THE Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust is hosting an open morning in a bid to find volunteers to help its work securing the future of the beautiful Dartmoor ponies.
The charity is holding the event on Saturday November 19 from 10.30am to 12noon at its Parke HQ in Bovey Tracey. Refreshments will be provided.
The trust was created to work with moorland pony keepers in a bid to protect and preserve the traditional type of native Dartmoor Pony, which is officially a threatened species.
It also manages 450 hectares of land at Bellever, near Postbridge, where it provides the public with popular and free guided walks to learn about the moor’s history, archaeology, flora and fauna.
The trust runs a herd of up to 26 ponies on the moors, providing free grazing for pony keepers to enable some of their youngsters to mature - which demonstrates the role of equines in conservation grazing and improving biodiversity.
To carry out its work, the trust relies on an enormous amount of support from volunteers, and is seeking for helpers to undertake a number of roles including pony handling, pony checkers at Parke and Bellever, gardeners, poo picking at Parke, paddock maintenance, event organising, meeting and greeting visitors and fundraising.
Trust chairman Malcolm Snelgrove said volunteering is a rewarding pastime as the work is carried out in a beautiful environment, volunteers are part of a valued community and can forge new friendships.
“It’s a very relaxed atmosphere with volunteers sharing a common love of the outdoors, Dartmoor, and helping to ensure ponies survive and thrive for future generations to enjoy,” Malcolm added.
“People can give as much or as little time as they like. We do hope people will come along to our open morning to learn more about the charities work protecting the Dartmoor pony and how they can get involved.”
The Volunteer Open Morning is on Saturday 19th November 2022 10.30am to 12 noon with refreshments provided.
Anyone wishing to attend can register their interest by emailing [email protected]