The more intrepid members of the Wildwood team recently spent a long and exhausting day at Stodmarsh moving four of our female Konik horses into a new winter friendly compartment of the nature reserve.
Our Konik horses were introduced at Stodmarsh to help naturally manage the wetland through their grazing habits, which provide a more biodiverse habitat. The area in which they were in was soggy, full of reed beds and, although they are extremely hardy creatures, they needed to be moved to a drier area wituhy more grazing availability to see out the winter months.
The task of moving these lovely yet stubborn animals was not made easier by the 2km route through an undulating landscape. the horses had to be kept moving so they didn’t stop to eat and get lost in the wetland. They also needed to be moved as a herd, but kept at a certain speed so that the humans could keep up with them. Not an easy task, but the move was a great success.
We’ ll be keeping an eye on them over the winter months.