Newfoundland Pony – Part of Our American Heritage

by Martha R. Fehl Brookville, IN

Kipling’s Khyber tribesman said, “Four things greater than all things are: Women, Horses, Power and War.” He was speaking of these items primarily as valuable property and status symbols.

For countless ages the horse has been involved in Man’s life on earth; not merely in his practical life, but even more deeply in his imaginative and unconscious life. The horse has offered man attainment of the most distant horizons; provided food, clothing and weapons; inspired countless artists and enriched our myths and legends.

History

John Cabot came exploring in 1497. Men in ships from Bristol and the western English ports found it to be a great place for fish much earlier. By 1534, Cabot’s discoveries were considered to be the wealth of the western water and French, Basque, English and Portuguese adventurers came to its shores. Settlers named it a new-found-land.

Population was at first seasonal and then later in 1637 an attempt was made for colonization. Seal fishing, coal and iron helped sustain their living and with the men came their families and of course their animals.

To look at the Newfoundland pony is to observe through a window of the past. They were not painted ponies similar to those rode by the Indians when the West was wild; or what we think of today for children.

Their beginning was founded in the basic role as a general worker in woods, fields, gardens, beaches and on roads.

For many years the standard definition of a pony was a horse of any small breed not more than popularly ’14 hand high.’ A true pony is characterized by a compact body, neat head with small, sharp-pricked ears, and a definite pony expression, difficult to define, but quite unlike that of a horse.

The fundamental pony is small, tough and has its own physical features. History says it has been around for millions of years with some migrating north-west across the Bering Straits when there was a land connection to Asia. It adapted to Northern conditions before the arrival of people.

Unlike the horse in temperament, being usually more clever, often more mischievous, occasionally more obstinate and always more adept at getting over, through or under the fences that are supposed to contain them. They are comic, lovable, affectionate and normally possess the qualities and size that endears them as part of the family in a short time.

Early man feasted on wild horses. Skeletal remains of about 100,000 horses have been discovered in a Cro-Magnon cave in France.

Original settlers of this corner piece of North America were probably drawn by the fishery trade, but by 1675 some had been shipped from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Nine types of Moorland Pony are considered native to the British Isles and Ireland.

Continental people lived off these ponies in various ways. Horse flesh was the staple diet. The milk of mares nourished the family. Horse bones could be fashioned as tools, utensils and ornaments. Hides were used for clothing, bedding, headgear, footwear, and provided equipment such as thongs, straps, shields and slings and the hair from manes and tails and hooves could be entwined for cord or packed for cushioning. Some were even fashioned into decorative clasps and combs.

Before the advent of hard road surfaces, much of the world’s merchandise was carried by pack trains of ponies. Within living memory sturdy ponies driven loose and twenty to a troop, were walked more than 200 miles a week carrying lead across the fields and valleys of northern England to the Tyneside docks.

The pony carriage or trap, when suitably decorated, often carried the wedding party. A broken island marriage was a rare social malignancy and cohesion was the essence of the family, community and country way.

Sunday was a day of rest for the pony and the family. The first official census was taken in 1836 and the report included a count of 1,551 horses. The livestock population in general, and cattle and horses in particular, had been greatly increased during the mid-1800s.

All ponies are horses, but not all horses were to remain ponies. All their features were in sharp contrast to the characteristics developing in the indigenous horse of the “Arabian south which was possessed of concave face, out-reached neck, long or slender limbs or a tail of high carriage.” About 60 different breeds now exist.

The Moorland Pony

The Moorland Pony has a thicker coat that equips it for more efficient coping with bad weather. Also the eyes of the horse are so that it sees almost entirely to its rear and completely on both sides all at one time. This causes some problems when he is unable to see exactly what he is eating. The horse uses flexibility of the neck to help focus his eyes by raising his head or tilting it to one side or the other.

The retinal which is curved in man and in many higher animals, in the horse it is a flat and sloped surface. Some breeds, notably the Arabian, have prominent eyes which allow them to have better visual scope than the majority of horses.

They have particular strength in their hind quarters because of the way they work. The strongest of draught horses are almost “goose-rumped” in appearance because of this type of conformation.

Muscles of locomotion pass from the chest to the upper part of the leg to aid in leg leverage. The alternating strong contraction and relaxation of these muscles on one side and then on the opposite side is called reciprocal action giving smoothness of motion and a steady action. The very rounded and prominent muscle mass above the elbow joint, performs as a shock absorber when there is impact of the limb on the ground.

The density of winter coat and the direction of hair lie especially over the hindquarters and back, provide an outer periphery to the body which acts as a weather shield, ice may form on top of it without transmitting chill to the skin.

Memory

As the horse matures, it acquires a very good memory. This tends to fix habits, good or bad.

A strong believer in safety first leads to shying, bolting or balking can make a pony more unworkable if the habit grows. Browsing periodically, they eat bark, very small trees, branches and leaves.

