The Majesty of the Horse: An Illustrated History

HEIGHT

Up to 12.3 h.h.

APPEARANCE

Large head with small, intelligent ears and large, hooded eyes. Good, balanced conformation, which allows for particularly good and smooth paces. Distinctive tail that often exhibits a bushy top.

COLOR

Always bay, brown, or dun with black points, often a dorsal stripe, and mealy colored hair around the nose, eyes, under the belly, and on the inside of the flanks.

APTITUDE

Riding, light draft, jumping, dressage, competitive horse sports

IN THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF ENGLAND bordering thirty miles of breathtaking coastline and stretching inland to incorporate forest, hills, moorland, and valleys is Exmoor National Park, home to Britain’s oldest indigenous pony, the Exmoor. This vast park, once a Royal Forest and hunting ground, is still largely undeveloped and provides great areas of relative wilderness and isolation, both factors of immense significance in the development of the Exmoor pony, and in its continuance. Despite this, the numbers of these extraordinary little ponies suffered greatly through the twentieth century, and the breed has been listed as endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the United Kingdom since 1974.

Like the Tarpan and the Asiatic Wild Horse, the Exmoor is considered to be one of the earliest pony types to have emerged, making it one of the very few breeds that still exist virtually unchanged to the present day, and consequently of enormous scientific interest. Study of Exmoor skeletons and fossil remains indicates that the ponies originated in North America and were widespread between the latitudes of 45 and 50° north approximately one million years ago. It is conjectured that the Exmoor’s ancestor may have evolved most significantly in Alaska, possibly trapped there for many years by ice barriers, and that this extremely hostile climate contributed toward the development of its unique insulating coat, as well as its ability to withstand extreme cold and survive on minimal rations. At some point, while land bridges between continents still existed, the ponies migrated to the British Isles, which then became cut off toward the end of the Pleistocene era (c. 12,000 years ago) when sea levels rose after the end of the last ice age. During this long period of virtual isolation, the Exmoor’s characteristics and adaptability to its terrain and climate became fixed. Even when horses began to be imported from mainland Europe, they did not have a lasting effect on the diminutive Exmoor, and attempts to “improve” the Exmoor by the introduction of foreign blood have only weakened the breed’s innate hardiness.

The Exmoor is unique among pony and horse breeds in the configuration of its jawbone, which exhibits the partial development of a seventh molar, also seen in the North American fossils. The ponies exhibit further “primitive” characteristics that reflect the antiquity of their roots, most specifically in the structure and coloring of their coats, in their “ice” tails, which have short, thick, bristly hair at the top and longer hairs at the bottom, and in the heavy ridge of bone over their eye socket, which lends them a hooded look. It is the structure of their coats, however, that is so unusual and such a product of their original environment. The hair grows in two layers, with a short undercoat of woolly-type hair covered by a coat of longer, greasy hairs that are extremely water repellent. It is not unusual for them to have a number of whorls of hair at sensitive areas on the body to help direct water away. Such is the insulating level of these unique coats that snow can remain frozen on the surface of the coat while the pony remains warm and dry underneath.

In order to preserve and honor this ancient breed, the Exmoor Pony Society was formed in 1921 at the Lion Inn, Dulverton, and continues today to encourage and promote the pony and its breeding. The breed flourished in the early twentieth century and between the two world wars, but suffered enormous losses during World War II, partly due to trigger-happy troops, the loss of their owners, and the lure of their meat for food. In 1963, the first studbook was established, and a concerted effort has been made to reestablish this most important breed.

ICELANDIC HORSE

ANCIENT – ICELAND – COMMON

HEIGHT

13.3–14 h.h. (average)

APPEARANCE

Large head with an intelligent aspect and a muscular neck. Rectangular body shape with short but exceptionally strong, sound limbs. Shoulders are long and sloping and the hocks of the hind leg set relatively low to the ground.

COLOR

Wide range of colors, including bay, chestnut, gray, palomino, skewbald, and piebald.

APTITUDE

Riding, showing, competitive horse sports

ACCORDING TO THE MEDIEVAL Icelandic manuscript Landnámabók (the Book of Settlement), the first person to settle the rocky, volcanic island of Iceland was Norwegian chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson, who landed around 874 C.E. at a place on the southwestern peninsula now known as Reykjavík, the country’s capital. Ingólfur was followed by other Norse chieftains of Scottish, Norwegian, and Irish descent who sailed to the island in their small, open boats, carrying with them their families and the best of their livestock. Thus arrived the first horses on the inhospitable land of smoking volcanoes and steaming geysers, and since that time these horses have remained almost completely genetically unaltered, making the Icelandic horse one of the purest and most unique of breeds.

