#Dülmen Pony

[dogwise]

Dülmener (Equus ferus caballus)

[arinewman7]

Dülmen Ponies in the Wildbahn in the Merfelder Bruch in the Morning Fog at Sunrise

Merfeld, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

IMAGE: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Dülmen, Merfeld, Dülmener Wildpferde in der Wildbahn -- 2016 -- 4201” / CC BY-SA 4.0

[iihbki3]

Picture of the day: Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year. https://t.co/Kgle9SryFH

[suspiciousmammal]

Horseblr, let me tell you about the Dülmener Wildpferd (or Dülmen pony), Germany’s wild horse breed.

These pony-sized fuckers almost died out in the 1800s, but some german politician thought that they were pretty cool and rounded a few of them up. That dude was the Duke of Croy.

It’s a very primitive breed, and you’ll rarely see any coat color other than dun. Nowadays, there’s mainly one big wild herd of them living in some big ol’ fenced fields near Dülmen. Since there used to be less than a hundred, some Exmoor and Welsh Pony stallions were used to add some fresh blood to the breed. But apart from that the goal is to preserve the character and build of this old breed.

So they just let them chill there, you may ask? Eh, mostly. Once a proper herd size of roughly 400 ponies had been established, they quickly noticed that just letting them breed like rabbits wouldn’t be the best thing to do. To avoid inbreeding and a rapid population increase, the stallions only live with them for a fraction of the year. They are left alone apart from that. No vets, no medication and no training. Due to a lack of predators, the most common cause of death is starvation due to dental damage.

But you can’t just ask all colts to kindly gather over there, right? So each year, these horses are round up for the one year old colts to be separated.

So far, so good. The herd is right there, you just have to... find and capture the colts. Nothing easier than capturing the hormonal teenage horses!

Okay, this is just the round-up from a different angle, right? Yes. But look at those guys with red collars and blue shirts on the right. Those are the batshit insane lads who were selected to capture the colts. There’s a total of 30 mad lads from the nearby villages each year.

Their traditional method looks like this:

-separate a small group of horses from the big herd by uuuuuhhh running straight at them I guess

-corall them in a small secluded area, small enough to observe the horses but big enough for them to get around without panicking and getting agressive

-look for some balls

-stallion spotted? Get him!

-yeah okay, first try would’ve been a bit ambitious, but just try again

-and again

-wonder why you even wanted to do this in the first place, as an angry mare tries to kick you in the knee

-while your mates are wrestling with the stallion, t-pose at the mothers to establish dominance

-bully the yearling into wearing a halter, then get dragged around a bunch for public entertainment before finally managing to get the foal into a separate little stallion pen

After a couple of hours when the herd has been combed through, the yearling colts are auctioned off. The mothers and fillies set free again.

Before the actual roundup and auction, they like to show off horses that were captured in previous years just to show what these ponies are capable of:

Like this little gelding that does some nice dressage! Just look at him being all fancy and well-behaved!

And these - these aren’t even Dülmen ponies. Why are they doing the hungarian mail thing? This is just the Warendorf stallion parade all over again, isn’t it?

Those aren’t even horses. THAT’S A LADY WITH HER GOATS. Why were they invited

Look, at least we’re back to horses. But that’s still not a Dülmen pony. And wHY ARE THERE DOGS NOW?? I could’ve wrapped my mind around another nice dressage performance but DOGS???

Goats are on a car now? While the lady is doing dressage? Why do german horse events always end up like this. And let me remind you, the wild horses have not even made their entrance yet. The real show hasn’t even started yet. I’m so confused

By the way: While PETA would shut this down as soon as they’d get the chance, this method of preservation seems to work well for this breed. The event has been criticized because it’s stressful for the horses, but one stressful day a year seems like a fair price for preventing inbreeding and maintaining a managable population size.

[mike13mt]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 30, 2020: Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year. Learn more.

[planetinformation]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 30, 2020: Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year. https://ift.tt/3evCbKZ

[ulaulaman]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 30, 2020: Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year. Learn more.

[adamthealien]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 25, 2019: Dülmen ponies in the Wildbahn in the nature reserve “Merfelder Bruch” in the morning fog at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Learn more.

[biggssanjose10]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 25, 2019: Dülmen ponies in the Wildbahn in the nature reserve “Merfelder Bruch” in the morning fog at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Learn more.

[paulbrownmassage]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 25, 2019: Dülmen ponies in the Wildbahn in the nature reserve “Merfelder Bruch” in the morning fog at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany http://bit.ly/2VZ0ufE

[entrepreneurvision]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 25, 2019: Dülmen ponies in the Wildbahn in the nature reserve “Merfelder Bruch” in the morning fog at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany http://bit.ly/2VZ0ufE

[dogwise]

Dülmener (Equus ferus caballus)

[radie]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 30, 2020: Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year. https://bit.ly/2TSKyIS

[bloggstar247]

Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year.. Learn more.

[hero-2013]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 30, 2020: Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year. Learn more.

[gkknowledge]

Wikipedia picture of the day on May 30, 2020: Dulmen Ponys in the Merfelder Bruch at sunrise, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyOn the last Saturday in May, the Wildpferdefang takes place every year.