Tell me about your Exmoor ponies!

There are three things I can think of to look at re Exmoor ponies.

One is the Moorland Mousie Trust which is a charity formed to save the Exmoor pony as a rare breed. It is a centre on Exmoor where you can meet them and ride them over Exmoor. They would I am sure be very willing to talk about them. The second thing is the books by Victoria Eveleigh in the Katy series: VE knows a lot about Exmoor ponies; and thirdly the chapter in Vian Smith's Parade of Horses 'The Exmoor' which for me shows them exactly.

I saw one being ridden in a riding school; they had a lot of knowledge about horses generally but no idea about Exmoors and it didn't work at all.

They are obviously enormously rewarding and very intelligent.
 
I've got one. Accidentally bid for him at an Exmoor pony auction after I'd quaffed a bit too much Somerset cider (plus I've got the willpower of a doorknob i.e. none whatsoever).

He's from the Tippbarlake herd 387, he was 6 months old, straight off the moor, newly separated from his Mum, hot branded and absolutely terrified of everything. After I got him home it took nearly a month of practically living in the stable with him to be able to touch him, and another couple of weeks to get a headcollar on him. I was very fortunate to have help and advice from the Moorland Mousie Trust people, plus I'd done some of the Monty Roberts courses which helped. Who helped me with him the most though was my arab gelding. he's usually a raging snob when it comes to ponies, but he must have felt sorry for the little scrap as he took him under his araby wing and taught him that buckets are good and nobody was trying to kill him. He also played with him nicely and guarded him while he slept. It was very touching.

Exmoor pony is 8 now, long gone are the days when I couldn't near him, he's got the sweetest, cheekiest and most trusting nature, full of character. Owning him has been the most amazing learning curve.

I'm echoing a bit what sky1000 says here, I think the rewarding part comes when you keep in mind the Exmoors innate feralness (if that's a word) and the fact that with a moor bred pony who's first contact with humans wasn't too sympathetic.... you have to get through that to reach the pony himself. That first hint of trust from them is glorious!
 
I've had a number of them, backed an even bigger number of them too.
Very rewarding ponies to work with, but be warned - they have a memory like an elephant - they do not forget, so ensure you get things going the right way.
They ride and also drive well, easy to keep, but flight response can occasionally kick in so be very aware when starting the pony and doing things around them to start with (even in the field)
Generally the stud bred ponies are more biddable to start with than the free living ones, but the latter soon catch up once trust is built up.

Good luck - enjoy :)
 
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