The primitive jaw-bone of the modern Moorland Pony closely resembles that of the ancient Celtic Pony and is very distinctly different from the Arabian-blooded horses. It has a typical bump half-way along its lower jaw to accommodate the deeply seated roots of the mid-molar teeth allowing it to cope with its rough diet.

The Newfoundland Pony has the components of numerous different strains in its foggy past. Dartmoor and Exmoor Ponies, New Forest and Galloway, Welsh, Connemara and Sable Island.

The primordial British horse was the ancestral type called the “Celtic Pony.” It drew the war chariots of the indigenous, ancient celts in their battles against the Romans.

The term “Galloway” is now used as a general category of horse which was of large pony size. Within the Moorland family, the inclusion of different members made possible by the natural existence of different types.

Even in the midst of hard work, the pony was no “dumb animal.” Specific and varied horse sounds occurred as forms of the three basic ones.

• The neigh is the loudest noise emitted by the pony.
• Three types of grunts can be distinguished: the most frequent just prior to feeding, the second emitted by stallions at the beginning of a sexual encounter and the third when the mare has cause to worry about her foal.
• The crying or squealing sound can vary in volume and is usually heard during aggressive encounters as in threat, fear and fighting.
• Additional forms of vocalizing include “trumpeting” in stallions, and the throaty gurgling of any horse in an evident state of “psychological” well-being. Happy ponies came close to “purring” to their keepers with low rumbling or gurgling sounds.

Pet ponies enriched family life; many children in early teens took over the family horse as their own possession. They could tend it, ride it, and teach it to do things. Often they renamed the horse with a name less common than Prince or Queen. The company of the horse filled in lonely times and the nature of animal life became better understood. All this was fine apprenticeship for the realities of adult life on the island.

Pony Points

For many years the standard definition of a pony was ‘a horse of any small breed not more than 13 hands high or popularly 14 hands high’.

A true pony is characterized by a compact body, neat head with small, sharppricked ears, and a definite pony expression, difficult to define but quite unlike that of a horse.

There are still strings of small, unbelievably tough ponies plodding safely up and down the narrow Himalayan mountain trails, just as they have for centuries. In many regions of Scandinavia, Germany, parts of Africa and the Far East, there are ponies working as they have always done.

Mechanization and modern methods have transformed the ancient ways of agriculture, yet even in this age there are still numerous smallholders in many countries, ponies and cobs still cart and plow, carry loads working for families.

Cob – This is a sturdy, placid animal of the type known in Medieval times as a roncey or rouncy. Its breeding is largely a matter of chance and it is used for the elderly and obese such as a rider who wants a hard day’s hunting.

It has a calm, intelligent expression, and may be any color.

Hack – The name coming from the word hackney – it has always been a riding horse from the humble hireling of Medieval time, through a period when it was the mount of a gentleman galloping to a meet of foxhounds. It is generally associated with any high-class small Thoroughbred or quality riding horse. Usually found in colors of bay, brown, black, gray or chestnut, its lightweight build in show ring terms is always a lightweight – especially fits it as a woman’s mount.

Show Pony – Those who are near faultless and judged on conformation, manners, action at the walk, trot and canter, and some consideration is also given to the way in which they are turned out, presented, and ridden.

Show Jumper – As long as it can and will jump formidable obstacles in cold blood, a show jumper can be any size, color, breed or height. Successful ones must be bold, brave disciplined and must have tremendous power of thrust. The best of them love an audience, responding visibly to the oohs and aahs of suspense as they clear each jump.

Some win prizes, but often they are a serious hobby. Good show jumpers are distinguished by compactness of build and by the tremendous power of their hindquarters. Most are mongrels who show an aptitude for jumping, though such as Hanoverians, Irish horses and hunters are conspicuous in the top ranks.

Hunter – A hunter is simply a horse which is suited to foxhunting. They must be bold, intelligent and tractable, capable of negotiating all kinds of obstacles which come in its path and sound enough in wind and limb to last for up to 5 hours at a trot and gallop without tiring.

Divided into five general categories according to weight, the classic type of hunter – the famous Irish horse – is a cross between a Thoroughbred and an Irish Draught or Cleveland Bay mare, brought on slowly on good land.

Racehorse – Although we think of the term “racehorse” synonymous with “thoroughbred,” it does not necessarily mean only horses which are raced. Testing horses against each other for speed has been known to exist for more than 5,000 years.

Polo Pony – Polo ponies are not usually bred as such, but are picked out as young adults if they show an aptitude for the game. They need to stand around 15hh or a little over – and must be fast, bold, intelligent and extremely handy. Most are of near or pure Thoroughbred ancestry. Training them takes a good deal of time and patience. Today, most of the world’s polo ponies are bred in Argentina, which has roughly three times as many polo players as any other nation in the world.

Mountain, Moorland, Forest, Fen, Heath and Bog Ponies are essentially those which have been successfully bred on land called ‘marginal’ for agricultural purposes.

“There is no other creature which has so deeply affected Man’s imagination, entered his soul and captured his heart as the horse.” – The Last of the Wild Horses by Martin Harbury 1984, Doubleday & Company, Inc.