Horse Whisperer of Snowdonia

Thursday, 14 April 2011 14:51

A horse whisperer has been called in to train a threatened breed of semi-feral mountain ponies.

Fewer than 300 mares remain of this timid breed and there are fears they may become endangered unless they are tamed.

The Carneddau Pony Society has asked Barry Thomas from Crymych in Pembrokeshire for his help in breaking the ponies. Mr Thomas learned techniques from Monty Roberts, an American trainer, believed to have been one of the inspirations for the film and novel, Horse Whisperer.

Gareth Wyn Jones, the Society's Secretary, said he had high hopes for the breed, in spite of a disastrous end-of-season sale last year where they paid £2,800 to stage an auction, but raised only £430 from selling 45 horses to public bodies for wildlife grazing in conservation reserves.

In an attempt to secure the breed's future, the National Trust has agreed to export groups of the ponies to Bickerton, near Chester, over three years. After that, the Society will need to find other ways of making the breed self-financing.

The ponies haven't had any human contact, they're very wild," said Mr Jones. "Barry Thomas will be taking two of the ponies off the mountain and trying to train them using the techniques he learned from Monty Roberts.  It's all to do with eye contact with the ponies apparently. A lot of it is done mentally, it is psychological training really."

Mr Jones added that, if Mr Thomas succeeded, it could make the breed more sustainable and marketable. "If it works, the value of the ponies could rise to as much as £300 each," he said.

Mr Thomas, who will take the ponies to his farm in Pembrokeshire next month, said the process was all about gaining the ponies' trust.

"Hopefully it will mean that they're in a better state of mind, that they will be less frightened of being handled," he said. "I get them used to different sounds, movements and materials. For example, we use plastics and tarpaulin, which can move quickly. Horses perceive us as predators, so we need to build up trust between horse and human. Horses communicate in silence - eye contact is very important and is a way of having a conversation with the horse. If the owner can market them, more people will want to breed them, meaning a better future for the horses."

Mr Thomas's work to train the ponies will be featured next month on S4C's Ffermio programme.