Dartmoor Horse

Origin: England - Devon.

Height: Up to 12.2hh.

Color: Bay, black and brown are preferred. Odd colors such as piebald andskewbald exist, but they are not recognized by the breed society. Excessivewhite is discouraged.

Character: Kind and sensible. Ideal first ponies.

Physique: Small, aristocratic head with very small, pricked ears. Strong,sloping shoulders; strong, well-muscled back, loins and quarters. Slim,hard legs and tough, well-shaped feet. Tail high-set and plentiful; abundantmane. Good action, low and free as befits a riding pony. Surefooted andgiven to longevity.

The Dartmoor is a near relation of the Exmoor, being bred on the neigh-bouring Devon moor and subject to the same exposed climatic conditions.William Youatt also had his opinions on this breed:

There is on Dartmoor a breed of ponies much in request in that vicinity,being sure-footed and hardy, and admirably calculated to scramble overthe rough roads and dreary wilds of that mountainous district. The Dartmoorpony is larger than the Exmoor [maybe it was], and, if possible, uglier. Heexists there almost in a state of nature. The late Captain Colgrave, governorof the prison, had a great desire to possess one of them of somewhatsuperior figure to its fellows,. and having several men to assist him, theyseparated it from the herd. They drove it on some rocks by the side of a tor.A man followed on horseback, while the captain stood below watchingthe chase. The little animal, being driven into a corner, leaped completelyover man and horse and escaped.

From long beyond the memory of man ponies of a small, hardy riding typehave lived on Dartmoor, but until the end of the last century they were notregistered and they varied much in type. The standard Datmoor horse has remained without much alteration ever since.The breed was hard-hit in World War II because Dartmoor was used as atraining centre for the army, and when the war was finished only poniespassed by inspection or placed at chosen shows. In 1961 a stringent up-grading register was begun.SR1, the first grade, was closed in 1966 with 280 entries; but SR2, thesecond grade, is open indefinitely. SR1 ponies are branded with the Dart-moor Pony Society's triangle on the neck.

If all this may sound over-particular, it is the result of a peculiar problemwhich has confronted breeders of the Dartmoor pony in its natural habitat.Less than a hundred years ago, when the demand for very small ponies towork in coalmines was at its peak, Shetland stallions were introduced toDartmoor to run wild and breed with the native ponies, and the resultingdegeneration of the breed was widespread. It is a credit to the DartmoorPony Society and to the few individual breeders outside Dartmoor that thisperfect child's first pony survives in its purebred form.