RARE BREEDS TRUST OF AUSTRALIA
powered by TidyHQHorses: Dartmoor
Horses: Dartmoor
Country of Origin 
Dartmoor, Devon and Cornwall, England.
Australian Status
International Status
In its home country, the UK, the Dartmoor is listed as Endangered (300 - 500) and as Threatened by EST globally.
Breed traits
- Height 12.2hh and below.
- Colours : Black, bay, chestnut, grey, roan. No broken colours. White markings kept to a minimum.
- Small alert ears as in keeping with a true pony.
- Good shoulders, well-sprung ribs.
- Large kind eye. Full mane and tail.
- Good bone, strong gaskins, well let down into the hock.
- Short cannons, plenty of good flat bone. Sloping pasterns but not overly long.
- Hard well-shaped feet.
- Low straight action.
History
One of the iconic mountain and moorland breeds. Bred on the moors in Devon, south-west England. Now formed as the Dartmoor National Park, it covers a big area that runs into Cornwall.
Ponies and horses have wandered wild there for centuries. Dartmoor Ponies were first recorded in the Polo Pony Stud Book, then with the National Pony Society until they got their own Dartmoor Pony Society.
The breeding records kept by the other breeding organisations were adopted, providing breeding records going back a century. They are sometimes known as Pedigree Dartmoor Ponies now, to differentiate them from the other ponies still wandering wild on Dartmoor, of unknown background.
The Australian Pony Stud Book was formed in 1931 as a cover body to record pony breeds in Australia; at the time, 1931, there were no Dartmoors here.
In Dartmoor are other interest groups also fostering the hill ponies. The ponies are popular tourist drawcards.
History in Australia
Arrived in Australia in late 20th century.
Breed Organisation
Dartmoor Pony Society of Australia (affiliated with the English society).
Australian Pony Stud Book Society http://www.apsb.asn.au/.
The English Society http://www.dartmoorponysociety.com/aboutthebreed.html
Australian Population
2020: 63 breeding age mares, with 90 mares in total. 11 stallions and 65 geldings.
2025: Mares 128
Additional Notes
Foal chart for the past decade https://drive.google.com/file/d/12lqu8Vi892NZWJsH87NPOdLMBtSf5KZ6/view?usp=sharing
Photo credit
Moorlanda Mayka, Dartmoor mare, kindly supplied by Kathy Pile. A grand little mare.
Page by Janet Lane
(population updated 25/04/2020 by A.Y.)
Updated January 2026
