Kirkcarrion Highland Ponies

Disclaimer: this is my personal home page: any views expressed here are purely my own, not representative of the University of Dundee, the Highland Pony Society, or any other body.

Keeping Native Ponies

I have received quite a few messages from visitors to the site, which is one reason I set up a guest book. One of the things I have been asked about is the upkeep and needs of Highlands and other native ponies, and while there are some excellent pages on the breed elsewhere (see links page) I thought I'd add a section based on my own experience of keeping and breeding them.

Highlands are generally excellent doers as the breed evolved to cope with harsh Scottish winters and poor grazing. That said, they don't live on thin air alone; like all equines they need plenty of fibre to keep their systems going. The important thing for Highlands is that the food is not too rich as this can bring real problems.

Most of the year they will survive on grass alone, and the problem is to avoid rich pasture as this will rapidly bring on excess weight gain and perhaps laminitis. A larger acreage of unfertilised rough grazing is much preferable to a small paddock full of fertilised grass, if you have the luxury of choice. My ponies lived quite happily for a year on a steep north facing hillside using gorse bushes and natural dips in the ground as shelter, and they were happier unrugged as they grow very thick woolly coats to deal with bad weather in winter. During the winter I obviously had to provide forage for them, which consisted of good quality, but low nutritional value hay. For the 4 ponies I had at the time, I was feeding an average of 1.5-2 small bales a day even in the snow, though recent winters have been reasonably mild.

The next few years, with 7 acres of level grazing, they had plenty of grass until well after Christmas and, rather than feeding just hay I provided a large round bale of good quality, clean barley straw per week in the field. This gave the ponies 24 hour access to unlimited food, which made for contented ponies, while remaining much cheaper than hay or concentrates! To make this a practical option, though, you would need at least 4 ponies to avoid the straw getting too trodden into the mud or soaking wet and unappetising. Mine did waste some straw but for a very reasonable price, they got ad lib non-rich forage, somewhere warm to lie and play in, and there was surprisingly little left to clear up. There was still hay put out as well, but not as much. The one pony I had a problem with under this system was one that just didn't stop eating and showed signs of mild impaction (constipation) on one occasion, which meant taking him out of that field and on to one of my few remaining grass patches, saved especially for emergencies. A couple of wet feeds sorted the issue and I took to giving him HiFi Lite with the water off very oversoaked sugar beet - he loved it!

In addition to hay/straw I usually gave the ponies a small daily feed in the winter months. While probably not strictly necessary I did so for several reasons:

to allow addition of any medication or supplement an individual pony needs eg one is wormed only by granules in feed, another has a supplement for older horses, and there may be occasions when antibiotics or ventipulmin (for COPD) are necessary.
to encourage the ponies to be in easy range of a certain place at a certain time waiting eagerly for my arrival: not just to make me feel loved, this is invaluable when parts of the field are steep and others out of sight. Looking for a dark grey dun pony on a black hillside in the pouring rain is not a pleasant way to end a long working day and it's easier to check for injuries within the range of car headlights when your field is not by the house or a stable yard with electricity.
It teaches the youngsters to come when called - they soon associate my call with a pleasant experience rather than just working and youngsters and old ponies can often do with a little extra.

Half these feeds usually consisted mainly of carrots, with a few apples, turnips, cabbages or pears thrown in occasionally for a change. Otherwise, and particularly if I needed to feed for medication, I use light alfalfa-based chaff such as Dengie Hi-Fi, with sugar beet (in real winter weather), a handful of pony nuts, plus garlic and occasionally kelp. I also started using a supplement called Farriers Formula to promote good hoof growth in the one that had had laminitis, and this also did the world of good for his coat, as the hoof and coat are actually made from the same materials. Since then Farriers Formula has become my one steady feed supplement and I highly recommend it despite the price.

The feeds described above were much the same as what I fed Portia when she was in foal, though she was on more pony nuts and no sugar beet the first time as she was stabled, shod and working (until December) at that time and needed a bit more protein and mineral content. Once she stopped work I maintained that level of diet for the last 2-3 months (Aidan was a March foal) but the following year she managed very well on a smaller feed and produced a good sized, healthy May foal.

Because that 7 acre field was smaller and richer than the previous hill grazing, and the land was almost level, I needed to keep an eye on the ponies when the spring grass came through. One of the ponies had laminitis once (in October after a late flush of growth) and I didn't want any repeat attacks, so I had to be particularly watchful of the grass quality and workloads. There were nearly 7 acres of grazing, split into two fields of 4 and 3 acres, so I subdivided the 4 acre into 2 paddocks to provide a more manageable size for the fatties, and rotate them, leaving at least one empty at a time if possible. I also grazed cattle and sheep on my land to keep the grass level low and tidy - horses and ponies are picky about where they eat, and leave areas of rough grass which becomes weed-infested and ugly. The cross grazing with different species encourages more even growth. In return I was fortunate to be given access to stubble fields in the autumn, which kept the ponies well enough fed for a few weeks while the fields recover. The winter of 2001-2 I was offered additional stubble by a farmer who saw the ponies on a neighbour's field eating the margins down so the 7 acre wasn't grazed from early October right through the winter. By which time it had recovered very well but I had decided to sell it as I'd bought a house with 10 acres and rented a further hill field of 17 acres up near forestry hacking...

