Exmoor ponies and the livestock genesis of the horse E-Book

Helmut Hemmer

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 127

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Die Ansicht um die wahre Natur der im Moorheidegebiet des Exmoors im Südwesten Englands frei lebenden Ponys pendelte in den letzten hundert Jahren mehrfach hin und her zwischen einer sehr ursprünglich gebliebenen Hauspferderasse und einem überlebenden Wildpferd. Für die Klärung dieses Problems entscheidend wichtige quantitative Verhaltensstudien zum Wild- oder Viehwesen dieser Pferde und paläontologische Vergleichsstudien fehlten weitgehend. Dieses Buch bringt nun die Lösung zugunsten einer Reliktpopulation des Europäischen Bergponys und weist damit das kaum für möglich gehaltene Fortleben eines bedeutenden britischen und gesamteuropäischen Naturerbes nach.

Leseprobe

Contents

Foreword

Foreword to the English edition

1 The Exmoor pony

1.1 External appearance

1.2 Character

1.3 Habitat

1.4 History

2 The controversy

3 Domestication – livestock genesis

3.1 Definition of terms

3.2 Preadaptations

3.3 Systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature

3.4 The decision question

4 Wild horses

4.1 Knowledge from palaeontology

4.2 Knowledge from archaeozoology

4.3 Knowledge from molecular genetics

4.4 The tarpan

4.5 The Przewalski‘s horse

5 Domestic horses

5.1 History

5.2 Diversity

5.3 Pseudo-wild horses

6 Behavioural diagnostics

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Individual distance

6.3 Coordination

6.4 Attentiveness

6.5 Movement intensity

7 The jigsaw puzzle

7.1 Molecular genetic evidence

7.2 Brain size

7.3 Mane

7.4 Diagnostic structures

7.5 European mountain pony –

Equus ferus arcelini

8 The livestock genesis of the horse

9 Outlook

10 Register

To my adopted daughter Angela Carrasco

Foreword

Anyone who deals with domestic animals and their origins must also deal with the horse. Anyone who studies the horse comes up against the question of the Exmoor pony. Is this small horse which still lives more or less wild in its original homeland, the last survivor from the once huge herds of European wild horses? Or is it one of the many breeds of western and northern European ponies, that were differentiated from the first European domestic horses by breeding from the Bronze Age onwards, but above all in the last two millennia?

The author of this book initially intended to address this problem more casually in the course of clarifying a comparative issue for cattle, which was being discussed at the time, particularly in England. The aim was to investigate the Chillingham Park cattle, which had repeatedly been compared to small aurochs, albeit with different colour. In the summer of 1985, he travelled to England to inspect the original herd living freely in the extensive grounds of Chillingham castle in Northumberland and to make behavioural observations, as well as to study skull material in the Hancock Museum in Newcastle and the British Museum of Natural History in London.

After the cattle question had been resolved fairly quickly in favour of a clear domestic animal finding, discovering more about theExmoor pony proved impossible.At the time, the British Natural History Museum did not have a single skull of this small horse in its extensive collections. Whipsnade Park Zoo, which harboured several British pony breeds side by side had everything but Exmoor ponies. The author previously only had contact with this small horse in Michael Schäfer’s extensive paddocks in Erdinger Moos, although at that time his main interest was in the conservation breeding of the Portuguese Sorraia pony there.

After the failure in England, he then made the Exmoor pony a topic of discussion in his Mainz team. In the course of eight years, the authors Bernadette Riediger (1995), Manuela Jendrosch (1997) and Karin Siebert (2003) wrote three consecutive and complementary diploma theses on behavioural comparisons with other horse forms. These studies remained unpublished as such, but their contents are now evaluated as a decisive basis for clarifying the problem of categoryisation in this book.

At this point the author is grateful to Gisa Heinemann from the Biodiversity Museum of the University of Göttingen for numerous photos and scans of the upper dentition and metacarpal measurements from the large Exmoor pony collection there, which can justifiably be regarded as a museum reference collection for this horse. The author also likes to thank Bärbel Fiedler from the Senckenberg Research Station for Quaternary Palaeontology in Weimar for her support in obtaining literature. For the numerous excellent photographs of Exmoor ponies in their original habitat on Exmoor, which were made available for this book, special thanks are due to Wolfgang Frey (Germering), who documented his great interest in the wild animal – domestic animal nature of this horse at an early stage by collecting extensive photographic material. All photos not labeled with a name were taken by the author himself.

Foreword to the English edition

Following the publication of the original German edition of this book, Sue Baker, leading expert on the Exmoor pony, argued that it should be published in English, so that it could be read in the animal’s home country. She wrote “I think the future for the Exmoor pony will depend upon full acceptance of them being a race rather than a breed, generically wild game not man-made livestock”. This acceptance can only be achieved if it spreads to where the Exmoor pony is at home and from where its future is controlled worldwide through the Exmoor Pony Society. Without doubt, this book must be able to be studied on Exmoor itself. Only an English version can provide the basis for this.

