{"id":312,"date":"2010-08-09T00:59:55","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T00:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theequinest.com\/breeds\/?p=312"},"modified":"2025-01-31T21:47:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T21:47:05","slug":"british-shetland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/british-shetland","title":{"rendered":"British Shetland Pony"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Intro<\/h3>\n<p>The strongest pony breed for their size, Shetlands can pull twice their own body weight. This is a breed found worldwide, but the British Shetland retains more of the original characteristics of the breed and are heavier than their American counterparts.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Origins<\/h3>\n<p>This hardy little animal comes from the Shetland Isles NE of Scotland and their roots are unknown. Some say they originally come from ponies of Scandinavia brought during the Bronze Age. They were domesticated and later crossed with animals imported by Norse settlers. Others think they were influenced by <a href=\"\/breeds\/exmoor-pony\">Celtic ponies<\/a> brought to the islands between 2000 and 1000 B.C.<\/p>\n<p>However they came to be there, the inhospitable climate and difficult forage created an animal that is incredibly tough for its small size. Initially they were used for agriculture and later they were bred small to be used as pit ponies in coal mines. The Shetland Pony Stud Book Society of the UK was established in 1890 to preserve and document the breed. In pure form and their native land, they are considered endangered. According to the DAD-IS as of 2021 there were 1895 left.<\/p>\n<h3>Features<\/h3>\n<p>Height from 28&#8243; to a maximum height of 42&#8243;<\/p>\n<h3>Physique<\/h3>\n<p>Head is small and with sometimes dished profile<br \/>\nShort, muscular neck<br \/>\nStocky body with broad back<br \/>\nShort, strong legs<br \/>\nMane and tail grows long and thick in the winter<\/p>\n<h3>Traditional Colors<\/h3>\n<p>All <a href=\"\/colors\">colors<\/a> &#8211; Do not carry <a href=\"\/colors\/white-patterns\/appaloosa\">appaloosa<\/a> or <a href=\"\/colors\/dilution-genes\/champagne\">champagne<\/a> genes<\/p>\n<h3>Temperament<\/h3>\n<p>Even-tempered and intelligent<\/p>\n<h3>Use<\/h3>\n<p>Riding pony<br \/>\nDriving pony<br \/>\nPack pony<br \/>\nPerforming pony<br \/>\nTherapy animals<br \/>\nGuide horses<\/p>\n<h3>Helpful Links<\/h3>\n<p><small>*All links open in a new window<\/small><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shetlandponystudbooksociety.co.uk\/\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shetland Pony Stud Book Society<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shetlandpony.org.nz\/\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Zealand Shetland Pony Breeders Society<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>More Images<\/h3>\n<div class=\"grid-two\">\n<div class=\"grid-two-one\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/british-shetland-pony.webp\" alt=\"British Shetland Pony \"  \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-two-two\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/british-shetland-pony-2.webp\" alt=\"British Shetland Pony \"  \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Video<\/h3>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/52I41cO6_T4?si=YpI1wkwWEKY91aU1\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JffmdDYdvfc?si=GaBN3ZBSeA6brpbV\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Intro The strongest pony breed for their size, Shetlands can pull twice their own body weight. This is a breed found worldwide, but the British Shetland retains more of the original characteristics of the breed and are heavier than their American counterparts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[9,126,127],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scotland","tag-all-colors","tag-at-risk","tag-endangered"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1274,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/1274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}