Moorland Mousie Trust

Exmoor Facts
* There are three foundation herds remaining on Exmoor: The main herd, once owned by Sir Thomas Acland (now owned by Rose Wallace), runs on Winsford Hill. The second herd, originally purchased in 1818 by Samuel Milton (still owned by the Milton family), is known today as Herd 23 and is run on Withypool Common. The third herd, originally purchased in 1818 by a family called Crockford (now owned by the Western family), is known today as Herd 12 and is run on Codsend.

* The Exmoor pony is listed as endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (listing is based on breeding figures).

* The Exmoor is the oldest and purest of all the British native ponies.

* 10,000-year-old bones similar to the Exmoor pony's have been found in caves in the Mendip Hills near Exmoor.

* Although the breed is thousands of years old, the major changes and threats to its survival have happened in the last 200 years.

Additionally, at the crown's 1818 dispersal sale, the ponies not belonging to Knight and Acland were rounded up and sold at auction. Acland retained about 30 ponies and continued to conserve what remained of the pure herd, running them on his own 3,000 acres of moorland located on Winsford Hill. These ponies are the foundation stock of today's Acland herd, and their descendants are the purest and most prestigious Exmoor ponies today. Each pony descended from this herd is marked with an Anchor brand to prove his lineage. The Acland family was also the first to keep a studbook, but the book was lost in World War II.

Acland wasn't alone in his conservation of the breed. At the sale, individual farmers purchased some of the ponies and ran herds on their own small holdings; and many of these ponies' descendants are still run on the moor today.

If the sales and "improvement" of the breed weren't enough to finish the ponies for good, the harsh rationing in World War II caused many of them to be sold or stolen and butchered for meat. Exmoor was turned into military training grounds and soldiers often used the ponies for target practice.  By the end of the war only 50 purebreds survived.

Exmoor Revival
After World War II, Mary Etherington, an Exmoor resident, encouraged the local community to begin breeding the animals. She established herself as the ponies' public relations officer and exhibited two at the London Zoo along with the story of their near extinction. Even with Etherington's hard work, stock re-established slowly with a maximum registration of 30 foals a year.

In 1921, in Great Britain, breed enthusiasts banded together and formed the Exmoor Pony Society in order to make sure that the few ponies left would maintain their true type. Their goal was to manage a studbook and to "to ensure the continuation of the true, purebred Exmoor pony and to overcome its many threats." They made sure that every foal was inspected and branded before becoming registered as an Exmoor pony.

In the 1990s, the National Trust, English Heritage and Exmoor National Park Authority realized that true conservation of the moors could not be possible without the native ponies. The ponies were part of the habitat, having made the land their home for thousands of years, and without them, the picture would not be complete. The associations also discovered that the herds would help conserve native flora. The ponies' grazing kept down scrub and brush and allowed delicate and endangered wildflowers to flourish. Today, several herds run and are managed by the societies as well as several small associations.

Exmoor Pony in the snow 

Purebred ponies, owned by trusts and private breeders, can be seen running free on Exmoor. However, of all the 800 ponies registered in England, only 145 are living free on Exmoor and 60 in other tracts of wilderness. Those ponies live wild, meaning they have to find their own food and shelter and roam at will, but they all have owners, which has been the case since the 12th century. A foal born on the moors is generally not handled until he is 6 months old. But with careful training, a moor-reared pony is just as good at being ridden or driven as a stable-reared animal might be.

Today, herds are rounded up from Exmoor every fall for the annual sale and foal inspection. If a foal shows all the correct aspects and conformation, he is branded with a four-pointed star on the shoulder, with the mare owner's herd number below, and a registration number on the left flank. Because all Exmoor ponies look alike, this branding is needed to distinguish each individual pony and to mark him as a pure bred.

• Exmoor Pony Centre
• Exmoor Pony Society
• www.exmoorponysociety.org.uk/home.htm
• Moorland Mousie Trust

The Exmoor is a unique breed of pony which has lived on the moor longer than people have. It is important because it is the nearest breed we have to the original wild horses of Europe. It has evolved in response to its environment, becoming hardy and resilient to the cold and wet.

