Breed of the Month - the pretty Dartmoor was once in the mines but is now a showing star

This month The Equine Times features the Dartmoor pony from Devon. Our article is illustrated with photographs of Duradens Braveheart, a rising 5-year-old pure bred owned by Lorna Keay.

Known as ‘Barney’, Lorna bought him in October last year and has shown him locally, where he was placed at one event and then won his Mountain and Moorland class at another before taking the overall pony in-hand championship.

By Shilstone Rocks North Westerly, the bay gelding is out of Hackamore Button Brown and plans for 2026 are more in-hand shows before he becomes a ridden pony.

As we want readers to interact with this series, we plan where possible to use pictures of horses or ponies owned by our subscribers to represent each breed.

Look out on our Facebook page for the next UK native pony breed to be featured or contact the editor at The Equine Times at editor@equinetimes.co.uk

Lorna Keay's Dartmoor Duradens Braveheart, known at home as 'Barney'.

The Dartmoor Pony:

Origin: Dartmoor, Devon.

Colours: Mostly bay, but also brown, black, grey, chestnut and roan.

Height: 11.1hh to 12hh.

Characteristics: The pretty Dartmoor has a small, neat head with large wide-set eyes, it has a strong, compact body with a deep rib cage. Its legs tend to be long from the body to the knee or hock and it has short cannon bones, good freedom of movement and a well-rounded hindquarters.

The mane and tail are full and flowing and its movement is smooth. The Dartmoor has a kind temperament and is generally reliable, gentle and calm. The breed standard says its height should be no more than 13hh, but most are smaller than this.

Piebald and skewbald colouring and spotted colouring is not permitted and ponies running on Dartmoor with this colouring are classed as Dartmoor Hill Ponies, as commoners living in the area are permitted to graze any type of pony on the moors.

The Dartmoor Hill Pony is classified as any pony born on Dartmoor that is not a pure bred registered Dartmoor pony.

Not a true breed as such, the Dartmoor Hill Pony registry is open only to those born on the moors – a pony born from two Dartmoor Hill ponies which is not born on the moor cannot be registered with the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association.

Barney's sire Shilstone Rocks North Westerly.

HISTORY

There have been domesticated ponies on Dartmoor as early as 1500 BC, as shown by an archaeological investigation in the 1970s.

The first written record, dated AD 1012, mentions wild horses at Ashburton and early records from Dartmoor manors refer to ponies being branded and earmarked.

In medieval times, the Dartmoor pony was used to carry heavy loads of tin ore across the moor, and once the mines were closed they were kept for farming purposes and turned out on the moor.

At Dartmoor Prison from the 1900s to the 1960s, ponies were bred there and used by the prison guards to escort prisoners.

The breed was influenced by Arab blood from the stallion Dwarka from the 1920s and by Dwarka’s son, The Leat, alongside Welsh blood from Dinarth Spark and some influence later from Fell ponies.

A first attempt to register the ponies was made in 1898 when the ponies were entered into a studbook started by the Polo Pony Society, then in 1924 the Dartmoor Pony Breed Society was founded and a studbook was opened.

Sadly, World Wars I and II were devastating for the breed and only a few ponies were registered during World War II, although after the war local people once again started to register their ponies and by the 1950s numbers were back to a good level.

Since then, a scheme was introduced to help with numbers and widen the gene pool of the Dartmoor pony – the Dartmoor Pony Moorland Scheme (DPMS) was set up in 1988 and is run by the Dartmoor Pony Society and the Duchy of Cornwall with support from Dartmoor National Park.

In 2004, a new scheme was launched – the Dartmoor Pony Preservation Scheme – and herds taking part in this must register one mare each year to the DPMS.

Today the Dartmoor pony has rare breed status with the Rare Breed Survival Trust and although native to the UK, it is bred and produced in many other parts of the world including the US, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

Often used as a foundation pony for the breeding of the Riding Pony, they are a good mount for children, although they can also carry a small adult.

Dartmoors have excelled in showing and native working hunter classes in recent years – Sarah Parker and Sarah Weston’s winner of the Horse of the Year show open Dartmoor pony of the year Westown Wildfire won this accolade twice then returned to HOYS as a M&M working hunter to take the 122cm title in 2024.

Their previous Dartmoor Pumphill Buckthorn also won the M&M working hunter championship.

They are, however, also popular as an all-round riding pony suitable for hacking, hunting, jumping, dressage and carriage driving.

All the ponies that are free-ranging on the moor are owned and protected by Dartmoor Commoners and a byelaw forbids people from feeding the ponies.

For more information on Dartmoor ponies, contact the Dartmoor Pony Society at: https://www.dartmoorponysociety.com or email webmaster@dartmoorponysociety.com or phone 0191 429 0400.