The Welsh Mountain Pony

(Section A not exceeding 12 h.h.)

The Welsh Mountain Pony is a breed of great antiquity, believed to be descended from the Celtic pony. They have roamed the Welsh Hills for a thousand years and more.

Throughout the centuries they have survived countless hardships and dangers resulting in their developing a hardness of constitution and an intelligence that has made them one of the finest foundations for horse breeding in the world.

The early history of our island tells us that when Julius Caesar and his armies invaded our shores, he was so impressed by the good quality of the ponies that drew the chariots that opposed him that he took many of them back to Rome. This appears to be the first recorded export of British ponies!!!

Laws made at various times have affected horse breeding in many different ways and the Mountain Pony in the sixteenth century faced extinction when King Henry VIII, thinking to improve the breeds of horses, ordered the destruction of all stallions under 15 hands, and all mares under 13 hands. Fortunately the ponies in the wild and inaccessible mountains of Wales escaped this jurisdiction.

This was not the only persecution that the Mountain Pony had to contend with. The lowland farmers frequently hunted them and drove them back to the high ground when they tried to come down in search of better grazing.  It took nearly 200 years before these farmers began to realise that ponies could be an asset when grazed with sheep and cattle. Since that time a market gradually developed for the Mountain pony.

It was not long before the demand for them was on the increase and hundreds changed hands singly or in droves in the big autumn Fairs.  Buyers came from far and wide in search of them.  Due to this trade many people began to take an interest in the breeding of these ponies, and stallions were more carefully selected.

In 1902 a number of landowners, farmers and pony breeding enthusiasts formed the Welsh Pony and Cob Society, and the first volume of the stud book was published in the following year.

Among the eminent men who became Presidents and Vice-President in those early years were :- The Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Powis, Viscount Tredegar, Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Lord Kenyon, Mr Gwynne Holford and Mr Coltman Rogers.  These men were already well-known names in the breeding of horses and other livestock.  They realised that here was a breed of pony centuries old, and of such value that it must be preserved.

Due chiefly to the hard work of the Society’s early members and the Council they appointed, the Welsh Mountain Pony soon became world famous

They would be well rewarded if they knew how many of our best ponies of the present time are descended from those they selected for registration in the first Stud Book sixty years ago.

Those of us who have been given the opportunity to breed Mountain Ponies on the hills of Wales have a responsibility handed down to us by our forefathers.  We have inherited a wonderful pony that has stood the test of time.  Let us look after it and preserve its type and hardiness. As a child’s pony it has no equal, and many of our finest horsemen first learnt to ride on a Welsh Mountain Pony. 

H. LLEWELLYN RICHARDS.  February 1962.   [Reprinted with permission of the WPCS from their 1962 Journal]