The author was happy to take up this suggestion. In order to keep the production costs at a reasonable level in view of the expected limited readership, he used translation software as the basis for the English text. As a result of the original version, which is quite condensed in many cases, and above all because of the centrally used new German word Viehwerdung, this automatic translation produced absolutely incomprehensible results in many passages. In all such places, the author revised the text himself and then submitted it to Sue Baker in order to eliminate any linguistic problems that had arisen. Special thanks go to her for this crucial help. To make print and sale possible for the English-speaking countries by the original German publishing house, a certain diminution of the print quality could not be avoided, before all a shift from colour to black-and-white illustrations.

1 The Exmoor pony

1.1 External appearance

Exmoor ponies are small horses with an adult shoulder height of between 112 and 135 cm (11.0-13.2 hands), on average 124.5 cm (12.2 hands). The broad and deep rump is supported by relatively short, strong legs. The basic stockiness is subject to a certain variability from rather slender to rather stocky. There are also differences in head shape between individual herds.

Figure 1.1: The colour of the Exmoor pony varies from light brown to dark brown with basically the same colour pattern. Characteristic features are the mealy muzzle and a bulging eye ring with light coloured hair, which gives the impression that the eyes are protruding (“toad eyes”). This and all other pictures of Exmoor ponies in this book were taken in Exmoor National Park. (Photo Wolfgang Frey)

Figure 1.2: Lighter colour variant of the Exmoor pony. The brand of the thigh demonstrates the procedure for the Exmoor pony corresponding to a studbook-controlled domestic horse breed. (Photo Wolfgang Frey)

While the summer coat has a certain metallic sheen, the winter coat has a lustreless top coat over a very dense, thick, greasy undercoat and allows rain and snow water to run off. The mane hangs to one side of the neck and thus also helps the rain to run off. The forelock can become so long and thick that the small ears almost seem to disappear.

The colour of the coat ranges from light brown to a very dark brown which is more or less lightened on the under chest and belly, especially in the rear area, sometimes as high as the flanks, as well as on the hind cheeks. The mealy muzzle and the equally light-coloured eye rims stand out very conspicuously against the brown. This makes the eyes appear prominent. On the legs, the colour of the metapodia turns blackish. Apart from the wide brown range, the coat colour of the Exmoor ponies is of high uniformity. In earlier times there were also grey ponies and possibly some other colours in the population.1

Figure 1.3: Deep dark variant of the Exmoor pony. A comparison with the previous picture also demonstrates the variability of the body structure. (Photo Wolfgang Frey)

This colour distribution, with its typical lightening and darkening, as well as the mealy muzzle, corresponds fundamentally to that of the Dzungarian wild horse or Przewalski’s horse, with the exception of the absence of a clear eel line on the middle of the back, although the entire colour variation range of the latter is shifted to a considerably lighter shade. This type of colouring, with or without the mealy muzzle, which exists in both brown and grey variants (“mouse-gray”), can be regarded as the original wild colour of the horse. It has been preserved in a number of domestic horse breeds that were never subjected to intensive breeding and is documented in Western European cave paintings many thousands of years before domestication.

Figure 1.4: Newborn Exmoor ponies initially have a lighter coat, whereby the mealy muzzle and the white eye ring already stand out in the typical manner. The legs are also whitish in colour at this very young age. Particularly on the flanks, a very delicate zebra striping may appear. (Photo Wolfgang Frey)

1.2 Character

Exmoor ponies living in the wild are characterised by great shyness and very prudent behaviour with regard to current requirements of their environment. Unused to humans, adults caught in the wild are almost impossible to control until sensitively tamed. Their robustness, hardiness, resilience and endurance are remarkable, as is their longevity, which is unusual for horses.2 Special character traits are their energetic temperament coupled with a friendly, good-natured character and high intelligence. On Exmoor they say “If you can ride an Exmoor, you can ride everything”. Although these ponies are certainly suitable as children’s ponies, they are less suitable for children who are new to riding, as they are generally too strong, too energetic and too intelligent.3

1.3 Habitat

The Exmoor pony originates from the moorland of the Exmoor area above the cliffs to the south of the Bristol Channel in south-west England. Its native habitat here is partly rocky, barren, rough, hilly moorland with only sparse tree-cover, largely characterised by grassland, heather, gorse and hawthorn. They are also ferns, marshy areas and bogs. Deep valleys are wooded. In addition to the ponies, there is a large population of red deer. The area, which is divided into common land and farmland, is also grazed by sheep and cattle. Winters in this landscape are cold and very rainy.4 The ecological plasticity of the Exmoor pony is extraordinarily high. Where woodland and open land are available at the same time, it shows a preference for the latter, but does not avoid the woodland in any way and stays in it for a long time.5

