The traditional rounding up of ponies in the New Forest has been cancelled after an outbreak of equine flu.
The drifts in August have been cancelled after the rare, highly contagious flu spread in the New Forest National Park, Hampshire, for the first time in 30 years.
It is believed that around 35 free-roaming ponies have died from the virus so far, out of an estimated 5,000 grazing in the national park at any given time.
Between August and November every year, New Forest ponies are rounded up in drifts to gallop through the national park toward holding pens to have their health checked and for new foals to be branded.
Verderers of the New Forest, the governing body that protects traditional rights around agriculture in the area, have cancelled the drifts and put later round-ups under review.
They say official veterinary advice is to leave the affected ponies where they are to avoid causing them unnecessary stress and potentially spreading the virus further.