The original equines to arrive were, like their owners, of Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian origin. They were then shaped by their extreme environment and lifestyle to develop the characteristics of the modern-day Icelandic. There is no documented evidence of when the import of foreign horses to Iceland stopped; however, ancient accounts do indicate that the island was fully settled (all territory claimed) within about sixty years. This would suggest that immigration had greatly slowed, if not stopped, by the tenth century, which would mean the import of horses brought with settlers had also stopped. In the late thirteenth century, Iceland came under the rule of Norwegian kings, and following this were centuries of little foreign contact and almost total isolation on the island. The Icelandic horse is the only horse breed to live on Iceland and is virtually disease free. Because of the lack of exposure to disease, these horses have no resistance to common equine infections, and when infections do arrive on the island, they have the potential to decimate the Icelandic horse population rapidly. In 1882, a law was introduced to ban the importation of horses to the island to prevent the spread of disease and dilution of the breed; today, if any Icelandic horse leaves the island, it is never allowed to return. In 1993, a new law was added to further prevent the importation of used horse equipment to try to prevent the introduction of diseases. Despite this, in 1998 there was an outbreak of a viral infection that caused horse fever, and in 2010 a bacterial infection caused contagious coughing and brought Iceland’s equestrian industry to a halt for more than three months.

It is only comparatively recently that roadways have come to crisscross the unforgiving volcanic terrain, and until this point the islanders relied solely on their horses for transportation. The Icelandic horse is second to none in terms of its toughness and is able to cover ground that would render most other horse breeds useless at high speed. They are enormously strong and energetic for their size; indeed, if judged on size, they would technically be referred to as ponies, but in no sense of the word are they such. These are small horses, capable of carrying grown men all day, at speed, and across the most difficult terrain. In the past, they were widely used in agriculture in a draft capacity as well as being ridden, though most horses today are kept for leisure purposes. Most towns have large stable complexes where the horses are housed during the winter, but in the summer they are kept on large meadows. Pleasure riding across the stunning landscape is a popular pastime, made even more enjoyable by the Icelandic horse’s tremendous gaits. Sporting events and racing are also popular, with the biennial National Horse Show—where the very best Icelandic horses are showcased and judged—the highlight of breeders’ and sport riders’ calendars.

The horse is held in huge esteem by the Icelandic people, and the small, plucky horses are an understandable source of great national pride. Throughout history, the living conditions of the islanders did not greatly surpass those of their horses, and in great part the people relied on the honesty and bravery of their horses to transport them in adverse conditions. Horses also formed an important part of the local traditions and rituals. During early Icelandic history the horse was worshipped as a deity and considered a symbol of fertility. In many myths and legends horses play an important role, with a consistent theme being that of two powerful stallions battling it out in a ring, often joined by their masters, who offer support and encouragement. These legends were based on fact, and horse fighting formed part of popular entertainment during the early years of settlement. The Icelandic horse was considered the best fighting horse around, and in light of this many of them were gifted by Icelandic chiefs to foreign kings and bishops. The gods, too, were believed to own powerful horses, one of the more well known being the eight-legged Sleipnir, the fastest horse in the world, who belonged to the god Odin.

It was not uncommon for favorite horses to be buried with their dead leaders, and during life horses that belonged to Icelandic chieftains were reputed to be fed a rich diet including grain and milk, which is extraordinary given the frugal lifestyle that the Icelandic people led. White horses have held a special place in the traditions of Iceland, believed to be magical and divine; white horses were often sacrificed during early Norse festivals.

Color is important to the Icelandic horse breeders, and some modern breeding facilities concentrate on producing specific colorings, along with the required Icelandic gaits. That said, breeding for color is never done at the expense of conformational or gait quality. The breed can exhibit more than a hundred color variations, including a beautiful dark chestnut with a pale flaxen mane and tail produced from the Kirkjubaer Stud in the south of the island. It is, however, the performance of the horses and in particular their gaits that are most important in Icelandic breeding programs. The Icelandic horse is naturally gaited, which is a throwback to other ancient breeds, such as the Spanish Jennet and the Asturcian, which probably had Celtic foundations similar to the Icelandic. Gaited horses were highly prized because their smooth, fast gaits allowed travel over great distance in some comfort, a trait still much sought after in Iceland. The horses exhibit five gaits: the walk, a smart trot, the fast gallop, the pace, and the rack, referred to as a tölt in Icelandic. The tölt is the most impressive of these and is a four-beat movement equivalent to a running walk but conducted at great speed.

Icelandic horses develop slowly and are normally not started under saddle until they are four years old. Their working life is, however, extremely long, and it is not uncommon for them to be working well into their twenties. They reach sexual maturity at around two years old and have a high fertility rate, although mares are not bred until they are at least three years or older. The horses have adapted to be perfectly suited to their environment. They are able to withstand extreme cold and moisture; now Icelandic horses are often provided with shelter and supplemental feed in the winter, but this was certainly not the case during their history. Because of the relatively sparse vegetation in the winter, they have evolved to gain weight rapidly during the summer months, when grass is more abundant, which then helps them to survive the winter. They are compact horses and tremendously energetic, able to accelerate quickly to a high speed and maintain it for some time. The horses are agile, tough, athletic, and highly intelligent. Such is the popularity of the Icelandic horse that it is bred widely across the world, particularly in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the United States. Most Icelandic horses are registered in a central databank called the World-Fengur, and breeding and competition rules are the same in all countries where the Icelandic is kept.

