Track the pony
IN SNOWDONIA...
Over the last decade I’ve seen the ponies on most of my visits to the Carneddau: on the lower slopes of Pen yr Ole Wen above the Ogwen valley; at the very north of the range above Conwy; halfway up the sides of the huge, empty valleys as you walk in from Bethesda; and, as I did this time, from the remote car park near Llyn Eigiau Reservoir above Tal-y-bont at the east of the mountains, which gives you the most immersive start to a day spent looking for ponies. But the wonderful thing is I can’t tell you where they’ll be: you’ll have to find them. There are enough to make it an achievable goal but take binoculars, and most importantly, if the ponies don’t let you near them then take the hint and leave them in peace. Don’t be offended: some are more used to people than others and they do, after all, look best from a distance, with the hugeness of the mountains as a backdrop.
ELSEWHERE...
Carneddau ponies can also be found on Cheshire’s Bickerton Hill, introduced by the National Trust for conservation grazing, and there are other native breeds to look out for in the British Isles. In the south of England, Dartmoor and Exmoor ponies roam their eponymous moors, while the New Forest pony grazes the glades of Hampshire. Dale and Fell ponies herald from the north of England, from the east and west slopes of the Pennines respectively, while the Welsh Mountain breed can be spotted in the Brecon Beacons and out near the Pembrokeshire Coast too. Ireland has the Connemara pony, and Scotland the Highland breed, the rare Eriskay of the Outer Hebrides and, of course, the diminutive and often≈rotund Shetland pony, familiar to many from early riding lessons and Thelwell cartoons.