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Dartmoor Ponies

Dartmoor Ponies

It has been suggested that Dartmoor ponies have been in existence on the moor for more than 6000 years, but the earliest documentary evidence for them is in the will of a Bishop of Crediton dated 1012. Surefooted and agile, they would have been involved at this time in fetching and carrying for the early mining community, and they continued in this fashion up to the 16th Century.

They were in demand again in the early part of the industrial revolution when deep mining became common and with it the need for a small, tough, tram-pulling power source. Thousands of Dartmoor and Shetland ponies thus ended up working in the mines.

With steam rapidly replacing horse and pony as the prime mover in industry, the ponies looked to be heading for terminal redundancy, but their fortunes were once again revived, this time by the military (an unlikely source, since the little ponies had never qualified as cavalry horses!). The soldiers wanted them for the new leisure activity of polo - a game picked up during their service in India.

As a result, in 1893 The National Pony Society was formed, (originally called 'The Polo Pony Society'), and shortly after, in 1925, came The Dartmoor Pony Society. The two of them ensuring pastoral interest in the moorland ponies, a role also supplemented by the more recent Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust founded in 2002.

Today you can see the ponies in all parts of the moor. For more details, there are a number of excellent books, including 'The History of The Dartmoor Pony' by Joseph Palmer, or visit Dartmoor Pony Society or Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust.