Dartmoor pony
Encyclopedia
The Dartmoor Pony has lived in south-western England for centuries and is used for a variety of disciplines. Because of the extreme weather conditions experienced on the moors, the Dartmoor is a particularly hardy breed with excellent stamina. Over the centuries it has been used as a working animal
by local tin miners
and quarry workers. It is kept in a semi-feral
state on Dartmoor
, Devon
.
Despite this, numbers have declined from an estimated 25,800 in the 1930s to about 5,000 today. Only around 800 ponies were known to be grazing the moor in the spring of 2004.
and tail
should be full and flowing, and the pony's movement
free and smooth. The Dartmoor pony has a kind temperament, the ponies being reliable, gentle and calm. Most Dartmoor ponies stand between ; a pony should stand at no more than 12.2 hands under the breed standard, introduced in 1924. Recognised colours include bay, brown
, black
, grey, chestnut
or roan
.
Piebald
and skewbald
colouring is not permitted within the Dartmoor Pony breed. Ponies with this colouring, seen running on Dartmoor, are likely to be Dartmoor Hill Ponies as Dartmoor commoners may graze any type of pony out on the moors. The Dartmoor Hill Pony is classified as a pony born on Dartmoor, but not a purebred registered Dartmoor Pony. It is not a true breed as such, as the registry for Dartmoor Hill Ponies is open only to those born on the moors, so a pony born of two Dartmoor Hill ponies, but not born on the moors, could not be registered with the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association.
Although Exmoor ponies
live fairly close geographically and their markings
are somewhat similar, evidence now suggests that Dartmoor ponies and Exmoor ponies are not related as was once thought. The Exmoor pony has a distinctly different type of jaw structure, found otherwise only in fossilised remains from Alaska, showing the beginnings of development of a seventh molar, and is thus unique in the living horse breeds.
dating from Vere Gordon Childe's
period III - IV in southern Britain. This would date the bones at the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural society (the Neolithic Revolution
) at around 3500 BC; the bones are probably from wild horses but domestication may have begun by that date. Archeological investigation from the 1970s has shown that domesticated ponies were to be found on Dartmoor as early as 1500 BC. The first written record, dated to AD 1012, refers to wild horses at Ashburton, and early records from Dartmoor manors refer to ponies being branded
and ear-marked
.
The Dartmoor Pony was used in medieval times for carrying heavy loads of tin from the mines across the moor. It suffered greatly from the infusion of Shetland
blood in the years between 1789 and 1832, when breeders decreased the numbers of purebred
stock while trying to produce a suitable pit pony
. When the mines closed, some ponies were kept for farming, but most of the ponies were turned out onto the moor. Ponies were bred at Dartmoor Prison from the early 1900s up until the 1960s, and used by guards for escorting prisoners.
The Dartmoor received Arab blood
from the stallion
Dwarka, foaled in 1922, as well as Dwarka’s son, The Leat. Welsh pony breeding was introduced from the stallion Dinarth Spark, and infusions of Fell Pony
blood was also added.
The first attempt to define and register the breed was in 1898, when the ponies were entered into a studbook started by the Polo Pony Society. In 1924, the breed society was founded, and a studbook opened. World War I
and World War II
were devastating to the breed. Only a handful of ponies were registered during World War II. However, after the war, local people began to inspect and register as many ponies as they could, and by the 1950s, numbers were back up.
Two schemes have been introduced to halt the decline in numbers, and broaden the gene pool of the Dartmoor Pony. The Dartmoor Pony Moorland Scheme (DPMS) was established in 1988 and is administered by the Dartmoor Pony Society and the Duchy of Cornwall, as well as being supported by the Dartmoor National Park. In 2004 a new scheme, the Dartmoor Pony Preservation Scheme (DPPS), was introduced, and herds taking part in this new scheme must enter one mare each year to the DPMS. The Dartmoor Pony has been granted Rare Breed status.
Dartmoor ponies are native to Britain, but are also seen in other parts of the world including the USA, Continental Europe, New Zealand and Australia. They are often used as foundation breeding stock
for the Riding Pony
. The breed is a suitable size and temperament for a children’s mount, but it is also quite capable of carrying an adult. They are used for hunting
, trail riding
, showing
, jumping
, dressage
and driving
, as well as everyday riding.
All ponies free-roaming on Dartmoor are owned and protected by Dartmoor Commoners. It is illegal for visitors to feed the ponies although it is a common sight to see ponies being fed snacks through an open car window.
