38 



MOORLAND PONIES. 



I.— DARTMOOR PONIES. 



Although the Dartmoor Pouy of to-day cannot boast a very 

 lengthy pedigree, it is certain that there has been a pony stock 

 on Dartmoor for many centuries, from which the inhabitants 

 of the district were supplied with the means of transport for 

 their farm produce, merchandise, &c. The more modern 

 history of the breed seems to begin about a hundred years ago, 

 and there is evidence that the old Devon Pack-horse con- 

 tributed largely to its foundation. Old inhabitants recall a 

 Mr. Watkins, who had ponies in the Brentor district which 

 were nothing other than dwarfed pack-horses, standing about 

 13.2. Another early breeder was Mr. Watts, of South Tawton, 

 near Okehampton, who bred a very similar type of pony. Mr. 

 Watts afterwards moved to Meldon, a farm having extensive 

 enclosures and also common rights on Dartmoor, where he 

 continued to run his ponies. They were, however, hardly 

 adapted for the task of getting their living on the poor herbage 

 of the bleak moor, and Mr. Watts sought to improve them in 

 this respect by introducing an Exmoor cross. He purchased 

 two Exmoor ponies — one a l)lack stallion, Punch, and the 

 other a grey mare, Judy, from a gipsy named Orchard ; and 

 by using the small sire on his larger mares he at once produced 

 a pony much more adapted to the cold climate and the poor 

 feed than bis original stock had been. Mr. Watts Speedily 

 established a reputation for his hardy, well-bred ponies, and 

 his stock was in great demand amongst his neighbours, whilst 

 at the same time pony-breeding on Dartmoor received a con- 

 siderable stimulvis from his success. The use of Exmoor sires 

 to improve the local pony stock spread to other parts of the 

 Moor. On the death of Mr. Watts, about forty years ago, at 

 a time when horses of all kinds were very dear, owing to the 

 Franco-German war, the whole of his stud was offered for sale 

 by auction, and such was the competition to secure the blood 

 that prices ran up to twenty pounds and more, and the average 

 for seventy head, including suckers and yearlings, was fifteen 

 pounds. Since then the history of the breed has been one of 

 steady progress, and there has been a united effort on the part 

 of breeders to get their studs true to type. The following is 

 the description of the Dartmoor pony in Volume V. of the 

 Polo Pony Society's Stud Book : — 



