From time immemorial ponies have been running on Dartmoor. Though there have been few references through the centuries to the ponies in old writings the earliest is said to have been in about the 11th century. But through the ages the ponies have proved their worth. Once caught and tamed they made useful pack ponies being very strong and thrifty for their size. Their very nature helped them to settle easily and quickly to general work around the farms and further afield, as many a tale of ponies being ridden with very little training testifies. Now they are a valued part of the conservation of the moor as they help to keep the tree invasion at bay and the gorse under control more than any other animal.

The rugged and testing nature of the moor itself has always favoured the smaller pony of not more than 12.2 hands (127cm) since the moor is mainly undulating and open to the weather from all directions, though around some tors the terrain can be steep. Larger ponies are naturally at a disadvantage with the lack of shelter but at the beginning of the 20th century when thoughts turned to registration, those who favoured the bigger pony held sway.

The Polo Pony Society decided in December 1898 to form District Committees (one for each breed) to draw up a schedule of points to define the type wanted to guide inspection judges when passing ponies for registration in the Polo Pony Stud Book. They felt that the British native breeds of pony could have a great deal to offer to the breeding of Polo ponies of that era. In fact they even went so far as to postulate the thought, anathema to the present day breeder, that eventually all the breeds would become one under the title of “The British Pony”.

Those who drew up the standard for Dartmoor’s favoured the bigger pony with maximum heights of 14.0 hands for stallions and 13.2 hands for mares. However, when the ponies were brought forward for inspection in 1899, almost three quarters of the ponies passed were 12.2 hands or less and only 24 measured above 12.2 hands. The height limit was finally set at 12.2 in 1924 after only 25 years of registration.

Colours and markings in those faraway days show that many of the owners and breeders had the same preferences as those seen today with just over a quarter of the 72 mares in that first stud book having white markings. Those were mainly stars including one with a large star and a white spot on the nose, but there were also ones with two white fetlocks and a couple had a white heel or foot. Blazes and stockings were completely absent. Bays, browns and blacks predominated but there were also one tan brown, 2 greys, 3 fawns and 1 dun. Most of the owners and breeders lived around the edge of the moor and would generally have had grazing rights on the moor.

Perhaps the most important early period for the breed today was that between 1913 and 1933. Though occasionally ponies can be traced back to the start of the stud book in 1899, because of the general attitude to registration then and the fact that ponies did not have to be registered (particularly if unshown, unbroken descent to those earliest days is few and far between). However this era produced several outstanding mares who are behind most of the successful ponies today.

Fairy 3rd, was the first of those being foaled in 1913. She was the dam of Punch, the winner of the first two stallion classes at the earliest Dartmoor Pony Shows in 1931 and 1932, and sire of the very successful winner and sire Boxer, the only pony to win the DPS stallion class 7 years in succession (1933 – 1939). Fairy was also dam of the full sisters Yeoland Lady Hamilton and Julia 4th.The latter in particular is behind many good ponies today.

The grey mare Scintilla arrived a year after Fairy. Though not as successful as Fairy, she produced the full sisters the grey Sparklet 2nd (dam of Boxer) and black Water Wag Tail (dam of Peewit 3rd). The following year 1915, saw the arrival of Judy 5th, a good winner and dam of that lovely mare Juliet 4th. Apart from her many wins Juliet will always be remembered as the dam of legendary Jude.

Just after the 1914/18 war came, the brown mare Queenie 7th in 1919, the first of a line of good ponies for the Holman family. Another very good winner of this era was the unregistered bay mare Virtuous Lady, dam of Midget 5th the DPS show Champion who graced the front cover of the DPS Diary for many years. Heatherbelle 6th was not only a Champion many times over, but was one of very few ponies from the Duchy Stud at Princetown to figure in the breeding of registered Dartmoor ponies. She of course was a stalwart of the Sherberton herd for a long time.

The 1939/45 war hit the breed hard, registration hit a low of just 28 and it was a considerable struggle to get the breed back on its feet again. From the 1920s to the 1950s Miss Calmady-Hamlyn was a great ambassador for the breed and her ponies had many outstanding successes to their names. She was ably backed up by several other breeders, notably the various farmers and others who had kept the precious lines of breeding going in all the difficult times of war and its aftermath.

At the end of the fifties there was a resurgence of interest in the breed and three notable studs, Hisley, Senruf and Shilstone Rocks began at this time, while Mrs Robinson took over the last of Miss Calmady-Hamlyn’s Vean ponies. Since then, other studs to have made a considerable contribution to the breed have been Allendale, Cosdon, Crimchard, Hele, Langfield, Moortown, Oatlands, Springwater, White Willows and Whitmore. Now the breed is once again on the way up with membership running steadily at the highest level it has ever been and registrations averaging 200 ponies a year. In 2002, the Dartmoor Pony Society’s Championship Show entries reached an all time high of 317. The overseas interest is greater than ever before and the future for the breed looks bright.