By Sharon Biggs

The British Hill Pony is the name given to the group of equines that traveled the land bridge from Europe to Great Britain hundreds of thousands of years ago. These primitive ponies grazed alongside woolly mammoths and served as a source of food for saber tooth tigers and Stone Age man. But when man evolved and began to settle and cultivate the fertile meadows, the ponies were forced from their prime pastures to harsh climates in the mountains and moorlands of England. These new environments caused the ponies to evolve in different directions. For example, the New Forest pony adapted to its tree-lined terrain by developing a maneuverable canter, while the Welsh pony's strong quarters and well angled hocks indicate it evolved to thrive in a hilly land. Later on, when civilized man came upon the scene, these British native ponies were bred to other equines such as the Barb, the Friesian and the Arabian to form the breeds we know today. Only one of the natives kept to its primitive type and does so to this day. That breed is the Exmoor, the last true surviving representative of Britain's wild ponies. 

Life on the Moor
On the border of Somerset and Devon in southwest England lies a beautiful expanse of wilderness called Exmoor. It is home to wild red deer, horned sheep and the Exmoor pony. On the moor, the summers are short and often cold, while the winters are long with driving wind, rain and howling gales. An equine on Exmoor has to survive on his own, existing on a diet of tough plant matter such as heather, rushes and tough grasses and even a prickly bush called gorse. He also must generate his own heat. Life is harsh on the moor, and any pony not up to the challenge won't make it through a single winter. However, the Exmoor is the perfect example of nature's system of evolution and the survival of the fittest.

Breed Characteristics Like the Przewalski horse, one Exmoor pony looks much the same as another. In fact, the Exmoor Pony Society in England rejects foals exhibiting any white markings, which are considered a remnant of outside blood. The ponies are primitive bay (dull brown with darker legs), which is the best color for a life in the wild, allowing the animal to blend with his surroundings. The breed's distinguishing features include mealy markings on the muzzle, legs and belly, and other primitive appearances such as hooded eyes, a double coat and an ice tail. * Height ranges from 11.2 to 12.3 hands * The ponies are stout and strong and can carry up to 170 pounds * Hooves are tough and are a dark slate blue color * Small ears trap the heat in winter * Eyes are expressive with fleshy rims to keep out rain * Legs are short with strong cannon bones * Large nasal passages allow the breath to warm before it reaches the lungs * Movement is a low, sure-footed gait perfect for hilly terrain

The Exmoor pony's primitive qualities are perfect for a life on the moors. The pony's winter coat is designed for warmth with an insulating fluffy inner layer to trap heat and a longer oily outer layer to repel rain. The coat also features an unusual amount of whorls that help drain rainwater away from vulnerable body parts. The manes, tails and forelocks are long to help shed water and snow, and the top of the tail has a collection of short hairs creating a "snow chute" that stops precipitation from dripping onto the hindquarters. In the summer, the pony sheds his winter lining and his coat functions as a slicker, repelling water from the warmer summer showers. The pony is also equipped with "toad eyes" which are rings of raised flesh surrounding his eyes that help keep water out.

It's not just the pony's outward appearance that protects him. His insides are well adapted, too. In order to exist on a ration of heather and gorse, an animal has to have the capabilities to process the stout vegetation. An equine's usual tearing motion is perfect for eating grass but will not work for harder forage; therefore, the Exmoors have incisors that curve and meet together, much like pincers. And once the pony has cut a mouthful of vegetation, he is able to chew it with molars that are set deep inside his jaw so he can munch down hard and mash the forage to a pulp. Molars raised out of the jaw, such as found in other breeds, would break on such tough shrubbery. Once chewed, food is digested in the Exmoor's super-efficient gut that breaks bulky fiber down easily with none of the intestinal problems that plague the more dainty, selectively bred horses. To keep warm during the cold English winter, the Exmoor's digestive system is designed to hold and process huge quantities of fiber needed to produce body heat.

Man Meets Exmoor
Although the ancient Celts occasionally used Exmoors for pack animals, and there is some thought that the invading Romans (AD 43) hitched them to their chariots, the ponies were largely undisturbed by man for many years. The breed escaped the outcrossing of the other native ponies and retained its British Hill Pony type simply because Exmoor was a land of little use to humans. There were no roads through Exmoor, no fishing ports and not much farming. And aside from cave drawings of ponies pulling chariots, the first mention of the equines was in the Doomesday Book (1085-86), the first official census of Britain, where an Exmoor native named Roger was reported to have owned seven wild horses.

In the 12th century, Exmoor was made a royal hunting preserve and red deer were introduced to graze alongside the wild ponies. In 1767, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland I was appointed the warden of the preserve. He became very interested in the little wild ponies on the moor and dedicated his life to preserving them. Sadly, in 1818, King George the III sold the crown lands to an industrialist named John Knight who also took an interest in the ponies, but for the wrong reasons. His idea was to improve the moor and make it produce. These improvements meant that the ponies had to begin paying their way. And who would want a small brown pony? Knight's plan was to cross the ponies with Arabians to create a bigger and stronger breed that he called the Exmoor Cob. The result was a taller horse, but one that lost all signs of native hardiness. These cobs, with their influx of hot blood, could never survive on the moor. Knight was the only one to breed them, succeeded by his son Kenneth. The Exmoor Cob herd numbered 60 by the time of the younger Knight's death in 1887, and by 1930 all the cobs had died out.

Exmoor Fast 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 Windsford 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.

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 purebred.

Exmoors in North America
The Exmoor was first imported to Canada in 1950. They were small in number, but very fashionable there during the 1960s and 1970s. Popularity tapered off in the 1980s and today the Exmoor is a rare sight in Canada. Exmoors were imported from England to the United States in 1980. An American studbook was opened in the 1990s and a breed society, the American Exmoor Pony Registry, was established and is currently maintained by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Even though their numbers are growing, the North American ponies registered and approved by the Exmoor Pony Society still figure below 20; additional ponies are thought to bring the total in North America close to 60. There are currently only around 1,200 Exmoor ponies in the world, and less than half are breeding stock, causing them to be classified as endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
The ponies' use today has expanded to equestrian sport, including jumping, driving, long-distance riding and gymkhana. And in parts of Scotland, Exmoors are used for carrying peat, delivering mail and taking children to school. They are very strong and can even carry a full-sized adult.

For more information contact the Exmoor Pony Society, Glen Fern, Waddicombe, Dulverton Somerset, TA22 9RY, United Kingdom 001 44 1398 341490. Website: www.exmoorponysociety.org.uk email: Exmoor@tomh.demon.co.uk. Or the American Exmoor Pony Registry, in care of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, PO Box 477, Pittsboro, NC 27312-047. Website: www.albc-usa.org. Phone: (919) 542-5704. The Canadian Livestock Records Corporation also holds a registry for Exmoors out of Canada that is open to all ponies in North America: 2417 Holly Lane, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1V 0M7  Website: www.clrc.ca. Phone: (613) 731-7110 x303.

Sharon Biggs is the author of In One Arena: Top Dressage Experts Share Their Knowledge Through the Levels.