Figures 1.5-1.6: Exmoor ponies in their habitat in Exmoor National Park. (Photos Wolfgang Frey)

1.4 History

The first documentary mention was in 1086, when William the Conquerer ordered a list to be drawn up of the property and livestock in Exmoor. This list documents a large number of horses. From William II (1056-1100) at the latest, Exmoor was a royal hunting ground, which severely restricted the rights of the local inhabitants to graze their own livestock there. A campaign by Henry VIII to allow only large stallions for breeding throughout the country came to nothing in this remote area. As late as the 18th century, the Exmoor ponies were treated the same as other game in terms of naming. At the beginning of the 19th century, the area, which until then had belonged to the Crown, was privatised. The former royal warden acquired part of it and set up a stud farm with selected animals on his property for the purpose of long-term conservation of the original Exmoor pony in its ancestral landscape. Other landowners gradually joined in this endeavour.

Based on this core herd and the interest of farmers and their heirs at the time, the continuous existence of the purebred Exmoor pony was prevented from being jeopardised by the extensive experimentation with crossbreeding of all kinds to “improve” the animals in the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Exmoor Pony Society was founded, modeled on a regional sheep breeders’ association.

A considerable reduction in genetic heritage was a direct consequence of the Second World War. The majority of animals living on Exmoor were captured and stolen for the sale of meat to the hungry urban population. Of the core herd only a dozen ponies escaped the massacre, and together with other herds only around 50 animals in total survived. In the decades following the war, ponies were repeatedly exported, eventually establishing several independent herds outside of Great Britain. Besides the central aim of conservation, Exmoor ponies have since been used in several countries, including Germany, for landscape management grazing projects.6

Figure 1.7: Exmoor pony in its native habitat in Exmoor National Park above the Bristol Channel. (Photo Wolfgang Frey)

1 Essential literature on the appearance of the Exmoor pony, basis of this chapter: Baker, S. (2008): Exmoor-Ponies – Survival of the Fittest – A Natural History. Revised and updated edition. Chippenham (Exmoor Books). Baker, S., Creig, C., Macgregor, H., & Swan, A. (1998): Exmoor Ponies – Britain’s prehistoric wild horses? Brit. Wildlife, 9: 304-313.

Dent, A. A. (1970): The pure bred Exmoor Pony. Williton (Cox).

Nissen, J. (1998): Enzyklopädie der Pferderassen: Europa, Vol, 2. Stuttgart (Franckh-Kosmos).

Schäfer, M. (2000): Handbuch Pferdebeurteilung. Stuttgart (Franckh-Kosmos).

Willman, R. (1999): Das Exmoor-Pferd: eines der ursprünglichsten halbwilden Pferde der Welt. Natur und Museum, 129, 12: 389-407.

2 Many anecdotal examples that shed light on their special nature for horses can be found in: Baker, S. (2017): Exmoor Pony Chronicles. Wellington (Halsgrove).

3 Nissen, J. (1998): Enzyklopädie der Pferderassen: Europa, Vol, 2. Stuttgart (Franckh-Kosmos).

4 For descriptions of the habitat, see the literature listed in footnote 1.

5 Rödde, S. M.-C. (2015): Verhalten und Raumnutzung von Exmoorponys im Reiherbachtal (Solling). PhD Thesis, Georg August-University Göttingen.

6 The history of the Exmoor pony:

Baker, S. (2008): Exmoor-Ponies – Survival of the Fittest – A Natural History. Revised and updated edition. Chippenham (Exmoor Books).

Baker, S. (2017): Exmoor Pony Chronicles. Wellington (Halsgrove).

Baker, S., Creig, C.,Macgregor, H., & Swan, A. (1998): Exmoor Ponies – Britain’s prehistoric wild horses? Brit. Wildlife, 9: 304-313.

Nissen, J. (1998): Enzyklopädie der Pferderassen: Europa, Vol, 2. Stuttgart (Franckh-Kosmos).

2 The controversy

The opinions of the inhabitants of the Exmoor in earlier centuries regarding the identity of the small horses living there have not been definitely recorded. Individual names speak more in favour of them being regarded as game rather than livestock, especially as it was a hunting ground of the Crown. From the 19th century at the latest, they were regarded as one of other British and northern European pony breeds with very special characteristics that were worth preserving, but which individual farmers would also have liked to “improve” through breeding. However, all attempts to do so proved to be unsuccessful.7

Figures 2.1-2.4: The first alternative: Exmoor ponies belong with British and Nordic small horse breeds. Exmoor pony in Exmoor National Park (top left; photo Wolfgang Frey), New Forest pony (top right), Dartmoor pony (bottom left), both in Whipsnade Park Zoo, Icelandic horse in Iceland (bottom right).