THE GARRON pony is as much a symbol of Scotland’s sporting heritage as it is a modern working animal, doughtily getting to places that the Argo can’t reach, and a companion to those who spend their time on the hill. Growing up, I had little experience of horses and ponies. All that changed when I started my college placement as a student gamekeeper at Grosvenor’s Reay Forest estate, one of the handful of sporting estates that still use the garron for deer extraction. Naively I took this for granted and did not appreciate the rarity of my experience. At 18 years old one of my main responsibilities suddenly became these amazing animals. Each one had their own unique character and personality, some easy-going and gentle, others stubborn and cantankerous.
I quickly learned that as well as the pony having to trust me, I had to trust them to navigate the wild and open hillside. Their sense of direction and memory of the land is exceptional and, on the days when it was just me and a pony,