There are approximately 190,000 Icelandic horses in the world today, all of which are the descendants of just 6,000 horses that survived the Móðuharðindin (Mist Hardships) that occurred from 1783 to 1785. This was a natural disaster that happened on the island after the volcanic eruption of Mount Laki and resulted in the death of one-fifth of the human population and three-quarters of the horse population. The horse population was reestablished relatively quickly (within a century), and in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries more than 100,000 Icelandic horses were exported, primarily to the British Isles for use in the coal mines and for trotting races, and also to Denmark.

CONNEMARA

ANCIENT – IRELAND – COMMON

HEIGHT

Up to 14.2 h.h.

APPEARANCE

Very attractive, well-defined head with small ears and a large, kind eye. Neck is long, well set to the body, and a good shape, with a flowing mane and tail. Clean, sound limbs, a deep, wide chest, and a muscular, slightly sloping croup.

COLOR

Typically gray, dun, black, bay, or brown with very occasional instances of roan or chestnut.

APTITUDE

Riding, light draft, showing, jumping, competitive horse sports

TYPICAL OF NATIVE PONY BREEDS, Ireland’s Connemara is a true product of its environment, having developed and evolved through the centuries to be perfectly adapted to its tough habitat. Despite Ireland’s international reputation for being a producer of top horses, the Connemara is the only indigenous horse or pony breed to have originated there. The breed takes its name from the area of Connemara, which stretches along the western coastline of southern Ireland across the western part of County Galway and County Mayo. It is a place of striking rugged landscape, where ancient, mysterious Irish bog land meets rocky, barren mountain peaks bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, south, and north, and the Invermore River and Loch Oorid to the east. The coastline is stark and beautiful and without shelter, and inland the landscape is peppered with crumbling stone walls and rocky outcrops. It is here, where the wind blows and the rain strikes down, that the Connemara evolved—a pony of great endurance and hardiness.

The precise beginnings of the breed have been blurred through history, but fossil findings of domestic horse bones suggest that ponies with some similarities to the Icelandic and Shetland have existed in this area since around 2,000 B.C.E. In the fifth and sixth centuries B.C.E., marauding Celtic tribes arrived from the Alps, bringing horses of eastern influence with them. The Celts were renowned for their horsemanship, and horses were central to their daily lives, particularly for transportation and warmongering. They were also great traders and set up active trade links with Celtic tribes across Europe, particularly of Spanish and Gaulish origin, which would have seen further exchange of horses of Spanish and eastern influence. By the sixteenth century, the superlative Iberian horse, along with horses of Moroccan origin and from Arabia, and the North African Barb, would have been introduced to native stock in Connemara and contributed to the great quality and beauty that is still very much in evidence in the pony.

By the end of the nineteenth century, however, the quality and conformational integrity of the Connemara had started to deteriorate, possibly as a result of widespread poverty among the farming community at that time, and through unsupervised crossbreeding. Official attempts to improve the Connemara by introducing foreign blood, mostly in the form of Welsh stallions, initially met with little success, though eventually a more organized breeding regimen that considered the quality of the native mares as well as the import of new stallions was implemented. Three foundation stallions stand out for their quality and for perpetuating the basic, prized characteristics of the breed: Rebel, foaled in 1922; Golden Gleam, foaled in 1923; and the most charismatic and influential of the three, Cannon Ball, foaled in 1904. Cannon Ball was so highly regarded by the local population that on his death it is said there was a traditional Irish wake that lasted through the night. Later infusions of Arabian, Welsh, Irish Draft, and Thoroughbred were also introduced, and today the Connemara counts as one of the highest quality and most attractive of the native pony breeds.

These ponies are exceptional small athletes and excel at dressage and jumping as well as all ridden and driven activities. They are often used by small adults as well as children and have an alert though trainable temperament. Of particular note is the smoothness of the Connemara’s gait, which is long, low, and level, and could reflect an earlier influence of the now extinct Irish Hobby, a gaited horse that was very popular throughout Ireland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

WELSH PONY

ANCIENT – WALES – COMMON

HEIGHT

Up to 12 h.h. in the U.K., 12.2 h.h. in the U.S. (Section A)

APPEARANCE

A beautiful, small head with large eyes and small ears. Neck is well formed and arched. Short back, sloping croup, and high-set tail. Legs are short, clean, and very sound and the hooves incredibly tough.