Exmoor-Pony history

Until 1818, most of the open expanse of Exmoor was designated a "Royal Forest". This was not tree covered but "Forest" in this sense meant a hunting ground. A Warden worked for the Crown and managed Exmoor as an upland grazing expanse where farmers from its fringes could graze their stock (ponies, sheep and cattle) upon payment of fees. The Warden alone ran the stallions which it is recorded were of the original native type.

In 1818 the Royal Forest was sold to John Knight, an industrialist who believed he could tame Exmoor and make it a more productive agricultural system. He considered that whatever nature had created he could improve upon, including the ponies.

The outgoing Warden, Sir Thomas Acland, took thirty of the true Exmoor ponies which had run on the forest to his own estate; other local farmers who had worked with him bought up small numbers of ponies at the 1818 dispersal sale and began their own breeding herds. Knight and a few others experimented and produced ponies which could not thrive living out in Exmoor’s harsh winters. Acland and his colleagues became perhaps some of the first "conservationists", breeding the Exmoor ponies true to type.

The last of the crossed herds, which had lived separately from the true Exmoors, died out early this century. The Acland ponies continued and their descendants now form the famous "Anchor" herd which runs on Winsford Hill. In most cases, those farming families which had saved ponies back in 1818 are still involved today in breeding Exmoors.

Having survived the dispersal in 1818 and the fashion for "improvement" which could well have changed them beyond recognition, the Exmoor ponies were nearly exterminated during the Second World War. Exmoor was used for training troops, some of whom practiced on live targets including ponies. Gates were left open and grazing areas were no longer safe for stock. Many ponies were stolen and transported away to cities to feed the hungry people. By the end of the War it is estimated that no more than 50 Exmoor ponies survived.

Mary Etherington, who lived on Exmoor, rallied farmers and landowners to restart pony breeding and build up numbers. She even exhibited two Exmoors at London Zoo to draw attention to their plight. Cattle grids were installed and stock returned to the commons and moors. Steadily the population recovered and started to grow.

Although numbers increased gradually, even by the mid 1970s just around 30 Exmoor foals a year were being registered. However, the early 1980s saw attention once again being focused upon their zoological importance and their rarity. Enthusiasm for breeding Exmoors returned as demand for foals increased. Many new owners at the time bought Exmoors as a commitment to their conservation. However, whilst numbers rose away from Exmoor, the population of ponies living free, roaming the moor subject to the laws of nature remained and remains under 200.

A boost to this free-living population has come in the last decade with the recognition that Exmoor Ponies can be a useful conservation tool themselves. The National Trust, English Nature and several county wildlife trusts have set up small free-living herds on sensitive nature reserves to manage the vegetation. This is proving most successful and benefits the conservation of the Exmoor pony alongside the conservation of whole habitats.