Characteristics
The Exmoor pony is strong for its height, with heavy, dense bone, and powerful musculature, and is noted for its hardiness, disease-resistance, and endurance. It shows a distinctly different jaw structure from other horse breeds, which includes the beginnings of development of a seventh molar.
The head is somewhat large in proportion to the body, with small ears, and has a unique "toad eye" caused by extra fleshiness of the eyelids, which helps to deflect water and provide extra insulation. As with most cold-weather pony breeds, the Exmoor grows a winter coat consisting of a highly insulative woolly underlayer and a top-coat of longer, oily hairs which prevent the undercoat from becoming waterlogged by diverting water down the sides of the animal to fall from just a few drip areas. The mane and tail are thick and long, and the dock of the tail is of a type common in cold-weather ponies, having coarse hairs, called a "frost cap," "snow chute," or "ice tail" which deflects rainwater away from the groin and underbelly areas to fall from the long hairs on the back of the hind legs.
Exmoor ponies are usually a variant of dark bay, called "brown", with pangaré ("mealy") markings around the eyes, muzzle, flanks, and underbelly. Pangaré markings occur in other equines as well as horses, and are considered to be a primitive trait. Entry in the breed registry requires that the animal have no white markings. They usually stand 11.1 to 12.3 hands (45 to 51 inches, 114 to 130 cm), with the height limit for mares being 12.2 hands (50 inches, 127 cm) and that for stallions and geldings 12.3 hands (51 inches, 130 cm).
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