Icelandic -- Pygmy Parlor Ponies

 

At the turn of the 20^th century, Americans and Europeans were fascinated with the exotic, the extremes of size--both the giant and the extremely small--and beasts from far away places. In 1906 to 1909, the British aristocracy, such as the Marquis of Stafford, Prince Adolphus of Teck, and Baron Alfred de Rothschild, were obsessed with pygmy parlor ponies. 

Mr. Albert Jamrach, an exotic animal vendor in Britain, described them as “the funniest little things imaginable. They are as wooly as a sheep and quiet as lambs” and “well mannered in the house.” But then he was in the business of selling what he called “freaks” such as “tiny ‘teddy bears’ [from Borneo], queer kangaroos, ‘crowned’ cranes, and other weird specimens.”

He claimed the source of his 28-inch ponies were the few stunted Icelandics that appeared in every shipment of ponies from Iceland–stunted supposedly due to lack of nourishment on the bare grazing lands on the island. 

The reader might suspect these were foals due to his caution that “They do not naturally breed as pygmies.” In other words, don’t breed two of them and expect a lap pony.

(EO, p. 6; MNA, 1909, p. 36, Washington Times, October 18, 1908, p. 36.)

Topic of Imported Icelandic Horses Addressed in Irish Parliament--1897

 

Hay Train in Iceland 1911
Iceland Photos of FWW Howell
Cornell Collection

Per the Icelandic Bureau of Statistics as reported by Bjőrnsson and Sveinsson in their 2006 The Icelandic Horse, 138,014 horses were exported from 1850 to 1925.¹ Some years as many as 10,000 to almost 20,000 horses were shipped, the majority intended for mines in Scotland and Britain.

In 1886, the invasion of imported Icelandic stock was addressed by The Commission on Horse Breeding in Ireland to both Houses of Parliament. J. F. Bomford, a witness, suggested banning the import of Iceland ponies to Ireland that were brought over as “ballast” to Dublin. He called them the “worst possible description of an animal” with “no action, no shoulders, no strength whatsoever.” If bred, they would spoil the ponies of Ireland. But then Bomford also believed all the American horses he had seen imported to Ireland were “so bad and so ill formed” they did not need a brand to distinguish them from the high quality Irish hunters. 

Note: In 1908, much to the consternation of the British, Rubio, an American-bred thoroughbred for the first time won the steeplechase at the Grand National in Aintree, England.

The testimony for the day broke down into a heated discussion on whether Ireland or England bred the better horses. On a later day, Mr. Wrench maintained harsh weather conditions, rough countryside, and ill-maintained roads would require a hardy horse. “If I had to give an opinion,” he said “I should not go to a Hackney…but I think a strong or rougher Shetland or Icelandic pony would suit the people.” (Commission on, 1886, pp. 260 – 261, 431)

Commission on Horse Breeding in Ireland. (1897). Minutes of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the horse breeding industry in Ireland, Alexander Thom. And Co., Dublin.

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¹  Statistics on Icelandic horses in this article are from Bjőrnsson and Sveinsson’s The Icelandic Horse.