Chagford Dartmoor Pony Sale

Today was the annual Dartmoor Pony Sale at Chagford.  Thank you so much to Vanessa, Angela, and Thea who all came to sale, and to Roy and Margaret who looked after the p4p ponies whilst we were at the sale.

There were 143 ponies entered in the catalogue for the sale but not all were actually brought to the sale, including the donkeys that had been scheduled to be sold.  There were approximately 115 entries, of which approximately 30 were unsold.  There was a very different atmosphere at the sale this year - there were fewer ponies generally in the pens and the ponies were in good condition.  There were lots of private buyers with trailers.

There is still no provision of water.   Whilst there were still dealers buying - they were mostly local.  There were none of the large scale long distance traders seen in the days before the exposure of the horse meat scandal.  There was no attendance by Trading Standards or Defra, so no enforcement agencies were present.

Spotted ponies were still making the most money - one going for £300, another for £250. 

 Approximately 20 ponies were sold for £10; 5 for between £10 and £19; 13 for £20; 30 for between £22-£99; 9 for £100 or more; 6 for £200 or more; 2 for £300 or more.  The 2 ridden ponies went unsold as their reserves were not met. 

The foal in the photo above was the youngest at the sale - they were appropriately penned at the beginning of the sale, separated in their own pen.  After being sold they were not appropriately penned and were added to a pen already full of other sold animals - disappointingly, this was done by the welfare officer of another charity who should know that The Welfare of Horses at Market 1990 requires a mare with a foal at foot to be separately penned - section 11, part 2(c).

The loading varied - one pony attempted to jump out a pen before loading was even attempted.  One set of private buyers used their purple lunge whip to hit ponies to try to get them loaded into their horsebox.  With no authorities to oversee loading there were trailers that were crammed full with foals.

Our thoughts are always with the animals sold after the sale...on their journeys to wherever they are going and that they can find kind, knowledgeable homes.  It is good that far fewer ponies are being brought to the sale but of course, that doesn't mean there are fewer ponies being bred and brought off the moors - it just means the others will be going straight for other purposes, either shot on the farms or for human consumption.

                                                           Year  -  Number of ponies entered in catalogue

2016 -   140

2015  -  175

2014  -  214

2013  -  212

2012  -  250

2011  -  433

2010  -  434

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