A comparison of the welfare of free-ranging native pony herds on common land with those used for conservation grazing in the UK
Sophia McDonald, Jessica J Harley, Jo Hockenhull

TL;DR
This study compares the welfare of free-ranging ponies in their natural habitats with those used in conservation grazing in the UK.
Contribution
It introduces a new observational welfare assessment protocol for free-ranging ponies and compares their welfare in different environments.
Findings
Ponies on common land had better scores in body condition, water quality, and coat condition compared to conservation grazing ponies.
The study found significant differences in environmental hazards and human disturbance between the two groups.
The observational protocol proved feasible for future welfare monitoring by pony keepers and grazing managers.
Abstract
Free-ranging native Dartmoor and Exmoor ponies have not only held strong cultural and environmental significance for thousands of years within their respective national parks, but their environmental benefits and naturally selected characteristics have also been acknowledged and harnessed for conservation grazing and rewilding programmes. Despite a wealth of literature regarding the welfare of sports, leisure and working horses, there is little information concerning the welfare of free-ranging and extensively grazing ponies. The present study compared the welfare of native Exmoor and Dartmoor ponies grazing on the moors in their respective national parks (n = 47) with those that have been translocated to other areas of the UK for use in conservation grazing and rewilding programmes (n = 29) using a specifically designed observational welfare assessment protocol for free-ranging ponies.…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
Click any figure to enlarge with its caption.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsAnimal Behavior and Welfare Studies · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
