THREE people passionate about ponies have taken on a major challenge to walk 100-miles across Dartmoor.

After months of training and preparation Dru Butterfield of the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust, Paul Rendell, moorland guide and conservation officer for the trust, and Sam Goodwin of Dartmoor Pony and Pack, along with his ponies Billy and Jasmine, began their fundraising challenge last week — walking some 100-miles across Dartmoor between stannary towns Ashburton, Chagford, Tavistock and Plympton.

Along the way, the team have been meeting the mayors and town councillors at each town to sign the Commemorative Charter specially created for the challenge.

The team have also been meeting local Dartmoor enthusiasts along the way, including naturalist, film-maker and TV presenter Nick Baker, at the Chagford stop on Sunday, and are due to meet Judi Spiers tomorrow (Friday) at Dartmoor Zoo.

Both are long-term supporters of the trust and will be showing their support for the challenge, which is raising money for the benefit of the ponies of Dartmoor.

Taking a route between the four stannary towns where tin mined on Dartmoor was gathered, weighed and sold, the challenge is retracing the steps of the ponies’ past — as pack animals critical to the livelihood, and ultimately survival, of those who lived and worked on Dartmoor in centuries gone by.

There are two main purposes of the 100-mile challenge — to raise awareness of the heritage, temperament and capability of the Dartmoor pony and its historical role as a vital partner to people on Dartmoor, and to raise £5,000 in aid of the DHPT’s recently announced Dartmoor Pony Conservation Grazing Research project with Plymouth University and Dartmoor Zoo.

The project will aim to ensure recognition of the ponies’ benefit to biodiversity, ultimately helping to secure their future on Dartmoor and across the UK.

The team are expected to complete the challenge tomorrow (Friday).

To sponsor the pack pony team visit www.dpht.co.uk/sponsor.php

You can follow the team’s journey on the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Facebook page.