The Dartmoor Pony has played a part in history for more than 3,500 years; one of the major roles in their existence has been the transporting of goods. Unfortunately for the Dartmoors, their numbers keep getting lower and lower every year. By the end of World War II, their numbers were reasonably high reaching about 30,000, the last count which took place in 2004 it was completely the other direction with only about 800 left in existence.
Sadly for them, one of these days they could be a thing of the past as their value falls; also, a lot of them have met the fate of being turned into pet food. Many farmers have been getting rid of them as they've become less worth keeping. The problem a lot of the general public finds with the breed these days is that the Dartmoor Ponies are not pure bred, but cross bred with many other different breeds.
Yet, there is still some hope for these ponies. A breeding program enacted in 2003 was designated to give this breed a fighting chance for survival.
The Dartmoor Pony has been an integral part of the history of the Moorlands and it was made the official logo of the Dartmoor National Park when it was built in 1951.
One of the main breeds that have been introduced into the Dartmoor's bloodline has been the Shetland; this has been done to reduce the size of the Dartmoor so that it can be more commonly used in mineral mines. Also as a part of the cross breeding, the Dartmoor was interbred with the Arabian stallion, "Dwarka," in 1922, as well as his son.
The Dartmoor is bred mostly in Britain, Europe, and North America; its most common use is as a children's mount. Because of its natural jump and quick movement, they are ideal for hunting, showing, jumping and as well as driving ponies. These ponies are usually privately bred and owned by farmers and they can usually be identified by branding. Since these ponies are mostly privately owned, it is illegal for them to be fed anything by visitors, but that doesn't stop many people from feeding them from the open window of their car. The main reasons the "Don't Feed Ponies" signs are posted for the safety of the drivers and the ponies. When people ignore these signs it causes traffic jams as ponies tend block the roads and then it causes the occasional death of a pony being struck by a car.
The Dartmoor gets their name from the type of land they tend to inhabit, which is called the Moorlands or just simply moor. Moorlands are lands of great grassy plains, much like the ones that can be found in England, which happens to the native lands of the Dartmoor and other ponies like them. However, today there are rarely ones freely roaming the Moorlands as they are purebreds and therefore of some valuable.
The Dartmoor Pony is the descendant of the Celtic Pony which roamed the Moor long before mankind was ever around.
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