THE EXMOOR AND DARTMOOR PONIES.

It is certain that ponies have run in these districts for many centuries in a practically wild state, and probably have always supplied the tillers of the soil with beasts of burden. In times when these localities were without roads of any kind and wheeled traffic was impossible, the sled and the pack-horse were used for transporting agricultural produce. The sleds were drawn by oxen and small horses; and ponies were employed to carry corn, &c., in pots and panniers; the ponies used for this purpose being the animals which ran at large upon the wastes. As recently as 1860 packhorses might still be met with in the western and southern districts. They were the larger ponies of the Dartmoor and Exmoor breed, and were indispensable to the farmers whose holdings at that time lay beyond the region of roads in secluded districts. The practice of taking up a few of the best mares for breeding purposes and keeping them in enclosed pasture is no doubt an old one; but the vast majority of the droves have always been left to their own devices. They bred and interbred without let or hindrance, and by consequence the weakly died off, leavingthe fittest,i.e., the hardiest and the best able to withstand the rigours of exposure.

Carew, in hisHistory of Cornwall, which was written in the early part of the reign of JamesI. (1603-1625), says:—

“The Cornish horses are hardly bred, coarsely fed, and so low in stature that they were liable to be seized on as unstatutable, according to the statute of HenryVIII., by anyone who caught them depasturing the commons.”

In the year 1812 Exmoor was disforested by GeorgeIII., and a commission was appointed to survey and value the lands. The total acreage was found to be 18,810 acres, of which 10,262 acres were adjudged the property of the Crown. In 1820 Mr. John Knight purchased the Crown allotment; at a later date he acquired Sir Thomas Acland’s portion, and Sir Arthur Chichester’s property of Brendon which adjoined it, the total area so acquired being over 16,000 acres. Sir Thomas Acland had bred ponies, and when Mr. Knight bought the land he applied himself to the task of improving the ponies, which for some years previously had been fetching only from £4 to £6. The low prices obtainable, we infer, were due in a measure to the ease with which the local shepherds “took liberal tithe”of the ponies, which, despite the anchor-brand they bore to prove ownership, were readily purchased in Wiltshire.

The only pure Exmoor ponies now existing, so far as enquiry has disclosed, are those bred by Sir T. Dyke Acland, Bart., of Holnicote, Taunton. When Sir Thomas Acland sold his Exmoor property to Mr. Knight he removed his original uncrossed stock to Winsford Hill, near Dulverton; these ponies alone preserve the full characteristics of the old strain; they run from 11·2 hands to 12·2 hands, are dark-brown with black points, and have the mealy tan muzzle. It is stated that only about a dozen mares were left in their old quarters.

Mr. Knight and some other gentlemen were attracted by the accounts of the Dongola Arab horses given by the great traveller Bruce, and after considerable delay a number of stallions and mares were procured through the British Consul in Egypt. They proved to be black, short-backed animals with lean heads, and rather Roman noses. Their hind quarters were good, but, unlike the typical Arab, they had “flattish ribs.” Mr. Knight became the owner of two sires and three mares, which he brought to Simonsbath. One of these Dongolastallions was mated with a number of 12-hand Exmoor mares; the foals generally grew to about 14 hands 2 inches, and though they followed their dams in the colour of coat, the distinctive mealy muzzle disappeared. There was a desire to retain as much of the Exmoor character as was compatible with improvement in the breed; hence those half-bred mares by the Dongola horse which did not retain as much as possible of the native type were drafted from the stud.

The thoroughbred horse Pandarus, a 15-hand son of Whalebone, succeeded the Dongola horse; foals of his get retained the original colour, but were smaller, ranging from 13 hands to 13·2. Another thoroughbred, Canopus, a grandson of Velocipede, followed Pandarus at the stud, and with equally satisfactory results in respect of improved size and conformation; but, as might have been expected, these cross-bred ponies proved incapable of enduring the hardships of moorland life when turned out. Hence, about 1844, Mr. Knight gave up the use of alien blood and used his own stallion ponies; the only exceptions being Hero, a sturdy chestnut out of a Pandarus mare, and Lillias, a grey of nearly pure Acland strain.

After Mr. Knight’s death, which event occurred in 1850, the practice of selling the ponies by private contract was abandoned in favour of an annual auction, held at Simonsbath. The comparative inaccessibility of the spot, however, soon indicated the need of change, and in 1854 the sale was first held at Bampton fair. The system on which the ponies were kept was also changed in the later fifties; some 130 acres of pasture were set apart, and on this the foals were wintered instead of remaining at large on the bleak hill-sides. The effect thus produced upon the size and development of the young stock was very marked. In 1863 the ponies mustered about four hundred strong, nearly one hundred of which were brood mares, young and old. Much of the land which in former days was given up to the droves has been reclaimed during recent years, and improved methods of cultivation have made it capable of growing various crops and of grazing cattle and sheep.

