Protecting and Promoting Scotland's Ancient Hebridean Ponies
The Eriskay Pony Society is holding an online Breeding Conference at 7pm on Wednesday 22nd January 2025. The speakers include Dr Andy Dell of Nottingham Trent University looking at the results of the recent DNA project and their implications for breeding followed by a Q & A. All welcome.
More information here BREEDING CONFERENCE
Email info@eriskaypony.org to register.
The Eriskay Pony Society will have a stand in the equine area of the 2024 Scottish Smallholders Festival which is being held on 19th October at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh. This fantastic event aims to inform, educate and inspire, and to give visitors the opportunity to access information and advice from experienced practitioners as well as livestock shows, talks, demonstrations, a trade hall, craft fair, a smallholder market and of course the equine showcase.
On the stand will be Gunna, a Eriskay gelding, who will be taking part in the equine parade carrying traditional creels and looking forward to meeting visitors. The Society’s volunteers will be on hand to explain all about the efforts to save this wonderful native pony which is listed as ‘Priority’ by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust but also to pass on the first results from the exciting DNA project that has been going on for the past 2 years.
The Society had contracted the Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF) at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) to investigate the genomics of the Eriskay Pony population in the United Kingdom to better understand its genetic makeup, its relationship to other native pony breeds, and to evaluate the current pedigree-based breeding programme. The work was part funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board and hair samples for DNA examination were collected from 103 ponies, around a quarter of the population.
The results have now been given to the Society and they show that the Eriskay Pony is a genetically unique breed, with no relationships with any of the other horse and pony breeds that it was screened against. The evidence pointed to the fact that, despite some uninformed opinion, the Eriskay and the Highland are genetically different breeds, and each have evolved to suit the environment in which man has used them.
The Society’s Breed Conservation Committee will now use the study results and the recommendations it contains to update its breeding plans to help ensure a genetically diverse and healthy population.
NOTE: This work has not been published in a peer-reviewed publication yet but it is currently under review following scientific good publication practice guidelines.
Lorna Holden, the Eriskay Pony Society Registrar, has won the RBST Champion of the Year Award, one of the 2024 RBST Scotland Food & Farming Sustainability Awards which were announced at the Royal Highland Show on Thursday 20th June. The award recognised the person or business who had been a real champion over the previous year for rare and native breeds of farm livestock, poultry or equines in Scotland and was aimed at reflecting the wide range of people and organisations involved in the promotion of native breeds. Amongst other qualities, the judges were looking for individuals such as administrators who had enhanced the prospects of a watchlist breed through support and encouragement of others, or a volunteer who had successfully showcased the great opportunities and attractions of native breeds.
The awards were presented to winners by Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands Mairi Gougeon MSP who said: “I’d like to congratulate all of today’s winners and nominees for the important work that they continue to do to protect the most historic breeds in Scottish agriculture.”
Martin Beard, RBST Vice President Scotland, said:“The creativity and commitment to supporting native breeds displayed by these winners is highly impressive and we are delighted to celebrate their work with these awards. Entries for all the categories were of exceptionally high quality and we congratulate all those shortlisted as well as the award winners.”
Lorna took on the demanding role of Registrar in 2020 and has amazed members and pony owners with her hard work ethic and her ability to cope with anything which is thrown at her. She is the strength and stay of the Eriskay Pony Society, keeping track of ponies and people and always making time to support the many projects running at the same time. As Registrar, Lorna has a vital job to do recording ponies from birth to death with the necessary accuracy and she is an essential part of the EPS machinery, never afraid to tackle new technology and systems. Lorna has been instrumental in getting the DNA testing of Eriskay ponies off the ground and has been the main contact for the exciting work being done with Nottingham Trent University which entailed the collection of DNA samples from as many ponies as possible.
Lorna works closely with Dr Andy Dell regarding the Society’s use of SPARKS, making sure that owners have a copy of the sheets showing which are the best matches for their pony or ponies. Not only does Lorna send out the relevant sheets but also speaks to owners who have doubts about breeding or who are worried about what is involved with looking after a foal. If the owner cannot take a stallion for their mare, then Lorna does her very best to find out where the mare could be taken to be covered. Offering owners the advantages of a Breeding Grant is often a great help to enable foals to be bred and few can resist Lorna’s enthusiasm and persuasion! If a pony needs to be travelled somewhere for the correct genetic match, Lorna is often the first to offer to take the pony using her own transport even if it is hundreds of miles.
