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Exmoor Prehistoric – united kingdom – Endangered

height color toward the end of the Pleistocene era (c. 12,000 years ago) Up to 12.3 h.h. Always , brown, or dun with when sea levels rose after the end of the last Ice Age. appearance black points, often a dorsal stripe, During this long period of virtual isolation, the ’s Large head with small, intelligent and mealy colored hair around ears and large, hooded eyes. the nose, eyes, under the belly, characteristics and adaptability to its terrain and climate Good, balanced conformation, and on the inside of the flanks. became fixed. Even when began to be imported aptitude which allows for particularly good from mainland Europe, they did not have a lasting effect and smooth paces. Distinctive Riding, light draft, jumping, that often exhibits a bushy top. dressage, competitive horse sports on the diminutive Exmoor, and attempts to “improve” the Exmoor by the introduction of foreign blood have only in the southwest corner of england bordering thirty weakened the breed’s innate hardiness. miles of breathtaking coastline and stretching inland to The Exmoor is unique among and horse breeds in incorporate forest, hills, moorland, and valleys is Exmoor the configuration of its jawbone, which exhibits the partial National Park, home to Britain’s oldest indigenous pony, development of a seventh molar, also seen in the North the Exmoor. This vast park, once a Royal Forest and American fossils. The exhibit further “primitive” hunting ground, is still largely undeveloped and provides characteristics that reflect the antiquity of their roots, most great areas of relative wilderness and isolation, both factors specifically in the structure and coloring of their coats, in of immense significance in the development of the Exmoor their “ice” tails, which have short, thick, bristly hair at the pony, and in its continuance. Despite this, the numbers of top and longer hairs at the bottom, and in the heavy ridge of these extraordinary little ponies suffered greatly through bone over their eye socket, which lends them a hooded look. the twentieth century, and the breed has been listed as It is the structure of their coats, however, that is so unusual endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the and such a product of their original environment. The hair United Kingdom since 1974. grows in two layers, with a short undercoat of woolly-type Like the and the Asiatic , the Exmoor hair covered by a coat of longer, greasy hairs that are is considered to be one of the earliest pony types to have extremely water repellent. It is not unusual for them to have emerged, making it one of the very few breeds that still exist a number of whorls of hair at sensitive areas on the body to virtually unchanged to the present day, and consequently of help direct water away. Such is the insulating level of these enormous scientific interest. Study of Exmoor skeletons and unique coats that snow can remain frozen on the surface of fossil remains indicates that the ponies originated in North the coat while the pony remains warm and dry underneath. America and were widespread between the latitudes of 45 In order to preserve and honor this ancient breed, the and 50° north approximately one million years ago. It is Exmoor Pony Society was formed in 1921 at the Lion Inn, conjectured that the Exmoor’s ancestor may have evolved Dulverton, and continues today to encourage and promote most significantly in Alaska, possibly trapped there for the pony and its breeding. The breed flourished in the many years by ice barriers, and that this extremely hostile early twentieth century and between the two world wars, climate contributed toward the development of its unique but suffered enormous losses during World War II, partly insulating coat, as well as its ability to withstand extreme due to trigger-happy troops, the loss of their owners, and cold and survive on minimal rations. At some point, while the lure of their meat for food. In 1963, the first studbook land bridges between continents still existed, the ponies was established, and a concerted effort has been made to migrated to the British Isles, which then became cut off reestablish this most important breed.

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