies. It will also be catastrophic for biodiversity on the moor. Molinia grass is also a massive fire hazard as it burns quickly and spreads rapidly.
We need an increase in pony and cattle numbers and a restocking of sheep in the short term at least. Studies have demonstrated that the ponies and cattle are the best form of control we have for Molinia. Natural England have not come up with an alternative solution. They want to destock and let nature take over. Which is the same policy that has allowed the molinia to spread the way it has since 1980.