Mr. Robert Smith, of Emmett’s Grange, also devoted attention to the improvement of the Exmoor breed. The “Druid,” who described a visit to Devonshire about the year 1860 or 1861, remarks that “the original colour of the Exmoor seems tohave been a buffy bay, with a mealy nose, and it is supposed to have preserved its character ever since the Phœnicians brought it over when they visited the shores of Cornwall to trade in tin and metals.” Enquiry into the ground for supposing that the original stock was introduced by the Phœnicians would perhaps produce results hardly commensurate with the labour of research.

When the “Druid” paid his visit to the district in 1860 or 1861, only 250 acres of moorland remained unenclosed, and the breeding stock on Mr. Smith’s holding consisted of “some twenty-five short-legged brood mares of about 13 hands 2 inches.” These passed the better part of the year on the hills and were wintered in the paddocks furnished with open sheds for shelter.

After experimenting with thoroughbreds, Mr. Smith procured a 14-hand pony sire named Bobby, by Round Robin out of an Arab mare, and used him with the most encouraging results for two seasons. Bobby’s stock were almost invariably bays. At a sale held at Bristol, in 1864, twenty-nine cobs galloways and ponies, nearly all of which were Bobby’s get, made an average price of 23 guineas a head, several realising over30 guineas. The highest price (figure not recorded) was paid for a bay stallion, five years old and 13 hands high.

Whether Youatt refers to the improved breed or not it is impossible to say: but that authority states that about the year 1860 a farmer who weighed 14 stone rode an Exmoor pony from Bristol to South Molton, a distance of 86 miles, beating the coach which travelled the same road. This feat proves the pony to have been both fast and enduring.

A most competent authority who a couple of years ago paid a visit to Simonsbath to inspect the ponies of the district, describes the “Acland” as a wonderfully thoroughbred looking and handsome pony with fine lean head, intelligent eye and good limbs. The only fault he had to find was in the matter of size: he considered it a shade too small for general purposes.

The “Knights” were described as larger than the “Aclands”: they also retain the thoroughbred look derived from the Arab and other alien blood introduced by Mr. Knight in the second quarter of the century. My informant remarks that one of the most interesting sights he witnessed was the display of jealousy by the stallions when twodroves of ponies were brought up for inspection. Each kept his harem crowded together apart from the other, “rounding in” his mares with the greatest fire. Needless to say the little horses would show at their very best under such conditions.

Among the gentlemen who have endeavoured to improve the Exmoor pony, mention must also be made of the Earl of Carnarvon, Viscount Ebrington and Mr. Nicholas Snow, of Oare, who have breeding studs; but their strains, like those of the farmers’ who rear a few each, are larger than the representative “Aclands.”

Dr. Herbert Watney, of Buckhold, near Pangbourne, until recently possessed herds of Exmoor and Arab-Exmoor ponies; their numbers have quite lately been greatly reduced by the sale of mares and young stock, Dr. Watney holding the writer’s view that ground in time becomes staled if grazed by numerous horses.[5]Dr. Watney laid the foundations of his herd by the purchase of about a dozen mares of the Knight and Ackland strains, and to serve them he acquired the 13·2 Exmoor stallion Katerfelto,winner of the first prize for pony stallions at the Devon County Show, and first prize in his class at the “Royal” in 1890. The stallion runs with the mares, and the herd lead on the Berkshire downs exactly the same free life they led on Exmoor; they are never brought under cover, and only when snow buries the herbage in severe winters do they receive a daily ration of hay. The richer grazing and their exclusive service by Katerfelto has resulted in distinct increase of size, the ponies ranging from 11·3 to 13·3 in height, yet retaining all the characteristics of the Exmoor native stock.

[5]See “Young Racehorses” (Suggestions for Rearing), by Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart., Vinton & Co., Ltd.

Dr. Watney drafted off a number of the best mares to form a herd for service by the Arab pony stallion Nejram, a bay standing 14·1, bred by Mr. Wilford Blunt at Crabbet Park. Nejram’s stock show in marked degree the distinctive character of their sire in the high set and carriage of the tail, full barrel, blood-like head and the long pastern; but at the same time they inherit from their dams the wonderful sure-footedness of the Exmoor pony. These ponies run from about 13 hands to 13·3. Half a dozen of these Arab-Exmoors, three years old, handled but unbroken, were soldin the year 1898 at an average price of over £14 14s. each. Twelve pure Exmoors by Katerfelto, also handled but unbroken, three years old, brought an average of over £16 16s.

Bampton Fair, held in October, is now the great rendezvous for Exmoor ponies. Every fair brings several hundred animals in from the moors for sale. Like other horses and ponies, the Exmoors are suffering from the competition of the bicycle, but good prices are still obtained under the hammer. They are much used for children, and the less desirable find ready sale to coster-mongers and hawkers. Newly-weaned suckers of five or six months old fetch from £3 to £6; exceptionally promising youngsters command a higher figure.

The Dartmoor pony’s good points are a strong back and loin, and substance. For generations past the farmers appear to have been in the habit of taking up a few mares for riding and breeding purposes; to these 11 or 12-hand dams—they rarely reach 13 hands—a small Welsh cart stallion is put, and the result is an animal hardy and serviceable enough for ordinary farm work. Even these would seem to form a small minority. For the most part the Dartmoorponies still run wild, shaggy and unkempt, on the waste lands on which they breed uncontrolled, on which they are foaled and live and die; often without having looked through a bridle. Those taken up for riding purposes or for breeding are of course the pick of the droves, and thus we find an active force at work which is calculated to lower the average standard of quality among the wild ponies.

