MP gallops to the rescue of Dartmoor's wild ponies

The Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony hosted Exeter’s MP, Steve Race, to thank him for his support in Parliament to encourage better policymaking on the complex issues impacting Devon’s largest national park.

Mr Race has shown deep concern for the wild spaces on Exeter’s doorstep - places where people from Exeter and across Devon and beyond can connect with nature, restore their wellbeing, and experience the unique landscape shaped by generations of careful stewardship since the Bronze Age.

Dartmoor’s landscape has been shaped, not just by the famous neolithic remains from the Stonehenge era, but by its ponies, which have become the logo of Dartmoor National Park.

These ponies, the last semi-wild herds in England, are not just part of Dartmoor’s identity; they are survivors of the Ice Age, playing a documented role over millennia in shaping and maintaining the moor’s landscape, biodiversity, and ecology. They represent a living heritage, with genetics honed over millennia to thrive in Dartmoor’s challenging environment.

They also play a key role in biodiversity, nature, and maintaining climate resilience as wildfire risks grow. Not only are the Dartmoor Hill ponies a rare native breed, on the brink of extinction, but their unique genetics allow them to thrive on the moor all year round and graze on gorse and Molinia grasses, unlike commercial livestock. During his visit, Mr Race was shown areas of the moor that have become dominated by these individual plant species, because of under-grazing due to a mandated reduction in the Dartmoor ponies.

National grazing density regulations fail to take into account the specific circumstances on Dartmoor,  and the pressure to reduce grazing from Natural England has led to a decline from 7,000 to fewer than 1,000 ponies on the moor in the last 25 years.

This has caused a situation where in certain areas bracken, gorse and Molinia grass have each engulfed the land. As a result, biodiversity on Dartmoor is declining, wildfire risks are increasing, and the land that is accessible to farmers and visitors alike is being constricted, leading to more conflicts between those making use of this valuable landscape.

Mr Race has already used parliamentary procedures to persuade Natural England to postpone a potential cull of the ponies, pending further investigation. Now he intends to continue to use Parliament to make clear the importance of the ponies to the ecology and biodiversity of Dartmoor, and for Natural England to fully recognise this importance in its policies governing Dartmoor.

Dartmoor Hill Pony Association Chair, Charlotte Faulkner, said: "Dartmoor and its ponies are lucky that MPs like Steve take the care to support Dartmoor for all Devonians."

Mr Race said: "As Devon's largest national park, Dartmoor is hugely significant for the county and beyond, and many of my Exeter constituents visit Dartmoor whenever they can. The Dartmoor Hill ponies are a living, breathing part of Devon’s history.

"If we lose them, they’ll be gone forever, and that will have a devasting impact on the ecology and biodiversity of Dartmoor. I'm really glad to be able to encourage thoughtful, evidence-based policymaking to ensure that the ponies and Dartmoor as we know it is there for us all to enjoy for generations to come.”