Moorland Ponies. 45 



make excellent boys' hunters, having plenty of courage and 

 being able to go all day ; indeed, it is no uncommon sight 

 during a run with hounds to see a man going with the best 

 on an Exmoor pony which has probablj' never had a feed of 

 corn in its life. Some ponies also make excellent trappers, 

 being very staunch and good movers. 



Although bred only locally, Exmoor ponies enjoy much 

 more than local importance, as they are largely used all over the 

 south-west of England, and a considerable number find their 

 way every year to the Midland counties, too often it is feared 

 for a life underground. Each year a few ponies are bought 

 privately to go to America, and in 1911 one of Sir Thomas 

 Acland's ponies was sold to go to Australia. 



In proof that the Exmoor pony in common with all the 

 other moorland bred ponies is valuable as a foundation stock, it 

 would be well here to mention that many of our present-day 

 racehorses have pony blood. Tagalie, winner of the Derby in 

 1912, has pony blood in her pedigree. The case applicable to 

 Exmoor is that of Zoedone, a winner of the Grand National, 

 and St. Galmier, another well-known cross country performer 

 who ran twenty-six times, won eighteen, was second four, and 

 unplaced four times. The sire of both these was Neiv Ostvestry, 

 and his thirteenth dam on the dam's side was an Exmoor pony. 

 It is possible that it would pay some of the Exmoor farmers 

 to keep a few pony mares and mate them with a developed 

 pony sire or stallion bred on polo pony lines. Of course it 

 must be realised that in the majority of cases the improved 

 stock would not thrive on the open moor, but then the best 

 and most shapely of them would be more easily sold, and 

 would pay for the extra care bestowed on them in winter, 

 but improved mares are always too delicate to winter on the 

 moor and rear foals afterwards. 



The two largest breeders are Earl Fortescue and Sir Thomas 

 Acland. Earl Fortescue some years ago mated an Arab with 

 some picked pony mares, and this cross produced beautiful 

 ponies, but they were not hardy enough for Exmoor. They 

 made good prices, suckers sometimes realising 71. He used to 

 ride a pony so bred as a tufting pony with the staghounds, 

 and though only 13.2 and carrying eleven stone this pony could 

 gallop away from most good horses. Earl Fortescue has a 

 three- year-old pony which promises to be nearly 15 hands 

 high. She is by Blackmoor out of PPSB 1079, who was by 

 an Arab out of an Exmoor. 



The present Sir Thomas Acland fully upholds the traditions 

 of his family in his pride in his ponies. His brood mares on 

 Winsford Hill usually number forty. Each November the 

 suckers go to Killerton, near Exetei-, where they stay until two 



