Dulmen | Gotland | Mongolian | Asiatic Wild Horse – A Detailed 4 Pony Breed Comparison

In this guide, we will share a detailed comparison of four pony breeds, including the Dulmen, Gotland, Mongolian, and the Asiatic Wild Horse. We will discuss the various aspects of each of these breeds, such as their origin, height, colour, character, etc. So make sure you read till the end. Let’s begin!

Table of Contents (Horspedia)

Dulmen Pony Breed | Origin Height Colour and Characteristics

In the table below, you will find some of the most common traits and characteristics of the Dulment pony breed.

Origin:West Germany – Westphalia. 
Height:About 12.3 hh.
Colour: All colours Black, brown and dun are the most common.
Characteristics of Dulmen pony breed

Description of Dulmen Pony Breed

The Dülmen is one of the two native pony breeds of Germany. The other is the almost-extinct (or possibly completely extinct-authorities differ in opinion) Senner pony, which is (or was) extremely tough and which runs (or ran) wild in the forests of the Teutoburger Wald. 

Both these ponies contributed to the ancestry of the Hanoverian horse.

Dulmen Pony Breed
Dulmen Pony Breed

The Dülmen pony is also a vanishing breed. The main herd of a hundred mares runs semi-wild in a reserve on the Meerfelder Bruch in Westphalia, where they are said to have been bred for more than six centuries. 

They are the property of the Duke of Croy and are no longer purebred through having been outcrossed to imported Polish and British pony stallions. Each year the Dülmen herd is rounded up, and the yearling colts and other unwanted stock are caught and sold.

Gotland Pony Breed | Origin Height Colour and Characteristics

In the table below, you can find the most common traits of the Dulmen pony breed as a species of Equine.

Origin:Sweden – Gotland Island. 
Height:12-12.2hh.
Colour:Dun, black, brown, bay, chestnut, gray, palomino. 
Characteristics of Gotland Pony breed

What is the Character of Gotland Pony Breed

In terms of character, Dulmen pony breed horses are gentle and easy to handle, though inclined to be obstinate. 

Physique and Physical Characteristics of Gotland Pony Breed

While considering the physique of the Gotland pony breed, they are lightweight ponies with a small, straight head, small ears, and short, muscular neck. 

The most common Gotland pony physical traits are:

  • Strong shoulders, rather long back, tail low-set on sloping quarters. 
  • Legs hard and robust, though light of bone, and feet are small and hard. 
  • They move well at a walk and trot, gallops badly, and they are outstanding jumper.
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Description and Origin of the Gotland Pony Breed

The Gotland is a prehistoric breed and is thought to be one of the direct descendants of the Tarpan

Indeed, the pony breeds Gotland share many characteristics with the Konik, the Huçul, and the now-extinct Lofoten pony. It is believed to be the oldest Scandinavian breed and is relatively purebred except for some infusions of Oriental blood about a century ago. 

Gotland Pony Breed Type
Gotland Pony Breed Type

Records indicate that it has run wild on Gotland Island, in the Baltic Sea to the southeast of Sweden, since the Stone Age, and there is still a herd of Gotlands in the forest at Löjsta. It is now also bred on the Swedish mainland.

Use of Gotland Pony Breed

Formerly in demand for light agricultural work, it is now famous as a children’s pony, as a jumper, and for trotting races, for which it is specially bred. It is also called the Skogsruss pony.

Mongolian Pony Breed | Origin Height Colour and Characteristics

Continuing our pony breed article, in the table below you can find the most common traits of the Mongolian pony breed.

Origin:Mongolia
Height:12.2-14hh
Colour:Usually black, brown, bay, dun
Characteristics of Mongolian pony breed

Character of Mongolian Pony Breed 

In terms of character, the Mongolian pony breed is one of the most powerful pony breeds. They are enormously enduring. 

Physique of Mongolian Pony Breed

While considering the physique of the Mongolian pony breed horses, they are the thick-set and compact body type. 

The most common traits of the Mongolian pony breed are:

  • heavy heads with small eyes and short, thick ears. 
  • short, thick neck, a deep chest, a short, strong back. 
  • good quarters and tail set pretty high and thick-haired at the roots. 
  • strong legs with plenty of bone, and round, hard feet. 
  • abundant mane and tail. 

