Exmoor Committee Of Herd Owners - ECHO - <>

A committee set up by The Exmoor Pony Society to provide a forum for the owners of the free living moorland herds of registered Exmoor ponies.

ECHO is the Exmoor Committee of Herd Owners and has been established following the overwhelming support expressed for this initiative by the Exmoor pony herd owners at the EPS Moorland meeting on Sunday, 9th February.
At the meeting, attended by 17 of the 21 moorland herds listed for the purposes of the Exmoor Moorland Landscape Partnership by the Exmoor Pony Society, those present felt that a forum to discuss moorland matters would be extremely beneficial and that they would like this to be under the auspices of the Exmoor Pony Society.
ECHO is open to all those running free-living registered ponies on Exmoor and who have bred a foal on the moor – a stipulation that has long been in place for the payment of moorland premiums - and will run as a sub-committee of the Exmoor Pony Society but will responsible for organising their own meetings and providing feedback to the Trustees of the EPS.
Rob Taylor is the current co-ordinator for the group and is a well-known face on Exmoor - always about on the moor Rob
provides people with a great way for those who are not inclined to attend meetings to be able to express their views!
Gill Langdon, co-owner of the Tawbitts herd and Trustee of the Exmoor Pony Society, has agreed to take on the position of Chairman and Gill will be ably assisted by David Wallace who, along with his wife Emma, owns the Anchor herd. Gill has served a number of terms as a Trustee and is both a Society inspector and judge whilst David is the current President.
David Brewer, Chairman of the EPS, said, ‘I am delighted that the moorland herd owners are coming together to discuss the issues that affect them both as owners and breeders of the free-living herds on Exmoor. There is much work to do over the coming years to protect the future of the registered Exmoor pony in its native habitat and we look forward to continuing to work alongside them.’
Sandra Mansell, Treasurer, commented, ‘Our close links with the Exmoor National Park Authority have enabled us to acquire funding on behalf of the herd owners to purchase microchip readers and a mobile penning system to assist with the yearly gatherings. In addition, we work very closely with DEFRA and will have an on-going involvement in the ‘Code of Practice for the identification of semi-feral ponies’ and will be able to keep the owners up-to-date with current practices and regulations pertaining to passports and zootech regulations’.

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