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The pit pony replaced women and children in the coal mines.
Since mine shafts were small and had a low ceiling, it made sense to put smaller ponies into play here.

At the height of Pit Pony usage in 1913, there were 70,000 working
in the mines. As of 1984, there were 55 still in service. The last pony, Robbie, retired in 1999.
It is true that most of them were employed by the British and Australians, but they were employed in the US as well.





Of course they needed to be small yet hearty. Ceilings were low and the roads were rough and steep. Consequently, ponies had to be full bodied, large boned and short. A kind temperament was preferred and sure-footedness a must. So, Shetlands and the Sable Island Ponies were the popular breeds.
Ponies were mostly raised in the mines so they didn’t rebel against the conditions (nice). However, they weren’t put to work until they were 4 years old. Most ponies were retired in their late teens.

Most of these ponies had never seen the sunlight so they didn’t know any better...

“Stable conditions were very important and much was done to tend to the comfort of these animals and lengthen their term of usefulness. In the stable, the height of the roof was to be seven feet when a five-foot horse was in use. It should be able to raise its head and relax its muscles because it had to work all day carrying its head low. Ventilation was to be arranged so that the direct current would not strike the horses. As little wood as possible was used in the construction of the stables to lessen the chance of fire. All stables were well drained with pipes and well whites washed for sanitary purposes.??The stableman usually shod the horses with shoes made on the surface. Sometimes, a ferrier went into the mine when a higher degree of shoeing skill was required. He would take the measurements underground and make the shoes on the surface.It was desirable that the horse have only one driver who would take more pride in the animal and so that they might both understand one another. It is true that a horse’s disposition was spoiled when drivers were changed.??The roadways were to be kept in the best possible condition to prevent accidents. The roof was also to be carefully brushed to rid it of protruding booms and rocks that might cause head injury to the horse.The horses were taken below ground in a cage or were walked into the slope mines on the footpath. Their daily working shift was normally the same as a man’s and drivers did not like their ponies to be double-shifted. When the animal got older, their work period was usually reduced to four hours. They generally stayed below ground for approximately five years, unless killed or maimed, and then they were either moved or replaced.”


The mine owners knew that with no horse, there was no profit. So, it was mandated that the horses were well cared for. Of course, the conditions varied between mines, but the general consensus was to feed them quality food, have fresh water available at every station throughout the day and to only have one handler who was responsible for feeding, grooming, bathing and caring for his particular pony.
It was often documented that ponies were quite upset when their handler was removed. So, they tried not to do that.

Retirement was OK for the Pit Pony but stressful and usually short. They lived underground for so long under unnatural conditions that life on the outside was too foreign and confusing. They didn’t know herd behavior and they didn’t understand paddocks.
If these ponies did assimilate, most of them died from the respiratory conditions that killed many miners.



http://www.horseandman.com/horse-stories/lets-celebrate-pit-ponies-what-a-rotten-job/09/04/2016/

Having had relatives who worked in the coal mines I wouldn't wish it on an animal much less a human,

What isn't shown is that most of those ponies in the earlier days were worked by boys, not adults. My father started working in the mines in SW. PA when he was 9 years old picking up coal that fell off the charts for 3 cents a day. My grandfather made 9 cents a day. Over a few years he was driving singles, then teams. He got fired from one mine when the team got away from him and ran into the vent fan and killed them.

From his stories, the ponies were not treated all that well. No better than the young boys . Most died underground, never seeing the light of day from when they were taken underground. Sometime in the late 20's it became illegal to work small boys underground. By then, my father was older and stayed in the mines. He worked his way up to dynamite shooter.

Sometime after the third cave in, when they dug him out, he vowed to never go back underground again. This was about 1945. After several years he got a job with US Steel as an apprentice machinist. He worked another 25+ years on that. I remember as young boy that we had small family mine where three families mined a 2 foot coal seam. Us boys would put the coal in burlap sacks and drag it outside. This was barely a 3 foot tall drift and the work was on our hands and needs. He passed away at 93 with severe Blacklung. One thing he was always upset about was that I spent about 30 years underground, 3 months out of every year.

Interesting read thank you

This I believe. The article was little touchy feely.

Thanks for posting. Interesting read.

I know shetlands were bred for the mines. Of course they aren't used for that any more (at least not in the US or England). I've seen quite a few used as riding ponies for children. However, I've never seen a well trained one. I used to attribute that to their disposition but I've come to think it's because they're too small for most knowledgeable trainers to ride and train them properly. Only a small woman can ride one.

Interesting read.

My grandfather was from south central Tennessee (Lawrenceburg) and made most of his living by trading horses. My dad was born in 1935 and told me he remembered as a kid going with my grandfather to east tennessee to sell ponies and small mules to the coal mines. Most of them he sold to Brushy Mountain State Prison which used their inmates to work the coal mines. My dad said they'd pay top dollar for ponies and small mules so it was worth the trip for my grandfather.

I have encountered several well trained shetlands over the years, but mostly smaller kids are too small to handle them and by the time the kids gets big enough to do so,they are too big for the pony

Figure a horse could do the work of maybe 5 men; maybe they were well cared for?

There has been a movie "Pit Pony" on Dish a few times in the last month.Looks pretty good in terms of reality

I never knew such a critter existed. The coal mines where I grew up were closed because of too much sulfur content. Never talked to any of the miners about such things as pit ponies.
I doubt there was any sort of breeding program as these little horses could no doubt be bought cheap. Interesting stuff.