Today was Hallworthy Horse Sale in Cornwall, the only sale now available for the wild ponies on Bodmin. There were a variety of horses and ponies entered including some domesticated riding horses - 76 lots entered in all. This is a significant reduction in numbers to previous years. This did mean that the pens were quite well organised and all the ponies entered met the requirement of being in "good" condition. Young foals were arranged to be sold alongside their mothers. Very few had hay brought by their owners but water is available in the pens in drinkers. No bedding was provided.
Handling to separate the wild ponies for the sale ring does vary greatly between handlers - some being quieter, others not, and some even taking to pulling on the tails of the animals. Towards the end of the day the pressure washing of the floor was taking place with ponies still in their pens waiting for collection!
Prices were much higher than at Chagford but there were meat buyers - two big Irish lorries were filled. It was commented that they were prepared to bid up to £200 for a Bodmin pony - they were bidding higher on larger domesticated horses - up to £500. Four registered Shetland fillies sold for £150, £220, £140 and £170. Moorland foals just taken from their mothers (known as suckers here) were selling from £40-£200. The lowest bids seemed to be £15 for a miniature Shetland colt and around £25 each for a couple of yearlings and a miniature foal, which would cover the cost of the passporting and microchipping by the owners.
No official authorities were present to monitor the sale.
Here are some sale statistics for Hallworthy - numbers of horses,ponies and donkeys entered per sale for the last 6 years. When there were two sales, the animals appearing at the second sale seemed to be different to the first (i.e not just the unsold brought back again). Since 2014 there has only been one sale per year.
September October Total
2010 482 241 723
2011 315 236 551
2012 203 159 362
2013 217 80 297
2014 No sale 245 245
2015 No sale 76 76
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| One new horse owner happy with her purchase! |
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1 comment:
Conditions are certainly not any better on Bodmin Moor, there has been plenty of suffering and neglect over the past couple of years. But reading this it would seem that the good pony owners are getting a better price for their ponies.It is good to see numbers were down and prices were higher than previous years. The Dartmoor farmer could learn a thing or two.
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