Riders may get irritated with their horses for pawing the ground but it turns out that equids’ ability to dig can have huge benefits for the ecosystem.

Wild equids in the North American desert have been found to dig wells up to six feet deep to access fresh water.

These mini-oases provide water for scores of other species, according to a paper published by Erick Lundgren and others in this month’s journal Science (30 April).

Burros (donkeys) and horses are introduced species to the American west, living in scattered herds across deserts such as the Mojave in California and Sonoran in western Arizona.

Researchers set up cameras in dry stream-beds at these locations over three summers to record wildlife behaviour and observed both species used their front hooves to pull back loose sand and gravel and access water.

The wells were visited by 57 other species, including birds of both raptor and small species, deer, sheep, badgers and toads.

Species diversity in the area around the wells was found to be 64% higher than at control sites, suggesting the equid-dug wells were a draw for wildlife.

When other water sources in the area were mapped, it was found that the four wells the equids had dug provided a 14-fold increase in water availability in the region.

Dwindling species of desert trees such as cottonwoods and willows were also discovered to be germinating at the sites.

Introduced herds have previously been viewed as pests that damage the ecosystem, with horses in regions of Australia subject to lethal control measures as a result.

Collection name…

Once extinct wild horses flown to Russian steppes

Six Przewalski’s horses have been transported to a protected reserve

Delight as foal of one of world’s rarest species is born in the UK

‘There are estimated to be fewer than 600 in the wild so they are incredibly rare and they sadly face

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The study’s authors instead suggested that the introduced horses and donkeys filled a behaviour niche that may once have been filled by extinct megafauna, whose populations were particularly affected in North America.

“Recent and ancient extinctions and range contractions of megafauna, and the loss of their distinct ecological functions, has led to highly modified modern landscapes. Although introduced megafauna have primarily been studied as threats to conservation goals, growing evidence suggests that they present a countercurrent to ancient losses and may replace lost ecological functions,” the study’s authors said.

While this was the first major study of equids in North America, well-digging behaviours have previously been observed in wild horses in northern Queensland, Australia and on Sable Island in Canada, as well as in donkeys and asses in Australia and in the Gobi desert.

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A foal belonging to one of the world’s rarest species has been born at a UK zoo.

Hampshire’s Marwell Zoo welcomed the African wild ass foal, born to first-time parents Jahzahra and Lars on 5 August. The African wild ass, believed to be the ancestor of the domestic donkey, faces an extremely high risk of becoming extinct in the wild.

A Marwell spokesman said the zoo has breeding African wild asses successfully for many years, boosting numbers of the species, which has been on the critically endangered list since 1996.

“The birth of this foal is an extremely important addition to the zoo, especially as we are only one of three collections in the UK to hold a breeding herd of African wild ass,” said Ian Goodwin, Marwell’s animal collection manager.

“We’re all very proud that mother and foal are doing so well. The African wild ass inhabit Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.There are estimated to be fewer than 600 in the wild so they are incredibly rare and they sadly face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.”

The zoo also welcomed two Hartmann’s mountain zebras, on 6 and 11 August. The breed which is mainly found in the wild in Namibia, Angola and South Africa, is classed as vulnerable to extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species.

“The first foal was born to Dayimani and Davu and the second to Dorotka and Davu,” said the spokesman.

Article continued below…

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“The wild Hartmann’s mountain zebra population suffered a dramatic loss in the early 1980s due to extreme droughts. While the species has recovered to more than 30,000 individuals since then, an event similar to the one in the 1980s is increasingly likely under climate change. This could wipe out more than 30% of the wild population, making the zoo populations an important back up for the conservation of the species.”

The foals, who are yet to be named or sexed, can be seen at the site in Winchester.

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An endangered breed of horses that was once declared extinct is being reintroduced to the wild in Russia.

Six Przewalski’s horses born at a reserve in the south of France have recently been flown to the Russian steppes.

Scientists eventually hope to have 100 of the horses on the protected 40-acre site in the Orenburg Reserves.

Przewalski’s horse expert Tatjana Zharkikh, who heads the project, said the horses have been adjusting well to their new surroundings.

The breed was declared extinct in the wild in the 1970s, but through co-operative breeding programmes, was bred in captivity and protected.

Work then began to reintroduce them to their native Mongolian habitat. There have been several reintroduction projects in China and Mongolia (news, 16 January, 2002).

Following the success of these projects, the horses were classed as critically endangered, before their status was revised to endangered in 2011.

“It is wonderful that the Russians are providing this large protected area to release Przewalski’s horses,” said Adrian Harland, animal director at Port Lympne Reserve in Kent.

The reserve sent 10 of the horses to China in 1992 for release in the Anxi Gobi Nature Reserve, and a mare to join a European herd that was released in Mongolia in 1996. Two foals were born at the Kent-based reserve in August 2015 and the team intend to continue to offer horses for reintroduction where suitable.

“These are the last truly wild horses and it is great to be involved in such a determined project to re-establish them where they should be — roaming free on the Eurasian Steppe,” added Mr Harland.

