Lijiang ponies are a newly developed breed of horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

, restricted to the Lijiang

Lijiang

Lijiang may refer to:*Lijiang, Yunnan , prefecture-level city in Yunnan Province, China*Old Town of Lijiang, World Heritage Site, in Lijiang City*Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County, formerly a county in Lijiang, Yunnan, China before 2002...

 District, in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. This is an area of high altitude with a greatly varied climate. The economy required a more powerful pony than was found in the area, so in 1944 the Arabian

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...

, Yili

Yili

Yili may refer to:*Yili , Chinese classic text*Yili Group, company of dairy industry in China*Yili horse, small horse from the north-western Xinjiang region of China*Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, in northernmost Xinjiang, China...

, Hequ, Kabarda and small type Ardennes

Ardennes (horse)

The Ardennes or Ardennais is one of the oldest breeds of draft horse, and originates from the Ardennes area in Belgium, Luxembourg and France. They are heavy-boned with thick legs and are used for draft work. The Ardennes is found in many colors, although black horses are very rare and are not...

 were introduced. Crossbreeding and interbreeding of the progeny has developed a horse ideal for the needs of the area. Today, there are approximately 4,000 Lijiang ponies.

Lijiang ponies were crossed with Arab and Arab-Kabarda and the offspring were increased in size to about 12.2 hands, but additional work to increase the size of this breed has not yet been successful.