ABSTRACT
All the free-living horses and ponies found in North America and Europe are classified within a single species, Equus caballus. Certain aspects of the natural life cycle and management routines may influence the planning of a census, particularly with regard to its timing. On Exmoor the foaling season begins in late April, but the increase in population is only temporary, as in late October almost all the foals are removed as the hill-farming “crop”. Knowledge of the social structure of the population is of practical help: determining the home ranges and social stability of herds aided in locating all the Exmoor pony herds. Census methods for ponies can be adapted easily to examine the use of different habitats; for this, grid squares are classified in terms of habitat type, and by summing the use of constituent squares, the proportional use of each type can be calculated.
