Highland Pony

The Highland is one of Scotland's three native pony breeds, with the Shetland and the Eriskay. It was bred to work small Scottish farms: plowing, hauling timber, and carrying deer off the hill.

Horses have been in Scotland since at least the 8th century BCE, though nobody knows whether those were wild or brought in. Pict horses of the 5th to 8th centuries CE may have fed into the breed, and French and Spanish stock including the Percheron arrived in the 1500s. There is no proper record of the pony until the 1800s, when Scottish ponies were also being crossed with Fells and Dales. The registry opened in the 1830s.

They stand 13 to 14.2 hands and weigh 1,100 to 1,320 pounds, which makes them one of the largest of the British native breeds: compact, strong, short in the cannon bone.

One thing that sets the breed apart is what breeders have not done. There is no approved or selected stallion scheme, so the breed keeps a wide range of acceptable types and more genetic diversity than most.

Queen Elizabeth kept a large working stud of them.

Not to be confused with Highland cattle, which are a different animal entirely.