25/10/2025
So sad for our already vulnerable ponies 🥲
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬
I’ve been asked to post about this because this kind of story is the type that never gets attention and is happening around the country.
The A9 is one of Scotland’s main roads. It runs like a spine down the country, from the far north near Inverness, through the Highlands, and on towards Perth. It’s stunning, wild and, at times, terrifying to drive. Everyone agrees it needs to be made safer. No one wants to play chicken with a lorry on a single track carriageway.
So yes, the road must be dualled. That’s not in question.
But in the middle of all this progress sits Badenoch, a quiet stretch of glen in the Highlands where shaggy, sure footed Highland Ponies have grazed for over 150 years. These ponies are as Scottish as haggis and rain. They’ve carried deer down from the hills, pulled carts through mud, and taught generations of children to ride. They are strong, gentle, and in true Highland fashion, just stubborn enough to survive anything.
Anything, that is, except losing their land.
Because now, the A9 dualling project is cutting straight through the meadows where these ponies live. Transport Scotland has issued compulsory purchase orders, legal papers that allow them to take land for public works. And the breeders here, some whose families have cared for these ponies for generations, have been given very little time to move out.
You can’t simply pack up a herd of ponies and shift them down the road. They need fencing, grazing, water, space to move, and calm to stay healthy. Imagine someone knocking on your door to say, “Right, time to go, by the end of the month.” You’d panic too especially when you’re only given the papers at the end of September.
Now, here’s where it starts to feel like a bad joke. Transport Scotland has already bought over 100 acres of land for birds. Birds displaced by the road will get shiny new wetlands and nesting grounds, which is lovely. Truly. We all love birds. But the Highland Ponies, a native breed officially classed as “vulnerable” in Britain? Not a single acre for them.
The birds get a mansion. The ponies get eviction notices.
I’m not against the road. I’m against forgetting what makes the Highlands the Highlands. When progress forgets compassion, it isn’t really progress, it’s just paperwork with a pulse missing.
These ponies aren’t just animals; they’re part of Scotland’s living heritage. Their bloodlines link today’s breeders with those who worked this land in the 1800s. Lose them, and we don’t just lose a herd, we lose a story, a heartbeat, a symbol of everything hardy and honest about rural Scotland. Only 200 foals were born this year in the Uk.
And the fix isn’t complicated. A fraction of that bird habitat could be shared. Temporary grazing could be arranged. Local owners could be supported with fencing, feed, and winter shelter until new ground is ready. This isn’t about halting the road; it’s about building it better. With care. With conscience.
Because the truth is, roads come and go. But once a heritage like this is gone, it doesn’t grow back. You can’t rebuild 150 years of breeding in a few grant cycles.
Every child who’s ever brushed a pony’s mane knows what’s really at stake here, kindness, loyalty, and belonging. That’s what the Highland Ponies teach us. They’re not loud. They don’t demand attention. They just keep doing what they’ve always done: standing strong in the wind, waiting for someone sensible to realise that home matters.
The A9 can and should be safer. But surely Scotland is big enough, wise enough, and proud enough to make space for its own ponies too.
Because when the machines move in and the last hoofprints fade from those Badenoch meadows, it won’t just be the ponies that we’ve lost, it’ll be a little bit of what it means to be Scottish.
And no amount of tarmac will ever replace that.
Photo credit: Ruaridh Ormiston, highland breeder.
Source: https://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/news/a9-compulsory-purchases-underway-in-badenoch-417477/