In considering the various efforts which from time to time have been made in the direction of improvement by the introduction of fresh blood, we must bear in mind that the mares on which such experiments have been made are those which have been taken up by farmers and kept within fences. We cannot find that stallions of alien blood have ever been turned out to run on the moors, and in view of the conditions under which the moor ponies exist it is highly improbable that a stallion boasting such blood as would produce beneficial results on the native breed would long enough survive the exposure and scanty food to make any appreciable mark thereon. The endeavours, more or less continuous and successful, to improve the breed have been confined to the few, and have, therefore,produced little effect or none on the main stock.

Early in the present century Mr. Willing, of Torpeak, made successful experiments in crossing the Exmoor pony with the smaller variety peculiar to the Dartmoor “tors.” Mr. Wooton, of Woodlands, says a writer in theFieldof 9th October, 1880, was in the habit of purchasing mares of this cross from Mr. Willing from about the year 1820, and possessed a considerable number of them. He used to put these to small thoroughbred horses standing in the district. The names of Trap, Tim Whiffler, Rover, and Glen Stuart are mentioned, and about 1860 he sent some of his Exmoor-Dartmoor mares to a small Arab belonging to Mr. Stewart Hawkins, of Ivybridge. Mr. Wooton’s endeavours to improve the Dartmoor breed are the first that were made on any considerable scale, so far as it is possible to discover.

About 1879 a resident who devoted much attention to the improvement of the Dartmoor breed introduced a brown stallion by Mr. Christopher Wilson’s Sir George out of Windsor Soarer, and as his mares—a selected lot, 12·2 to 13 hands, either brown or chestnut—came in use, put them to thispony with the object of getting early foals. The young stock thus got were carefully weeded out, the best stallions and mares only being retained. The colt foals were kept apart and at two years old put to the mares got by their sire. The experiment was very successful, browns, black-browns and chestnuts being the colours of this improved breed, which sold well.

Mr. S. Lang, of Bristol, some years prior to 1880 sent down two good stallions, Perfection and Hereford, for use in the district, but it is stated that these ponies were little patronised by the farmers. Hereford, a pure thoroughbred pony only 13 hands high, left a few beautiful foals behind him.

A description of Exmoor and Dartmoor ponies exhibited at the Newton Abbott Agricultural Show in May, 1875, may have had reference to these improved ponies. The following is quoted from theFieldof 29th May in that year:—

“Instead of deteriorating the stock improves yearly, and the care which is now taken to infuse pure blood without harming the essential characteristics of the original denizen of the moor has succeeded in producing an animal of superlative merit, fitted for any kind of work, whether for the field, the road, or the collar. It must be observed that the word ‘moor’ should apply to Exmoor andthe Bodmin wastes as well as the Forest of Dartmoor, Dartmoor Forest itself being within the precincts of the Duchy of Cornwall. The moor pony or galloway of 14 hands is often in reality a little horse; and when it is stated that Tom Thumb, the well-known hunter of Mr. Trelawny, was a direct descendant of the celebrated Rough Tor pony of Landue, and that Foster by Gainsborough, belonging to the late Mr. Phillips, of Landue, carrying for many years fifteen stone and upwards in the first flight, was from a moor pony near Ivybridge, the assertion is not made without bringing strong collateral proof of the validity of the statement. Moreover, a host of other examples could be added. These animals possess many of the properties of the thorough-bred—speed, activity, any amount of stay, with legs of steel; they can jump as well as the moor sheep, and much after the same fashion, for no hedge fence can stop either one or the other.”

For the information of those interested in this breed the following descriptions furnished to the Polo Pony Society for their Stud Book (vol. v.) by Local Committees may be quoted:

(THE EXMOOR DIVISION.)The Exmoor pony should average 12 hands and never be above 13 hands; moorland bred; generally dark bay or brown with black points, wide forehead and nostril; mealy nose; sharp ears; good shoulders and back; short legs, with good bone and fair action.There are a few grey ponies in Sir Thomas Acland’s herd, but no chestnuts.

(THE EXMOOR DIVISION.)

The Exmoor pony should average 12 hands and never be above 13 hands; moorland bred; generally dark bay or brown with black points, wide forehead and nostril; mealy nose; sharp ears; good shoulders and back; short legs, with good bone and fair action.

There are a few grey ponies in Sir Thomas Acland’s herd, but no chestnuts.

(THE DARTMOOR DIVISION.)

The official description of points is identical with that given for the North Wales pony, with the following amendments and additions:—

Height.Not exceeding 14 hands for stallions, 13·2 for mares.Colour.Brown, black, or bay preferred; grey allowable, other colours objectionable.Head.Should be small, well set on, and blood-like.Neck.Strong but not too heavy, and neither long nor short; and, in case of a stallion, with moderate crest.Back, Loins, and Hind Quarters.Strong and well covered with muscle.

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