CUMBRIAN fell ponies living wild on the Howgills and on the Lake District hills could disappear forever if younger breeders do not come forward.

This is the message from film-maker Tom Lloyd, whose series of short fell pony documentaries featuring breeders at Shap, Sedbergh and Penrith, premiered at Penrith cinema.

Mr Lloyd, of Newby Bridge, said his original intention was to capture the beauty of this traditonal breed but within weeks of filming he realised he was being confronted by a far more serious issue.

“It became clear pretty quickly that the real problem facing fell ponies is that the younger generation just aren’t coming forward to take over the herds,” he said. “All the people in my documentaries are older and the fear is once this generation has died there will be no one left with the knowledge and passion to keep them going.”

There are around 250 semi-feral fell ponies in 12 herds living wild in Cumbria, with just a handful of breeders maintaining the herds and feeding them regularly.

“There are fell ponies all over the world but the ones in Cumbria are unique, living in their natural environment. The landscape is shaped by them.

“Of course ponies would survive but once they are off the hills you would lose the gene pool which gives them their hardy characteristics and that would be a great shame,” he said.

Long hours involved in keeping a herd and the expense of starting out are among the reasons revealed in the documentary as to why younger people are not taking them on.

Christine Morton, 62, who keeps ponies on the Pennines features in one of Mr Lloyd’s films.

“It’s a 24/7 job keeping the ponies,” she said. “You certainly don’t do it for the money. The vets bills, food costs, disease tests...it just goes on and the younger generation just don’t want the commitment. But you need the younger people to want to do it Cumbria loses part of its natural history.”

Of all the breeders in the films only Mrs Morton had a natural successor to her herd as daughter Allison will take them on when she retires.

She said: “Naturally I’m pleased Allison wants to keep them going but there needs to be more young blood.”

To buy a copy of the film produced by Dreamtime email sectretary of the Fell Pony Breeders Association at christine@kerbeck-fell-ponies.co.uk