To find out more about the role currently being played by native equine breeds, the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) has carried out a survey to examine the extent to which they are being used. The survey was carried out as part of the HBLB-funded RBST Native Equine Project and received 40 responses
In every ecosystem there are species that are critical to the survival of the other species in the same system. These ‘keystone species’ can be as diverse as giant predators or small plants, but what they have in common is that without them, their ecosystem may not survive.
Conservation biologists have classified equines as a keystone species whose evolution gave them the ability to modify their environment to suit their own species and, while doing so, benefit the numerous plants and animals sharing their ecosystem. In short, equines are some of nature’s conservationists, playing an important – and natural – role in habitat maintenance and management.