So, under the new system, I have the yeld mares, ridden ponies, youngstock and retired ponies on the hill again where they forage freely, keep moving and have running water in the burn, plus natural shelter. The ground is adjacent to a massive forestry area with loads of bridle paths so it is ideal for the ridden ponies. At home for 2001/02 winter (my first in the new place) I had a weaned colt, an in foal broodmare and a couple of young geldings. These all needed a little extra feeding and ran happily together which was useful for the colt to be socialised rather than live an isolated life as many stallions do. It should give him manners with mares when the time comes. These ponies got hay twice a day on top of the grazing, and a small feed as the grass ran out and bad weather continued. The ponies on the hill manage on the grazing alone will well after Christmas, but for around 8 weeks or so they have round bales of hay put in weekly, plus a mineral lick ad lib. My local farmers are great about delivering into the field and unwrapping the bale, so if I ever can't get there due to flooded roads or illness, I only have the few at home to see to and neighbours overlook the field and count heads for me too.

In spring the home field was rested while the broodmares were all away and I had the colt running out with a friend's colt for the summer. Now the broodmares are at home and will probably stay here long term, with the rest on the hill. I don't have buildings yet but plenty of shelter and the building is planned in my head, if not on the ground yet!

As I mentioned I prefer not to rug the ponies because they grow thick natural coats which seem to serve them well. I used to rug Portia but she seemed colder in the rug, because the hair of her coat was weighed down and lay flat instead of working to trap an insulating layer of air coated off nicely in a very heavily scented mud she prefers to roll in! Who am I to argue when work commitments mean I can only change a soaking wet rug twice a day maximum. The natural Highland winter coat also dries quicker than even the most modern thermal rug. Shelter from the worst weather is important, but doesn't necessarily mean stables. Good thick hedges of hawthorn, blackthorn, holly and other native species provide a good windbreak and the ponies use natural cover such as bushes, the shape of the land, walls etc if available. In open territory a field shelter is a must, but you may find the ponies stand behind rather than inside it - it really is the windbreak they need most. It is not unusual to find the ponies grazing quite happily in the snow, with an inch of unmelted snow on their backs, the insulation between their warm skin and the snow really is that good! It is the combination of wet weather and driving wind that you need to watch, as the insulation is lost when the hair is flattened and wet through. At such times a windbreak is invaluable. A friend of mine erected a St Andrews cross in solid wood barrier, like a big elongated X in the field, which provides shelter from any direction of wind/rain, but no roof. If you have the luxury of a barn, leave a couple of exits open at different sides/angles and let the ponies run in and out as they wish. This would be my ideal, but as yet the cashflow doesn't permit! The benefits of that arrangement are mainly for me, in feeding indoors out of the rain myself - the ponies don't really mind that much!

That said, I recognise that I'm not a typical owner, having multiple ponies and a full time day job I tend to turn ridden ponies away for the winter, maybe keeping one shod to hack at weekends if weather permits. For keeping a single pony dry and ready to work, I have a Boett Native Raincoat, a wonderful invention that I rarely use (for reasons stated - I'm a fair weather rider!) but recommend not just for winter turnout but also pre-showing for those of us that wash and turn back out prior to a show! I was introduced to Boett rugs a few years ago when I had my first case of sweet itch to deal with in a pony that lived out 24/7 all year (not a nice prospect) and it has been a real lifesaver so I grabbed one of the Raincoats as soon as they came out and have been delighted with it. For a woolly pony ridden weekends, or one living out but just with a gullet clip to make winter work practical, I can't see anything more appropriate on the market.

I also do not shoe most of my ponies, though the farrier trims their feet regularly at 6-7 week intervals (7-8 weeks in winter). Portia was shod when I kept her at a livery yard with very little off-road riding nearby, but now most of their lives are spent on grass and they don't work hard enough to require shoes. The exceptions are ponies who are ridden and need to be shod all round to cope with the sharp stones on the main forestry roads. All the rest are unshod and, due to the true hardiness of the breed, seem best in that state. I'd ride barefoot ponies but as I said elsewhere on the site, those stony tracks were proving a problem for the ponies carrying my weight up steep hills as well as everything else! One pony has a problem keeping shoes on just now, and I'm investigating Old Mac boots that are supposedly good for endurance riding. But if not then I'll ride him barefoot and just try and keep to the verges and soft tracks when we go out.

I hope this is of some use or interest but if you have any specific queries use the E-mail links at the bottom of the page or put something in the guestbook if you prefer. I am no expert but I am happy to share any views I may have based on my own experiences, with all necessary caveats.

E-mail: a.douglas@dundee.ac.uk
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