Moorland Ponies. 



39 



The Dartmoor Division. 



Height : Not exceeding 14 hands for stallions, 13 hands 

 2 inches for mates. Colour : Brown, black, or bay preferred; 

 grey allowed ; other colours objectionable. Head : Should be 

 small, ivell set on, and. blood-li/ce. 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 ivell covered ivith muscle. 



At the present day most of the ponies are bred on the 

 Dartmoor hills, at an elevation of 1,200 ft. to 2,000 ft. above 

 sea-level. The moor is very extensive, there being 50,000 acres 



in the parish of Lydford alone, and other moorland parishes 

 have a combined area nearly as extensive. The feed on these 

 hills is of the scantiest, heather and wiry grass being almost 

 the only vegetation, and the climate is so rigorous that only 

 the hardiest animals can survive it. Many of the ponies take 

 their chance upon the moor all the year round, but tht re is no 

 hard and fast rule about this. Some breeders muster their 

 mares at the end of May, and run them on poor, enclosed laud 

 with a stallion. They consider that in this way the mares 

 have a better chance of breeding, and of course the foals will 