Working animal
A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks. They may be close members of the family, such as guide or service dogs, or they may be animals trained strictly to perform a job, such as logging elephants. They may also be used for milk, a...
by local tin miners
Dartmoor tin-mining
The Dartmoor tin mining industry is thought to have originated in pre-Roman times, and continued right through to the 20th century. From the 12th century onwards tin mining was regulated by a Stannary Parliament which had its own laws....
and quarry workers. It is kept in a semi-feral
Semi-feral
A semi-feral animal is an animal that lives predominantly in a feral state, but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be due to having been born into a domesticated state and then reverting to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grows up in essentially wild...
state on Dartmoor
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
.
Despite this, numbers have declined from an estimated 25,800 in the 1930s to about 5,000 today. Only around 800 ponies were known to be grazing the moor in the spring of 2004.
Breed characteristics
The small head has large, wide-set eyes and alert ears. The body is strong, with a broad, deep rib cage, and of medium length. The legs are strong, long from body to knee and hock, but with short cannons with strong, dense bone, and a flat-fronted knee; the foreleg rises to a shoulder that is well-angled and with good freedom of movement, and the hindleg rises to a quarter that is well-muscled and rounded in appearance, rather than flat or sloping. The maneMane (horse)
The mane is the hair that grows from the top of the neck of a horse or other equine, reaching from the poll to the withers, and includes the forelock or foretop. It is thicker and coarser than the rest of the horse's coat, and naturally grows to roughly cover the neck...
and tail
Tail (horse)
The tail of the horse and other equines consists of two parts, the dock and the skirt. The dock consists of the muscles and skin covering the coccygeal vertebrae. The term "skirt" refers to the long hairs that fall below the dock...
should be full and flowing, and the pony's movement
Horse gait
Horse gaits are the various ways in which a horse can move, either naturally or as a result of specialized training by humans.-Classification:...
free and smooth. The Dartmoor pony has a kind temperament, the ponies being reliable, gentle and calm. Most Dartmoor ponies stand between ; a pony should stand at no more than 12.2 hands under the breed standard, introduced in 1924. Recognised colours include bay, brown
Seal brown (horse)
Seal brown is a hair coat color of horses characterized by a near-black body color; with black points, the mane, tail and legs; but also reddish or tan areas around the eyes, muzzle, behind the elbow and in front of the stifle...
, black
Black (horse)
Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...
, grey, chestnut
Chestnut (coat)
Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...
or roan
Roan (horse)
Roan is a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"—lower legs, mane and tail—are more solid-colored. The roan pattern is dominantly-inherited, and is found in many horse breeds...
.
Piebald
Piebald
A piebald or pied animal is one that has a spotting pattern of large unpigmented, usually white, areas of hair, feathers, or scales and normally pigmented patches, generally black. The colour of the animal's skin underneath its coat is also pigmented under the dark patches and unpigmented under...
and skewbald
Skewbald
Skewbald is a color pattern of horses. A skewbald horse has a coat made up of white patches on a non-black base coat, such as chestnut, bay, or any color besides black coat. Skewbald horses which are bay and white are sometimes called tricoloured...
colouring is not permitted within the Dartmoor Pony breed. Ponies with this colouring, seen running on Dartmoor, are likely to be Dartmoor Hill Ponies as Dartmoor commoners may graze any type of pony out on the moors. The Dartmoor Hill Pony is classified as a pony born on Dartmoor, but not a purebred registered Dartmoor Pony. It is not a true breed as such, as the registry for Dartmoor Hill Ponies is open only to those born on the moors, so a pony born of two Dartmoor Hill ponies, but not born on the moors, could not be registered with the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association.
Although Exmoor ponies
Exmoor pony
The Exmoor pony is a horse breed native to the British Isles, where some still roam as semi-feral livestock on Exmoor, a large area of moorland in Devon and Somerset in southwest England. The Exmoor is one of the British Isles mountain and moorland pony breeds, having conformation similar to that...
live fairly close geographically and their markings
Horse markings
Markings on horses usually are distinctive white areas on an otherwise dark base coat color. Most horses have some markings, and they help to identify the horse as a unique individual. Markings are present at birth and do not change over the course of the horse's life...
are somewhat similar, evidence now suggests that Dartmoor ponies and Exmoor ponies are not related as was once thought. The Exmoor pony has a distinctly different type of jaw structure, found otherwise only in fossilised remains from Alaska, showing the beginnings of development of a seventh molar, and is thus unique in the living horse breeds.
History
The bones of prehistoric horses have been found in chamber tombsSevern-Cotswold tomb
Severn-Cotswold is a name given to a type of Megalithic chamber tomb built by Neolithic peoples in Wales and South West England around 3500 BC.-Description:...
dating from Vere Gordon Childe's
Vere Gordon Childe
Vere Gordon Childe , better known as V. Gordon Childe, was an Australian archaeologist and philologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. A vocal socialist, Childe accepted the socio-economic theory of Marxism and was an early proponent of Marxist archaeology...
period III - IV in southern Britain. This would date the bones at the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural society (the Neolithic Revolution
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution. It was the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement. Archaeological data indicates that various forms of plants and animal domestication evolved independently in 6 separate locations worldwide circa...
