I had company this morning

These ponies wander wild throughout Dartmoor National Park which uses a pony as its symbol.
Although they run wild they are infact normally owned by one of the local farmers and will carry their brand. Every year they are rounded up in the Drift and taken to local markets for sale. In recent years they have had very little value and have been sold for as little as 50p. It is a sad fact that as many as a 1,000 have had to be put down in a year as an alterative to letting them face a death through starvation over the hard winter months.
I love meeting up with them whilst out walking. If you are quiet and don't try to approach them too close, they seem happy to accept you They seem such gentle animals who seem to face their hard life with stoicism
I always feel blessed, when perhaps sitting quietly, one or several will appear and after a short while will happily graze around you.
Long may they live to wander the moor as they have for hundreds of years