Gotland-Pony

Gotland Pony in Gothenburg

The Gotland Pony ( swedish Gotland Russ ) is an old Swedish pony (horse) breed on the island of Gotland and surrounding islands.

Background information on the evaluation and breeding horses can be found at: exterior, interior and horse breeding.

Exterior

The shoulder height of these horses is located at 115 to 130 centimeters and it happens a great range of coat colors. Most animals are brown or black, each to about 40 %; next come to 20% against bright colors.

Interior

The Gotland Pony has beautiful gaits - the trot is a bit hard - and they have an excellent talent for jumping.

Breeding history

The oldest archaeological finds of diminutive horses, which probably originate from ancestors of today's Gotland ponies, were found on the island of Stora Karlsö. It was believed at first that they were from the early Stone Age, but more recent studies date the bones in the Iron Age. Over a very long period, the animals were living wild or semi- wild in the forests of Gotland. For this reason, they also bear the name Skogsruss, which means forest horse. Like other breeds of horses in the same circumstances, they were tough, fresh and adaptable. They were used by the farmers as livestock in agriculture and were, as long as they lived in freedom, as public property. Who needed a horse to a started from the herd and tamed it for his purposes. A transformation of the land use rights threatened in 1859 for a few years the stock, but a group of dedicated people stood up for the protection of animals. Between 1880 and 1960 we crossed a few foreign stallions and mares of Gotland ponies. The imported animals were so few that they had no major impact on the breed, but has been improved with them the genetic diversity.

Even today, there is a group of wild Gotland ponies in the forest Lojsta hed in the middle of the island. On the Gervide Gård in Sjonhem is Gotland single horse museum. The breed was recognized in 1984 by the Swedish authorities as a national and worth protecting horse race. On farms and riding schools it is often used as a children's riding horse. The ponies are very trainable, but do have their own will, if you're not consistent enough in their training, and then take possibly unpleasant habits.