Welsh hill ponies enlisted to clear bracken and cut wildfire risk

A project in Wales is putting native hill ponies to work clearing bracken, an invasive plant that raises wildfire and tick risk and crowds out other vegetation. The Power Ponies project, developed by Dr Donna Oldbury-Thomas of Coventry University with Peter Morgan of Torcoed Stud, uses wild-bred Welsh section A ponies to graze, trample and "nest" in bracken stands. Over time this pushes the bracken back and opens up better grazing, offering a slower but permanent alternative to spraying bracken with chemicals, which produces toxic emissions when the plant later burns.

The project also responds to a decline in the wild-bred Welsh mountain pony population, now estimated at around 300 animals, with foals sometimes selling for as little as £10 because breeders see little practical use for them. Giving these hardy, native ponies a working role in land management and fire prevention is intended to create real demand for the bloodlines best suited to it. A parallel example from Spain, where a stud owner uses free-ranging horses and virtual fencing to graze down vegetation, reducing fire fuel loads while horses benefit from a more natural life, has drawn interest from regional authorities considering similar grazing-based approaches to wildfire prevention.

For breeders and owners of native and hill breeds, the project is a reminder that conservation value and welfare can align: ponies living and grazing more naturally, in groups suited to their instincts, can also perform a genuinely useful environmental function. It is not a fast fix, and organisers are clear the benefits build up over years rather than months, but it offers a practical case for why keeping wild-bred bloodlines going is worth the effort.