Our Mission      History of the UK Shetland
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Troubling History
 
Previous to the use of the UK Shetlands, from 1809 to 1842, hundreds of women and children were employed as “beasts of burden,” working in the many iron or coal mines across England, Scotland, and Wales.  Boys as young as four and girls as young as seven would draw coal out of the narrowest mine shafts by way of girdle and chain.  From a belt around their waist, a chain was attached that went between their legs and was attached to a large tub without wheels.  On hands and feet they would crawl, pulling the tub filled with ore or coal to the main shaft for fourteen hours a day.
 

Mines Act

In 1842, the Mines Act was passed, which prohibited women and children under the age of ten from working underground.  When the labor law was enacted, UK Shetland Ponies were exported from their homeland by the thousands to replace the women and children who were no longer allowed to do the work.  UK Shetlands were small in stature, heavy bonded, and surefooted.  These qualities, along with their strength and temperament, made them ideal for the grueling labor in the narrow mine shafts.
 
   Working Underground
By the 1850s, only male ponies (stallions) were used.  They were lowered down into the mines as age four, where they remained underground the rest of their lives – sometimes as long as thirty years.  Tens of thousands of stallions worked together underground, which was certainly a testament to their kind nature and willingness to please their human companions.  The ponies traveled more than three thousand miles per year and hauled as many tons of ore and coal.
 
This was a sad and heart-wrenching time.  The ponies received inhumane treatment, as attested by a grandson of a collier in the United States to the founder of the Shetland Register.  Not only were the ponies sent into the mines for life, but their eyes were also sometimes hammered out and sewn shut to eliminate coal dust infections!  This cruel treatment was done in the coal mines in the United States as well.
 
The best and stoutest ponies were exported to the colliery (coal mine) owners, as large profits could be made selling them for mine work.  This was attractive to farmers on the Shetland Islands, who lived at poverty level and could not afford to keep their best ponies.  Only the more slender animals were kept or sold elsewhere, because the strongest were in demand for the heavy work in the mines, thus they were much more valuable.  The smallest and strongest ponies had no counterparts for this demanding work.
 
 
Marquis of Londonderry's horses, at Bressay
 
In 1870, a stud (breeding farm) was established by the Fifth Marquis of Londonderry, a colliery owner.  The sole purpose of the stud, located on the islands of Bressay and Noss, was to breed pit ponies.  No expense was spared in purchasing UK Shetland stallions and mares from the islands, and the best became the foundation breeding stock for the Londonderry Stud.  The formula for success in the development of the Londonderry pony was to produce those with "as much weight as possible and as near to the ground as can be got" with out defects of conformation.  Temperament was not compromised, as a tractable pony was essential for the work required in the mines.
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The Shetland Pony Stud Book Soceity began in 1890 in England to preserve the breed from the drain of the best stallions being exported to the coal mines.  It accepted only ponies less than 42 inches high, which encoraged breeders not to produce bigger Welsh-like ponies.
 
As the mines became progressively more mechanized, fewer ponies were needed.  Ponies bred at the Londdonderry Stud were sold to breeders in the United Kingdom as well as to breeders and mine owners in the United States.  The Londonderry Stud