These days the ponies are wild in the sense that the herds roaming freely on the moor are not tame and can survive without assistance, but all the ponies belong to someone and each herd is confined to a particular area of moorland. A few years ago people were afraid that the pony might become extinct so the National Park Authority bought young stock and now owns two herds. There are also six main privately owned herds. The Exmoor pony always breeds true to its type. Its colouring ranges from dun (a smoky-brown) to bay (red-brown) or brown (dark brown). Underparts and the area around the eyes and nose are a mealy buff colour while the mane, tail and points are black. The summer coat is fine and glossy but in winter the ponies grow a thick, two-layered protective coat. Average height is about 12 hands. The true Exmoor is a sturdy pony, well-proportioned and sure footed. It has a large, well-shaped head with ‘toad’ eyes, large and dark, slightly hooded and set under a jutting brow which throws off the rain.
Foals are born in the spring and early summer and spend the summer running with their dams and building up a store of fat to take them through the hard winter ahead. In the autumn the herds are driven down to the farms; foals are weaned and all the ponies are inspected and branded before being returned to the moor for the winter.

The Exmoor pony is indigenous to the area. It is a wild species directly descended from the prehistoric wild horse and it is one of the hardiest of British wild animals. The ponies' true colour is brown, ranging from a smoky hue to a reddish one. The underparts, muzzle and insides of the legs are mealy, or fawn, coloured, while the mane and tail are black. The lighter coloured foals are born in June, their coats darkening as they grow and gleaming in the summer months. They then thicken in winter to form as watertight a covering as the red deer process.

Herds roam the moor all year round, comprising thirty or forty mares and foals and a stallion as leader. Cross-breeding diminishes the ponies' hardiness and only the true Exmoors survive the worst of the winters such as those of 1947, 1962 and 1963 which decimated much of Exmoor's wildlife.

Mare and foal - Exmoor Ponies - image supplied by kind permission of Somerset Tourism, Somerset County Council

The Exmoor Pony Society, founded in 1920, has done sterling work to maintain the purity of the breed and prevent it from dying out. Cross-breeds, caused by a variety of 'non-Exmoors' being turned out for grazing, are still known as 'Porlock ponies' in some parts. The wild Exmoor ponies belong to the owner of the land they stand on. The old tradition of an annual round-up still continues, with many being sold at Bampton Fair in October. The remainder are freed once more to roam the moors: Withypool Common and Hill have the finest herds of these appealing animals. A few years ago it was feared that the pony might become extinct so Exmoor National Park Authority bought young stock and now owns two herds. There are also other privately owned herds

There are only about 1500-2000 Exmoor ponies in the world. However only about 500 are ever bred from, which is why the Rare Breeds Survival Trust describes them as "endangered". About 200 live out on the moorlands of Exmoor. The Exmoor Ponies in the Exmoor National Park live free in natural herds, most with a stallion, mares and foals, and they find their own food, water and shelter. However they are all owned by someone and checked regularly. Their owners decide which stallions will run with the herds. So they are usually described as free-living rather than wild. They stay out all through the year and are only gathered into their home farms for a few days each autumn so that the new foals can be inspected. When foals are registered with the Exmoor Pony Society they are given their registration numbers and their owners name them. All this information is held in the Exmoor Pony Stud Book.

Exmoor ponies have hardly changed since prehistoric times when they lived alongside mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. If you look carefully you can still see the features that have helped them to survive for thousands of years, plus the signs of their ownership.

• Large nostrils and a long face warm the winter air. The deep jaw gives room for large, efficient biting and chewing teeth

• Short ears - that keep out the cold, wind and rain

• Toad eye - a raised fleshy rim around each eye sticks out to help make the rain run away from the eye and off the face.

• Deep wide chest, with plenty of room for the heart and lungs, so the pony could keep going all day to escape predators.

• Thick, long mane to shed water from the pony, and for warmth. In winter the coat has a short, soft, warm under-layer covered with a waterproof top coat of greasy hair. Little heat is lost through this when snow settles on the pony's back. It does not melt and make them catch cold.

• Thick long tail with short hairs at the top forming a water chute so that rain runs off quickly.

• Strong nimble legs that make the pony agile, sure-footed and fast: to escape predators.

• Very hard feet that cope with rough ground.

• Four pointed star shows the pony is a pure-bred registered Exmoor. The number is that of the herd into which the pony was born

• The pony's own unique number

Exmoor Pony by courtesy of Wild About Photography

Exmoor Pony by courtesy of Wild About Photography

Exmoor Pony by courtesy of Wild About Photography

 

See also:

www.exmoorponytrekking.co.uk

Contributed by: Fiona Ferguson, Ben Elliot, Ian Mackinson. Helen Bolt, John Evans, Claire Maclennan