‘Without a function they’re doomed’: in search of a new job for Portugal’s ancient pony breed

Known since Palaeolithic times, valued by the Romans and key to Portugal’s empire-building, there are now less than 3,000 Garranos left

There is more life in the fog-bleached mountains of northern Portugal than the raptors wheeling overhead in search of rabbit and the invisible cows whose clanking bells ring out through the damp whiteness. The trick is finding it.

Along the hillside, piles of fresh manure signpost the way to one of the region’s most emblematic and endangered species. Before long, the curve of a dark brown neck rises from a nest of mossy rocks and winter-brown ferns. It belongs to a Garrano, an ancient breed of pony that has lived on the Iberian peninsula long enough to appear in paintings by both Palaeolithic artists and Diego Velázquez. Its strong, stocky build helped Portugal build and maintain its empire. Today, however, the Garrano is struggling to hold on.