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.
THE ERISKAY PONY SOCIETY 