The Mongolian pony breed horses are exceptionally hardy. They can – and generally do – survive on the poor fare and little of it.

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Description of Mongolian Pony Breed

The above description of the Mongolian pony should be taken only as a rough generalisation. Since ponies approximating to this pattern are found all over Mongolia, Tibet and China and little effort is made by breeders to conform to type. 

Mongolian Pony Breed
Mongolian Pony Breed

Though stallions are usually selected, trouble is seldom taken to regulate the quality of the mares they breed to.

Use of Mongolian Pony Breed

Mongolian ponies are working types of ponies, bred in large numbers by nomadic tribes, surviving as best they can on whatever they can forage. 

They are used for a broad range of work for herding, riding, carting, in agriculture, as pack ponies, and when not suitable for these tasks, and sometimes even when they are, they supply meat or milk for their masters. 

The mares are milked for three months after foaling, and the milk is made into cheese or fermented into kumiss on equine dairy farms. It is thought that yoghurt was a Mongol invention made originally from mares’ milk.

In a region as vast as the one covered by the Mongolian, it is natural that many variations have developed, some because of differences in climate and fodder and some due to imported blood or selective breeding. Among them are

  • Wuchumutsin Mongolian pony,
  • Hailar Sanho pony
  • Yilli Mongolian pony breed and
  • Sanpeitze pony.

4 Mongolian Pony Breed Types (Wuchumutsin | Hailar Sanho | Sanpeitze | Yilli )

Wuchumutsin is a more refined Mongolian type reared on rich grassland; Heilung Kiang is a type of pony that has a large head with a slightly convex face.

Hailar Sanho and Sanpeitze, which carry the blood of imported Russian stallions and stand 14-15hh; Ili, a Russian-Mongolian cross standing 14.2-15hh, useful as a riding and pack animal.

The Mongolian pony breed is one of the most antique of all pony types. Its influence is apparent in breeds throughout Asia, and its extent is due to the nomadic and warlike habits of the Mongols, who took vast herds of ponies on their travels as a remuda. Even today, Outer Mongolia has more horses per head of the human population than anywhere else in the world.

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Characteristics of Asiatic Mongolian Wild Horse | Equus Przewalskii Przewalskii Poliakov

In the last part of the article, you will find information about various traits of the Asiatic Mongolian Wild Horse pony breed type.

Origin:Mongolia
Height:12.1-14.1hh
Colour:Dun, usually with dark points and a mealy muzzle. They are often lighter coloured round the belly, zebra stripes on forearms, hocks and gaskins.
Characteristics of Asiatic Mongolian Wild Horse

Character of Asiatic Wild Horse

In terms of character, Asiatic Mongolian wild horses are courageous with significant stamina and great powers of endurance. 

Physique of Asiatic Wild Horse

While considering physique, Asiatic Mongolian wild horses are a primitive pony type. 

They have:

  • a large, broad head with long ears, often on a ewe neck, 
  • short, upright mane, thin tail,
  • upright shoulder, strong back and loins, poor hindquarters.
  • strong legs with short pasterns, long feet.

Impresively tough, Asiatic Mongolian wild horses survive the rough climates and can persevere despite the shortage of food and fare.

Description of Asiatic Wild Horse | Who discovered it and When?

Colonel N. M. Przewalski discovered the wild horse of the Mongolian steppes in 1881. It lives in the Tachin Schara Nuru Mountains (the Mountains of the Yellow Horses) on the western fringe of the Gobi Desert. 

Very few remain today, as it has been hunted near to extinction. It is protected by the Mongolian, Russian and Chinese governments. Its biggest hope for survival lies not in its native habitat but in European and American zoos, where roughly 200 specimens (more than four times the number thought to exist in the wild) are carefully bred.

Asiatic Mongolian Wild Horse
Asiatic Mongolian Wild Horse

The Asiatic Wild Horse is thought to be one of the primary breeds from which all horses have evolved. 

It has changed little since the Ice Age. In the last few hundred years, it must have been due not so much to lack of opportunity for outcrossing with strangers but to its inhospitable habitat and its equally inhospitable views on intruders. 

In its feral state, stallions and even two-year-old colts will attack and kill invading males long before they get near the mares, and runaway domestic mares are usually insufficiently hardy to withstand the extreme conditions in which it lives.