Ref: Horse and Hound, 17 March 2016

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A contraception programme has been launched in south Wales to combat the increasing number of horses and ponies on common land.

The Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies (SWHP) introduced the scheme in April due to welfare concerns.

Around 300 equines across an area of 12,000 acres from the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains to the South Wales Valleys have been given the contraceptive.

Fourteen dead ponies were found in one day in April 2013, following the heavy snow and freezing temperatures of the 2012/13 winter and earlier this year World

Horse Welfare’s Roly Owers described the situation as a “horse welfare time bomb”.

“Until the commoners take better control of their own breeding programme, more unwanted ponies will be bred,” he said.

The contraception programme will mean a “vast reduction” in the number of foals being born, according to SWHP.

“Being a small charity, we recognised we would stretch ourselves financially, but the time for talking has passed and there needs to be positive action taken,” Philip York of SWHP told H&H.

“For the first time, mares will be able to go into the winter without being in foal. The following winter they should fare even better with no foals at foot.”

The equines in the area include traditional Welsh mountain ponies, but also other breeds, from cobs to Shetlands, who have been released onto the land and have bred with the native ponies.

The charity believes if these animals continue to breed unchecked, their numbers of around 600 could double within three years.

The contraceptive vaccine works to stop the mares’ reproductive cycle and combats stallions’ desire to breed. It has been given to the semi-feral horses and ponies across several days using darts to minimise the stress caused to the animals.

Mr York hopes the programme, which has cost £5,500 to date, will be carried out across Wales thanks to the charity’s funding.

“SWHP is one of the only specialist semi-feral equine charities in the UK — we have it on our doorstep,” he said.

“This is a two to five year programme that will make a huge impact. We should see a substantial drop in numbers [of foals] born next year.”

Tony Tyler from World Horse Welfare added: “While we have not had any involvement with this particular project, we applaud any efforts to control breeding in these areas and wish the SWHP every success with the scheme.”

This is not the first time a contraception programme has been used on equines in the UK.

In March 2012, semi-feral Dartmoor hill pony mares were to receive a contraceptive injection with the aim of reducing the number of foals being left unsold and going to slaughter.

“We’re delighted with the way it’s going and everything we’ve achieved,” Charlotte Faulkner of the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association told H&H.

“The mares and stallions have stayed in their proper groups and when the stallions thinks the mares are pregnant he lets them spread out and graze more of an area.”

Of the 20 mares that have been included in the scheme for two years (starting Spring 2013) only one mare foaled this year.

The success of the contraception protection for the 74 new ponies included in the 2014 scheme will be known later this year.

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A herd of feral horses on a common in Wales have been rehomed by three equine charities.

Norfolk-based Hillside Animal Sanctuary took 39 horses and ponies last Thursday (24 July).

The Mare and Foal Sanctuary in Devon took three mares with foals at foot and the Carmarthen-based Lluest Horse and Pony Trust another mare and foal, and a coloured cob gelding.

The horses had been abandoned on Manmoel common in South Wales.

Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly County Borough Councils took ownership of the horses on 8 July after their owners had failed to claim them.

The councils asked the members of the National Equine Welfare Council for help in finding new homes for the animals.

John Watson, a spokesman for Hillside said the sanctuary had offered to help the ponies last year after it heard that 37 had died over the winter of 2012/13.

“Our supporters rang a month ago and said a seizure notice was going up and we told the council any that can’t be rehomed, we would take,” said Mr Watson.

The horses are unhandled and will be kept together in a herd at Hillside.

The sanctuary has recently doubled its grazing to 1,000-acres. There are now 1,100 horses at Hillside, 500 of which were taken in the past two years.

The charity was started by Wendy Valentine in 1995.

At the Mare and Foal Sanctuary the foals taken in, once weaned will be loaned out through the charity’s loan scheme.

The sanctuary’s Coombe Park visitor centre has an open day this Sunday (3 August) with free entry.

For more information visit: www.hillside.org.uk and mareandfoal.org

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Twenty-five semi feral scrub ponies have been rounded up and removed from 2,000 acres of common land near Blaenavon in South Wales.

They were gathered over a six-month period from the end of September by members of the equine charity, Bransby Home of Rest for Horses.

The action was taken as part of an initiative by the Scrub Pony Control Group, which was formed in response to the growing problem of illegally grazed ponies on common land across South Wales.

Last year a young boy was hospitalised following an attack from a stallion on common land near Blaenavon after he was bitten on the chest.

The round-up — which was completed at the end of March — was made more difficult by heavy snow last winter and the fact the region covered a huge area with few landmarks.

The team would leave hay in pens to trap the ponies, which gladly took the food at a time when there was little else around for them to eat.

“These animals had never had a human hand on them; they are completely wild,” said Bransby general manager Philip York, who conducted the round up. “The trick is to keep them very calm.”

The ponies have been relocated to the Bransby Home at Leominster in Herefordshire where they will stay because, as wild animals, they are not suitable to be re-homed.

