Dartmoor hill ponies - experiences?

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gingerthing

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has anyone ever bought a dartmoor pony off the moors? (ie from sales), friend has bought a couple of unhandled dartmoor yearlings, eventually with a view to backing as potential childrens ponies.

After your experiences :)
 
iv got one.run off the moor as a 5 month old.sold to a family who i got him from aged nearly 3.hes a poppet.lovely little pony.obviously got shetland in him but not like any shetland iv met as i dont like shetlands..hes sweet natured.good with fencing.not bitey or pushy.bombproof and is to be my driving pony..hes just turned 4 years and is 10.3hh.looks like a shetland x dartmoor...
does pony rides for my neice and is a fab pony.if i had more land/time id deff take on a few more to bring on...
 
We have one, he is no kids pony though. However I don't think he's very typical of the type, he's as broad as a table top but moves like a show pony, very pretty grey. He's put me on the floor...
 
Haven't bought one myself, but have been on Sarah Westons 'handling the untouched foal course', where we worked with untouched Dartmoor Younsters who had just been brought down off the moor. It was a wonderful learning experience and to gain the trust of traumatised Ponies was so rewarding.

Can thoroughly recommend Sarahs book, 'No Fear, No Force'

http://www.logicalhorsemanship.co.uk/publications.html
 
My mum had one dumped on her a few years ago (he's in my avatar) most kind natured pony ever once he was used to people. She sold him on to a lady that has a load of sheep and he spends his day being ridden from field to field to check on them now and absolutely loves it. He also jumps about 3 foot like it's nothing too. Mum was considering getting another one at one stage, I hope she didn't see the earlier post from HOPE though!:eek:

Also he is a brill kids pony.
 
Wow! several replies so far, when you first got them, what was their general condition like? Did they require any hard feed/balancers? Or did they do ok on just the grazing/hay? The younger one to me looks a little poor condition - wise, (although whether this is due to her being a gangly yearling). The 2 year old looks a little better :)
 
when they come off the moor they can be in various states. Some will be very well covered and have done very well, some not so.
One of mine was in pretty thin condition when he came at 5mo.
I think balancer is way too much for them and probably little more than hay and grass is required.
Mine got hay and brought in at night and kept like my other horses. He also got fed twice daily as they did. Just small quatities. It has made him grow very well. Probably too well. He has to have that lifestyle but if I had a choice I would have just turned him out with other ponies and given them a bit of hay and let him get on with it.
The most important thing was worming. I had never ever seen so many worms. I just couldn't believe there was sufficient room in the gut of a 5mo foal to accomodate them all. Once we got PG through him he grew almost daily.
 
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