A SCHEME aimed at improving the future prospects of Dartmoor ponies was last week launched on the western side of the moor, following successes in eastern areas. The castration scheme is the brainchild of the Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony group, which organises and subsidises colt cutting days, with the help of veterinary surgeons. Charlotte Faulkner, spokesman for the Friends of the Dartmoor Pony group, said the scheme had been implemented on the south east of the moor around five years ago. Ms Faulkner said: ?The Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony aim to support and promote ponies on Dartmoor. As part of that, we realised we needed to encourage people to give their ponies more value and one of the things that does this is to castrate colts, as geldings sell better.? Ms Faulkner said the usual fee charged by vets for castration discouraged owners from having their colts gelded. Under the group?s scheme, owners bring their ponies to an agreed farm on a set day for castration, when veterinary surgeons charge an hourly rate, subsidised by the Hill Pony group. Ms Faulkner said around 60 ponies have been gelded so far as a result of the project. ?We sterilise a barn and just work our way through it. The vets have been absolutely fantastic over this issue, it?s very forward thinking and I think they are amazing to take it on.? Ms Faulkner said the geldings could still be turned out on the moor until their owners took them to market, enabling the ponies to undertake the vital job of grazing moorland. ?It?s a really worthwhile thing to do because you know you are giving these ponies a chance for the future. It?s really a breakthrough that it?s now taking place on the other side of the moor,? said Ms Faulkner. Yelverton farmer Neil Cole said five farmers brought colts to last week?s pony castration day ? nine ponies were gelded. Mr Cole said: ?It went very well, I think it?s a very good idea. If the farmers can work together so we can get a more economic price, hopefully it will be good when we go on to sell them, because the public won?t need to get them done.? Mr Cole, who runs around 40 mares on Dartmoor, said there were probably a few more details to be ironed out but generally, reaction was positive to the idea. ?For a first pilot, it went very well and we?re sure we?re going to be doing it again,? he said. Tris Laurence-King of Westmoor Veterinary Centre in Tavistock said: ?I think it?s something that?s definitely worth doing. It was a good day and if it?s going to help the ponies be more viable for people to continue to keep them on the moor, that?s great. ?We had economies of scale and the price for the farmers was reduced quite considerably.? Mr Laurence-King said the vets at Westmoor were likely to take part in a similar event next spring.
