View source for Eriskay Pony

{{Short description|Breed of horse}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox horse
|name= Eriskay Pony
|image= Eriskay_pony_beinn_sciathan.jpg
|image_caption= An Eriskay pony on [[Eriskay]]
|features = Dense, waterproof coat, large head.
|altname=
|nickname=
|country=Outer Hebrides, Scotland
|group1= Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society
|group2= The Eriskay Pony Society
|std1= https://www.eriskaypony.scot/each
|std2= https://www.eriskaypony.org
}}

The '''Eriskay Pony''' ({{langx|gd|Each Beag nan Eilean}} or ''Each Èirisgeach'') is a [[Horse breed|breed]] of [[pony]] from Scotland. It is generally [[gray (horse)|grey]] in colour, and has a dense, waterproof coat that protects it in harsh weather. The breed developed in ancient times in the [[Hebrides]] of [[Scotland]], and a small population remained pure and protected from crossbreeding by the remoteness of the islands. It is used for light [[Draft horse|draught]] work, [[driving (horse)|driving]], and as a mount for children. 

The [[Rare Breeds Survival Trust]] considers the breed's status to be critical. There are two [[Breed registry|breed registries]] for the Eriskay Pony: ''Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society'', which was formed in 1972<ref name="Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society">{{cite web|title=The Society|url=https://www.eriskaypony.scot/ancomann|access-date=2019-10-30|publisher=Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society}}</ref> and has the [[King Charles III]] as society [[Patronage|patron]],<ref name="Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society" /> and ''The Eriskay Pony Society'' was formed in 1986.<ref name="The Eriskay Pony Society">{{cite web|url=https://www.eriskaypony.org|title=Eriskay Pony Society|publisher=The Eriskay Pony Society|access-date=2019-10-30}}</ref> Both societies are recognised as holding a [[Breed registry|studbook of origin]] for the breed.<ref name="DEFRA UK Government">{{cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/823945/horse-pio-list.pdf|title=Horse Passport Issuing Organisations approved to issue registered passports (includes studbooks)|access-date=2019-10-30|publisher=Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs}}</ref>

==Characteristics==

[[File:Eriskay ponies at a show.jpg|thumb|Eriskay ponies at a show]]
The Eriskay Pony generally stands between {{hands|12|and|13.2}}. It is usually [[Gray (horse)|grey]] in colour, although a few are [[bay (horse)|bay]] or [[black (horse)|black]],<ref name="Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society'>{{cite web|url=https://www.eriskaypony.scot/each|title=The Breed|publisher=Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society|access-date=2019-10-30}}</ref><ref name=EPS>{{cite web|url=https://eriskaypony.org/the-eriskay-pony/|title=The Eriskay Pony|publisher=Eriskay Pony Society|access-date=2011-08-02}}</ref> and never [[Chestnut (coat)|chestnut]], [[piebald]], [[skewbald]] or [[Horse markings|white markings]].{{r|Hendricks}}

The winter coat is dense and waterproof to protect from the harsh climate, with a thick mane and tail.<ref name=Hendricks/> The head is large, with a wide forehead. The neck and shoulders are well muscled, and the chest deep but generally not broad. The rib-cage is long and the loins short, which increases the strength of the back. The [[Rump (animal)|croup]] is slightly sloping.<ref name=EPS/> 

The Eriskay has an easy-going temperament, and is suitable as a mount for children or for driving.<ref name=Hendricks/>