Mr York said: “Illegally grazed ponies are a big problem across the commons of South Wales. Left to fend for themselves, their welfare needs are rarely attended to. They receive no worming or footcare, in winter they compete for grazing with other stock such as sheep and are often found starving. When they are sick or injured they rarely receive veterinary attention.

“It is an unfortunate situation for the ponies as well as those commoners with bonafide grazing rights, as illegally grazed ponies are preventing those with commoner’s rights from turning their own stock onto the hill. Hopefully once illegal ponies are removed we will see a return to quality Welsh mountain pony herds, properly managed, grazing the hills and commons of South Wales”.

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The first foal born this year to a herd of wild ponies on a nature reserve is coping well despite the cold weather.

The Konik ponies live at Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve in Kent as part of an innovative scheme to protect the site’s natural habitat and rare wildlife.

Martyn Nicholls, spokesperson for the Wildwood Trust, which manages the reserve, said: “This type of breed is very hardy and the foal is doing extremely well.

“The first foal of the year is always a cause for celebration and bodes well.”

The foal was born on 18 January.

Konik ponies are described as the closest descendants of the extinct Tarpan horse which roamed Britain in Prehistoric times.

The ponies were introduced to the reserve seven years ago from Poland as part of a scheme by Natural England and the Wildwood Trust to protect the marshland, wet woodland, reed beds and meadow at the reserve.

They graze a wide range of plants and help to preserve natural habitats important for the survival of rare species such as bitterns and corncrakes.

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An American land management programme is planning to capture 575 wild horses this month and administer contraceptives in order to control population growth.

The 650-strong Cedar Mountain herd in Utah is growing by 20-25% each year, but scientists say the area can only support 400 horses.

Of the captured 575, 80 mares will be injected with a contraceptive and returned to the area with 50 stallions. The remainder will be put up for adoption.

Although birth control has been administered to mustangs in the past, this operation will be the most extensive use of contraceptives to date.

Supervisors hope it will lead to fewer wild horses being captured for adoption, euthanased or dying through lack of forage.

The federal protection of mustangs falls under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

“By law, we have to manage this herd so there aren’t large die-offs,” programme director Gus Warr told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Madeleine Pickins, wife of billionaire T Boone Pickins, has revealed that she will adopt most of the horses if she can find enough land to support them. The horses will be up for adoption from 21 February.

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Wild horses are to inhabit an inner city nature reserve in an innovative bid to help the environment.

Canterbury City Council, together with Wildwood Trust has imported a herd of wild horses onto a Whitehall Meadows, a grazing marsh on the river Stour, just five minutes walk from Canterbury high street.

“It is a bit unkempt at the moment and these horses will manage it,” commented Steve James from Canterbury City Council.

The horses are Koniks from Holland, the closest living relatives of the extinct Tarpan forest horses that roamed Britain in prehistoric times. It is hoped that by grazing on the marshland, the horses will help restore Canterbury’s precious nature reserve.

“The council is very pleased about this,” said Mr James. “We are committed to the conservation of the natural environment. Grazing by the horses will improve habitat for plants and animals and provide an opportunity for people to see the wild horses less than one kilometre from the city centre.”

Whitehall Meadows is one of seven local nature reserves owned and managed by the city council. If the scheme is successful Mr James confirms wild horses could be moved onto to the other nature reserves.

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The Przewalski’s horse has made an incredible recovery in the wild, according to scientists from London Zoo, and should be taken off the “extinct” list, and reclassified as “endangered.”

In 1945 the horse was all but extinct — they numbered 45 — but following a sustained programme to breed them in captivity there were more than 1500 Przewalski’s horses by the early 1990s. Work then began to slowly reintroduce them to their native Mongolian habitat.

The programme has now been heralded as a fantastic success. The scientists responsible have applied to have their project results officially noted by The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), by the reclassification. .

“This finding is significant as it shows reintroductions can work,” said Sarah King, the project manager in Mongolia. “The status change is exiting because it illustrates that the horses haven’t been weakened by captivity, which was an initial worry.”

“There were some concerns,” agreed Nick Lindsay of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). “However, there are now 248 free-ranging Przewalski’s horses in the wild, which is an incredible achievement.”

“If the application is accepted by the IUCN, this reclassification is set to be a milestone for large mammal conservation,” he added.

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The Przewalski horse once inhabited the vast grasslands of central Asia, but during the 1900s pressure from hunting and competition for grazing land and water meant that the breed became increasingly scarce in its natural state.

The most recent reliable sighting of this horse, which is now extinct in the wild, occurred in 1968. Since then, it has survived only in zoos — but this is about to change due to an ambitious plan by a German zoo.

Munich Zoo has been breeding the horses in captivity and has just moved eight of them, including mares about to foal, to a national park in Kazakhstan.

The plan is to let them acclimatise to the vegetation and temperature before releasing them gradually into the wild.

“The Przewalski’s survival chances are good,” said Beatrix Rau from the zoo. “There are snow leopards there but they don’t usually go for full grown horses.”

“The area is flat, so it is not easy to hunt them. These animals, albeit born in a zoo, will not let you approach them,” she told the BBC.

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