The History of the Exmoor Pony continued...

Val Sherwin

The War Years   Due to absent owners, moorland gates left open and trigger happy troops (who were inclined to use the moorland animals for target practice) the pony herds had a very rough time during war years. Food rationing incited butchers to look to the ponies once again as a source of food, and the majority of the ponies on Winsford Hill were lost in one incident. Frank Green, the owner of the Acland Herd, tried in vain to trace them but barely a dozen ponies survived the tragedy. As if all this were not enough, the war years were followed by one of the most severe winters ever recorded in 1947.		The Exmoor can be an ideal child's pony.
It was only thanks to a dedicated few that some ponies survived the war, yet ironically they did their bit for the war effort, helping to form the home guard unit. Issued with cavalry equipment the Exmoor Mounties were a common sight in an inhospitable terrain. Post War Crisis   Thanks largely to the post war efforts of Mary Etherington, a keen supporter of the breed, cattle grids gradually replaced the gates and the boundaries to the commons were secured. The number of ponies dropped alarmingly. In 1946 only about 50 remained and only 6 pure-bred filly foals were registered for the whole of Exmoor.
Exmoor Ponies are used for conservation grazing.		Thanks largely to the efforts of Mary and a few other dedicated breeders the numbers gradually grew and have continued to increase steadily. While they are still not considered a fashionable pony, their qualities as a hardy, intelligent sure footed equine are being increasingly recognised. Figures now stand at approximately 1200. However this figure should be put into context. Of this 1200 a mere 463 ponies are in breeding situations (classified as a mare or stallion having bred within the last 3 years) and of that number 80+ are stallions.
Put into context, this still makes the Exmoor Pony rarer than the Giant Panda, a little known fact. Strangely enough and whilst they are recognised by the Rare Breed Survival Trust, world-wide there are organisations who do not even know of their existence