==History==
[[File:Traditional creels.jpg|thumb|Traditional [[Creel (basket)|creel]] rigging on an Eriskay pony]]
The Eriskay Pony developed in the [[Hebrides]] of [[Scotland]], a group of western isles in Scotland and were originally known as the Western Isles Ponies.<ref name="RBST">{{cite web |title=RBST - Eriskay Pony |date=11 September 2017 |url=https://www.rbst.org.uk/eriskay-pony |publisher=Rare Breeds Survival Trust |access-date=2023-10-18}}</ref> The origins of the breed are ancient, with roots in Celtic and Norse breeding.<ref name=Hendricks/> It is physically similar to drawings of ponies on ancient [[Pictish]] stones found in north and west Scotland.<ref name=OSU>{{cite web |url=http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/eriskay/index.htm |title=Eriskay Pony |work=Breeds of Livestock |publisher=Oklahoma State University |access-date=2009-03-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206111813/http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/eriskay/index.htm |archive-date=2008-12-06 }}</ref> It is related to other northern breeds, including the [[Icelandic horse]] and the [[Faroe pony]].<ref name=Hendricks/> The Eriskay takes its name from the island of [[Eriskay]] in the [[Outer Hebrides]]. Originally, the breed had a fairly large population,<ref name=Hendricks/> and until the mid-19th century the Eriskay and similar ponies were found throughout the western islands of Scotland. They were used as [[crofter]]s' ponies, as pack animals, for light draught and as mounts for children.<ref name=OSU/>

During the 19th century numbers were much reduced through increased crossbreeding.<ref name=Hendricks/> The crossbreeding was used to produce larger ponies for draught work, and Eriskays and other island ponies were crossed with horse breeds from mainland Europe, including [[Arabian horse|Arabs]] and [[Clydesdale horse|Clydesdales]].<ref name=OSU/> Other horses, including the [[Fjord horse|Norwegian Fjord]], were crossed with island ponies, including the Eriskay, to produce the [[Highland pony]].<ref name=Hendricks/>  A few specimens of the Eriskay were preserved on the remotest island of  Eriskay in Scotland, mainly due to the difficulties of accessing the island. This stock of ponies remained pure, but through the advent of mechanisation, declined in population to around 20 animals in the early 1970s.<ref name=OSU/> In 1941 the [[SS Politician]] foundered off the Eriskay coast, and the islanders, using the Eriskay ponies, carried away the cargo of 250,000 bottles of [[whisky]].<ref>{{cite news|title=People quit 'ponies galore' Eriskay|journal=Sunday Times (London, England)|date=26 October 1997|author=Williams, Douglas and Alastair Robertson}}</ref>

[[File:Harry boy.jpeg|thumb|Eriskay pony on the [[Isle of Lewis]] in Scotland]]
Today the Eriskay is rare. Its population is considered to be at critical status by the UK-based [[Rare Breeds Survival Trust]], meaning that there are 300 or fewer breeding females registered in the world today.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/main|title=Watchlist|publisher=Rare Breeds Survival Trust|access-date=2009-03-19|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324123655/http://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/main|archive-date=2009-03-24}}</ref> It is possible that the Eriskay is the last surviving [[Hebrides|Hebridean]] pony breed. There are two breed Societies each of which are Mother Societies in their own right:<ref name="DEFRA UK Government">{{cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/823945/horse-pio-list.pdf|title=Horse Passport Issuing Organisations approved to issue registered passports (includes studbooks)|access-date=2019-10-30|publisher=Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs}}</ref> ''The Eriskay Pony Society'' achieved legal recognition as a breed society and passport issuing organisation for the UK in 1995 and ''Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society'', which is based in the [[Eriskay|Isle of Eriskay]], received legal recognition in 2002.<ref name="Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society"/><ref name=Horseman>{{cite journal|url=http://www.horsemanmagazine.com/2008/08/eriskay-pony/|title=Eriskay Pony|journal=Horseman Magazine|access-date=2009-03-19|date=7 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605155550/http://www.horsemanmagazine.com/2008/08/eriskay-pony/|archive-date=5 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/movements/horses/documents/horse-passports.pdf |title=Horse passports- organisations issuing horse passports |access-date=2012-04-03 |publisher=Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |date=14 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223075350/http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/movements/horses/documents/horse-passports.pdf |archive-date=2011-12-23 }}</ref> Both Societies maintain studbooks which are recognised as studbooks of origin for the Eriskay Pony<ref name="DEFRA UK Government">{{cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/823945/horse-pio-list.pdf|title=Horse Passport Issuing Organisations approved to issue registered passports (includes studbooks)|access-date=2019-10-30|publisher=Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs}}</ref> and ''Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society'' keeps the original studbooks of the ''Society for the Preservation of the Eriskay Pony'' from 1972. Both studbooks have their origins in the original studbook. The aim of both Societies is to preserve the breed by retaining the original genetic material and following a careful breeding programme which slows, as far as possible, the rate of inbreeding. Only stock registered in either of the studbooks is used. In conjunction with the [[Rare Breeds Survival Trust]] ''The Eriskay Pony Society'' uses the Single Population Analysis Records Keeping System (SPARKS)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rbst.org.uk/blog/sparks-a-toolbox-for-breeding#:~:text=SPARKS%20%2D%20Single%20Population%20Analysis%20and,based%20populations%20of%20wild%20animals | title=Sparks: A toolbox for breeding | date=10 December 2019 }}</ref> to provide advice on the genetic suitability of breeding pairs of ponies.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://eriskaypony.org/resources/ | title=Resources | date=6 December 2020 }}</ref>   