Lorna spends any spare time she has looking after her own ponies and has shown that Eriskay ponies are well able to compete at the highest levels, competing in BHS Trec with great success. She has also been a regular participant on the annual Eriskay 2-day trek taking place in scenic locations all around the country.
Unfortunately, Lorna could not get time away from her very busy work commitments, so the award was collected on her behalf by Mary McGillivray who had nominated her. Lorna was later presented with her award by EPS Vice President Donald McGillivray. The Eriskay Pony Society is delighted that Lorna’s work and commitment has been recognised in such a prestigious way and we send her our warmest congratulations.
Genetic diversity is an important component of biological diversity. Rare and native breeds of farm animals and equines are part of our cultural heritage often associated with the type of traditional land management that is required to conserve important habitats. The breeds themselves have genetic traits that will be of value in the future, and it is crucial that we do not lose them.
The genetic diversity of a breed is assessed by its effective population size which is based on the total number of animals in a population and the relative numbers of sires and dams. A low effective population size signifies a greater likelihood of inbreeding and subsequent loss of genetic diversity. For an equine breed to survive it is generally accepted that you need to have an effective population of 100 or more.
The Eriskay pony is the most critically endangered equine breed on the DEFRA lists with an effective population that has shrinking and now has reached critical level. The DEFRA figures show this decline over the years.
Perhaps a more positive way of looking at things is to consider the number of ponies in the potential breeding population. Our stud book records show that the total population is 408, of which 66 are over 30 years old. However, within these numbers are 33 ponies who have an unknown owner as the new keeper has not updated the passport as legally obliged to do.
Within this potential breeding population there are 95 mares who are 20 or under and 18 entire stallions.
In the last 5 years, just 20 Mares produced 29 foals using different 9 stallions. This is significantly less than was being produced in previous years and is an area of great concern. As part of the toolkit breeders use to inform breeding choices, Eriskay owners can access SPARKS which is a computer database that works with a genetic analysis programme called GENES to help breeders sustain and strengthen small populations. If used correctly, and appropriately, this will help maintain a healthy herd and slow down the loss of genetic material.
The Eriskay Pony Society has always encouraged owners to consider breeding and each year we forward the list of licenced stallions to mare owners and a list of mares to owners of licenced stallions. If every healthy youngster could produce 1 or 2 foals over a lifetime, this would go a long way to help in saving the breed and will restrict the loss of diversity.
Some stallions, owned by EPS or with the support of their owners, can be loaned allowing them to visit the mare and run with her at her home. In other cases, the mare can visit and run with him at the stallion’s home or at a breeding centre. For those mares living at livery, we may even be able to offer the possibility of a loaner taking the mare and foal through to weaning and deliver her back to her owner with or without plus one at foot.
Artificial Insemination and other types of assisted breeding are commonly used with many breeds and although it has been attempted with a small number of Eriskays, it has not yet resulted in a foal being born. The techniques for collecting and storing good viable semen is improving all the time and we very much hope that we will soon have a successful outcome. Would you like to be the first to succeed?
KEY POINTS.
By Lorna Holden. Registrar (registrar@eriskaypony.org)
The EPS Autumn meeting will be held on 23rd September near Kelso in the Scottish Borders and will feature a full day workshop with Bonnie Mealand of Touching Wild – ‘A day of discovery about horse and (particularly Eriskay) pony behaviour with an equine behaviour specialist’. The focus will be on horse behaviour from the horse perspective including Safety, Emotional wellbeing, Time, Pressure to perform, Proximity, Common language, Communication and Choice. Learning will be by talks and discussion, videos, guided observation of horses and ponies, demonstration of interaction with and handling of ponies, ways of understanding trained behaviour and what training is.
This day is a fantastic event for anyone with an interest in horse and pony behaviour and should not be missed. The cost is only £10 for the day including lunch and refreshments. It is open to non-members but booking is essential. See flyer for more details.
THE ERISKAY PONY SOCIETY 