Ponies with green manes: why Dartmoor hill ponies have been painted

Dartmoor Hill Ponies have been spray painted with green manes — (Image credit: credits-unknown)

Some eagle-eyed residents and visitors to Dartmoor have noticed something a little bizarre recently – ponies with green manes.

But these aren’t just any ponies, these are Dartmoor Hill Ponies, and their new colour scheme has come about thanks to an idea hatched by Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony group.

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Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.

Ponies spray painted green? Absolutely – and here’s why…

Their spray painting service has been offered to farmers who are members of the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association and is part of a plan to match the breeding levels of Dartmoor Hill Ponies to that of the demand for this breed.

The ponies with green manes are mares who are part of this contraception scheme. Although a very bright green to start with, the spray paint fades over the winter period, but is still visible in spring time as one of the ways to identify them quickly out on the moor.

The spray paint means that the ponies who are on the contraceptive scheme are easy to spot when they are rounded up late in the spring, at which point they are injected with a six-month booster jab of the contraceptive.

The first approval of this contraceptive scheme came about after World Horse Welfare vet Keith Meldrum worked with the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association and pharmaceutical company Pfizer – who are now well-known as a Covid-19 vaccine provider – on a plan to inject 20 mares in 2012.

Contraception for semi-feral Dartmoor hill pony mares

Reflective paint set to help save ponies’ lives