In addition to the domesticated ponies, there is a small herd of Eriskay ponies living in a [[feral]] state on the [[Holy Isle, Firth of Clyde|Holy Isle]]. These ponies are descended from a group of five ponies brought to the Holy Isle to when it was owned by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare in the 1970s to form a nature reserve. Today the island is owned by the Samye Buddhist Centre for World Peace and Health. They operate a policy of non-intervention, allowing the ponies to live without human interference.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.holyisland.org/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=19&pid=12|title=Wildlife on the Island|publisher=The Holy Isle Project|access-date=2011-07-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.holyisland.org/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=19&pid=11|title=History|publisher=The Holy Isle Project|access-date=2011-07-13}}</ref>

== Culture ==
The [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] poet [[:gd:Dòmhnall_Aonghais_Bhàin|Donald MacDonald]] (''Dòmhnall Aonghais Bhàin'') was commissioned by ''Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society'' to compose a praise poem for the Eriskay pony to commemorate the publication of the original studbook in 1972.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=MacDonald|first=Donald|title=Smuaintean fo Èiseabhal|publisher=Birlinn|year=2000|isbn=1841581089|editor-last=Black|editor-first=Ronald|location=Edinburgh|pages=32}}</ref> The poem makes reference to the pony's position as a [[crofting]] animal used to transport seaweed and peat, as well as its genial nature towards children.<blockquote>''Bha iad riamh an Èirisgeidh 's gum b' fheumail iad don t-sluagh,''

''Bha iad troimh na linntean ann sna tìmean chaidh air ruaig;''

''Thàirneadh iad a' mhòine gu fògairt chur air fuachd''

''Is làimhsicheadh an òigridh iad 's bha iomadh spòrs 'nan cuairt.''<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=30 August 2020|title=Gàidhlig|url=https://www.eriskaypony.scot/gaidhlig|website=Comann Each nan Eilean - The Eriskay Pony Society}}</ref></blockquote>

==See also==
* [[List of domesticated Scottish breeds]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Hendricks">{{cite book |year=1995 |title=International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds |last=Hendricks |first=Bonnie |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0806127538 |ol=1279627M |pages=175–177}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Eriskay Pony}}
* [http://www.eriskaypony.org/ Eriskay Pony Society]
* [http://eriskaypony.scot/ The Eriskay Pony (Purebred)Studbook Society): ''Comann Each nan Eilean'']

{{British horses}}
{{Scottish animal breeds}}
{{good article}}

[[Category:Horse breeds originating in Scotland]]
[[Category:Horse breeds]]
[[Category:Outer Hebrides]]
[[Category:Endemic biota of the Scottish islands]]
[[Category:Ponies]]
[[Category:Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist]]