Sable Island Ponies---Wild horses of Sable Island

Some footage from Roberto M. Dutesco's documentary of when he was there taking pictures for his gallery in New York. I hope he doesn't mind. Here is a link to where you can view and purchase his photos.
http://www.dutesco.com/gallery/sablehorses/index.html
It is a popular belief that the ancestors of the horses were shipwreck survivors. However, most evidence indicates that the modern Sable Island horse is descended from Acadian horses taken to the island by a Boston merchant in the middle of the 18th century along with cattle, hogs and sheep in an unsuccessful attempt to start a farming settlement. Lifesaving stations were established on Sable Island in 1801 to aid crews of shipwrecks and the horses were used for riding and as draught animals. The lifesaving establishment continued until the mid-1900s, and several attempts were made in this period to "improve" the wild horses by introductions of new breeding stock. Surplus horses were rounded up periodically and sent to the mainland for sale.

Since 1962 the horses have been protected by federal law from all human interference. In this regard Sable Island horses are a unique population in eastern North America. Though feral horses are also found on the French island of Miquelon, south of Newfoundland; on Bird Shoal and Shackleford Bank, off North Carolina in the US; and on Chincoteague Island, Va, the Sable Island horses are of particular value in studies of the history, biology and behaviour of equids* and in the conservation of minor breeds and genetic resources. All current research on the Sable Island horses is noninvasive.
see where this island is
http://picasaweb.google.com/115869702658738653879/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCI_Um...

*Any of various hoofed mammals of the family Equidae, which includes horses, donkeys, and zebras.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• feral
• horses
• wild
• ponies
• Nova
• Scotia
• Canada
• Atlantic
• Ocean
• New
• York
• Gallery
• Roberto
• M.
• Dutesco
• documentary

[MsPsycho29]

What do the horses eat in winter other than dried grasses?

[daveni2]

@thy eat what they can. A lot of it would be dead grass but I am sure they have learned to find some still green stuff frozen under the snow

[MsPsycho29]

Winter grazing must be lean for them.

[daveni2]

@MsPsycho29 winter mortality is exponential compare to summer.

But its quite balmy there in winter compared to the mainland with the gulfstream

[ackmino]

healthy looking horses.

[daveni2]

@ackmino Due to a over 2 centuries of natural selection they are very hardy and strong. No man made breeding

[nightbluehorse]

even if they are adapted from two centuries these horses suffer. This is not the natural habitat in order to live, I consider a human cruelty have abandoned them there.

[daveni2]

@rmpbklyn it's back ground music that came with Pinnacle Studio editing software

non-copyrighted. I put it in an annotation at the beginning. It automatically renders to the length of the video and seems to change with the scenes too.

[rmpbklyn]

what's the music :-)

[4bozzza]

lovely horses, horrible videoeffects