Wild Carneddau foal “Valentina”

VALENTINA: Wild foal of the Carneddau mountains in North Wales.

Photo reference used with kind permission of SANDRA ROBERTS, who has
been studying and photographing these ponies for over 10 years. This pony she has seen over time and given her the name used here.

Carneddau ponies are a breed of small Welsh Mountain ponies, present in the Carneddau mountains in the Eryri National Park (Snowdonia). They stand at 10-11 hands, and in 2013, DNA identification revealed that they are a distinct, unique and ancient breed having been isolated in the Carneddau for centuries. The population of the Carneddau ponies is in the hundreds [ 2020 ] but numbers fluctuate being affected by the weather. In 2013 tragically 100s died in the heavy snow of that winter, but the population recovered in the following years.