) at around 3500 BC; the bones are probably from wild horses but domestication may have begun by that date. Archeological investigation from the 1970s has shown that domesticated ponies were to be found on Dartmoor as early as 1500 BC. The first written record, dated to AD 1012, refers to wild horses at Ashburton, and early records from Dartmoor manors refer to ponies being branded
Livestock branding
Livestock branding is a technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding...
and ear-marked
Earmark (agriculture)
An earmark is a cut or mark in the ear of livestock animals such as cattle, deer, pigs, goats, camels or sheep, made to show ownership, year of birth or gender....
.
Shetland pony
The Shetland pony is a breed of pony originating in the Shetland Isles. Shetlands range in size from a minimum height of approximately 28 inches to an official maximum height of 42 inches at the withers. Shetland ponies have heavy coats, short legs and are considered quite intelligent...
blood in the years between 1789 and 1832, when breeders decreased the numbers of purebred
Purebred
Purebreds, also called purebreeds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved through the process of selective breeding...
stock while trying to produce a suitable pit pony
Pit pony
A pit pony was a type of pony commonly used underground in coal mines from the mid 18th up until the mid 20th century.-History:Ponies began to be used underground, often replacing child or female labour, as distances from pit head to coal face became greater...
. When the mines closed, some ponies were kept for farming, but most of the ponies were turned out onto the moor. Ponies were bred at Dartmoor Prison from the early 1900s up until the 1960s, and used by guards for escorting prisoners.
The Dartmoor received Arab blood
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
from the stallion
Stallion
A Stallion is a male horse.Stallion may also refer to:* Stallion , an American pop rock group* Stallion , a figure in the Gobot toyline* Stallion , a character in the console role-playing game series...
Dwarka, foaled in 1922, as well as Dwarka’s son, The Leat. Welsh pony breeding was introduced from the stallion Dinarth Spark, and infusions of Fell Pony
Fell pony
The Fell Pony is a versatile, working breed of mountain and moorland pony originating in the north of England in Cumberland and Westmorland and Northumberland. It was originally bred on the fell farms of northwest England, and is used as a riding and driving pony...
blood was also added.
The first attempt to define and register the breed was in 1898, when the ponies were entered into a studbook started by the Polo Pony Society. In 1924, the breed society was founded, and a studbook opened. World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were devastating to the breed. Only a handful of ponies were registered during World War II. However, after the war, local people began to inspect and register as many ponies as they could, and by the 1950s, numbers were back up.
Two schemes have been introduced to halt the decline in numbers, and broaden the gene pool of the Dartmoor Pony. The Dartmoor Pony Moorland Scheme (DPMS) was established in 1988 and is administered by the Dartmoor Pony Society and the Duchy of Cornwall, as well as being supported by the Dartmoor National Park. In 2004 a new scheme, the Dartmoor Pony Preservation Scheme (DPPS), was introduced, and herds taking part in this new scheme must enter one mare each year to the DPMS. The Dartmoor Pony has been granted Rare Breed status.
Dartmoor Ponies today
Foundation bloodstock
Foundation bloodstock or foundation stock are horses that are the progenitor, or foundation, of a new horse breed or a given bloodline within a breed. The term is also used in a similar manner when discussing purebred dogs...
for the Riding Pony
Riding Pony
The Riding Pony was developed in the United Kingdom, and are now bred all over the world. The term is used to refer to as show ponies, divided into classes based on height and type, hunter classes, side-saddle and in hand classes...
. The breed is a suitable size and temperament for a children’s mount, but it is also quite capable of carrying an adult. They are used for hunting
Field hunter
A field hunter, or a fox hunter, is a type of horse used in the hunt field for fox hunting. It may be of any breed, but should possess stamina, a level head, and bravery. The horse should have a safe jump, so as not to get caught on any of the solid obstacles found in the hunt field...
, trail riding
Trail riding
Trail riding sometimes called horse or pony trekking is riding outdoors on natural trails and roads as opposed to riding in an enclosed area such as a riding arena. The term may encompass those who travel on horses, on mountain bikes, or on motorcycles and other motorized all-terrain vehicles...
, showing
Horse show
A Horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and...
, jumping
Show jumping
Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
, dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
and driving
Driving (horse)
Driving, when applied to horses, ponies, mules, or donkeys, is a broad term for hitching equines to a wagon, carriage, cart, sleigh, or other horse-drawn vehicle by means of a harness and working them in this way...
, as well as everyday riding.
All ponies free-roaming on Dartmoor are owned and protected by Dartmoor Commoners. It is illegal for visitors to feed the ponies although it is a common sight to see ponies being fed snacks through an open car window.