The Shetland Pony is the smallest breed of British native ponies. It has been proved that this pony has maintained it’s small statue in the Shetland Isles for over 2000 years. The Shetland Isles are a series of 100 Islands of which only 22 are inhabited. They are to the utmost north of Britain and have the same latitude as Oslo in Norway.

 

It is known that crofters (small farmers) and fishermen lived in the Islands 4000 years ago. About 800 A.D. the Vikings came to their shores, in what was thought to be a peaceful invasion, as no weapons of war have ever been discovered in the earliest Norse houses excavated. It is said there is a greater affinity between the Shetlanders and Norwegians than between Shetlanders and the Scottish people. Probably this has come about because it wasn’t until 1469 that the Shetland Isles were given to Scotland as a dowery when a Danish Princess married James 3rd of Scotland.

 

The Shetland pony was always a domesticated animal, proven by the fact that bones which have been dug up, indicated that the animals had not been slaughtered for food, as were other beasts.

 

The pony was used for carrying peat and goods in baskets slung over their back, also for ridding, and fishermen used their hair from the abundant manes and tails on the ponies to make cords and fishing lines.

 

The wheel was not used in Shetland until about 1847 as there were no roads there until about that time; therefore the pony was not a draught animal. However, for a few years Shetland Ponies were used in the coal-mines of Britain to pull the trucks, when British law forbid the use of Children for such purposes. At the time, Lord Londonderry bread a Shetland “with as much weight as possible and as close to the ground as possible” to fulfil the purpose required by the mines. This became known as the pit pony. Even to this day the ponies in Scotland are much heavier ponies then those on the Shetland Isles.

 

Shetland Ponies live to a great age, often teaching two generations of children in the same family to ride. When a child has outgrown the pony it may then be harnessed and has no trouble pulling an adult in a vehicle.