Exmoor Pony Society

General information

The Exmoor Pony Society was established in 1921 by the moorland farmers of Exmoor with the express purpose of conserving and preserving the Exmoor pony to a specific breed standard.

Those farmers decided that the ponies should be inspected and that those that met the breed standard would be registered into the studbook and this process continued under the watchful eye of the moorland farmers up until 1962.

In 1962, the stud book was closed and only ponies whose parents were already registered in the studbook were allowed to entered into the studbook providing that they met the breed standard. The decision makers at that time were led by Fred Milton, President (Herd 23 Withypoole) and included Sid Westcott, Vice-President and members Mrs F Bawden, Mr H Heard, Miss L Lumb, Miss Saunders, Mrs C Westcott and Mr H Williams – the vast majority of whom were breeding Exmoor ponies on the moor.

Subsequent committees held true to the decisions made by their predecessors preserving the breed standard and the integrity of the studbook by allowing only those ponies whose sire and dam were known to be in the studbook to they themselves enter the studbook.

Changes to the rules did occur and some moorland farmers may say that the inspectors became a little lenient in the ponies that were deemed to meet the breed standard – history will be the judge of that – but photographic evidence over the past century still shows the particularly characteristics of the different herds coming through and the ponies on the moor look much the same as they did a 100 years ago.

Most of the changes were made to accommodate changes in the legislation and in 2006, the studbook was divided into Section 1 (ponies that met the breed standard) and Section X (ponies that did not meet the breed standard) to comply with EU legislation.

In addition to the two main sections of the studbook, the Exmoor Pony Society also holds a First Cross register and a register of ponies of Exmoor type. The Exmoor Pony Society studbook covers ponies born on Exmoor, throughout the UK, Europe and in North America and, in addition, the Society holds historic records of ponies exported abroad and their progeny.

Daughter societies were established in Sweden and Germany as well as the existence of a German supplement and the North American Register.

Whilst the genetic pool of the registered Exmoor pony is small, the Society is confident that the vast majority of Exmoor genetic material was included in the studbook when it closed in 1962 and that is fulfilling its duties as Guardians of the Breed and preserving the heritage of Exmoor ponies worldwide through the various registers that it holds.

Only four of the moorland herds in existence in 1962 continue to run on the moor. All herds established after this date were done so using founding stock that were already registered in the Exmoor Pony Society studbook. The registered ponies running on Exmoor can all be traced back to five founding sire lines – a similar number that is in existence for the thoroughbred - and on the dam side there are considerable more lines. This also applies to the vast majority of ponies that were exported abroad by the Society’s breeders during the last century to ensure that the conservation and preservation of the Exmoor pony.

It is highly likely that any new register developed today will only encompass the known genetic pool with the addition of non-Exmoor genetic material through cross-breeding. There may be those of the opinion that it is only the introduction of non-Exmoor genes that will preserve the Exmoor pony breed as it is known today.

The Exmoor Pony Society believes that the work of its breeders both members and non-members on Exmoor, throughout the UK and abroad together with the work of our award winning geneticists, to maintain the genetic pool, as available when the studbook closed in 1962, has and will continue to achieve the Society’s charitable aims and conserve and preserve one of Britain’s rare native breeds.

The Exmoor Pony Society is the recognized Breed Society in accordance with European Union legislation and a DEFRA approved Passport Issuing Office. It has for many years worked closely with the Rare Breed Survival Trust and DEFRA supplying information to FAnGR committee as well as the Exmoor National Park Authority, the National Pony Society, other native breed societies and many equestrian and welfare organisations.

If you believe that you have an Exmoor pony that does not currently hold one of the four types of Exmoor Pony Society passports:
Section 1 (cream) * Section X (blue) * First Cross (green) * Exmoor Type (pink) then please contact the Society. The Society currently hold the records of nearly 9000 ponies worldwide.

secretary@exmoorponysociety.org.uk