Horses will be quite handy in a survival situation to be pack animals, to ride, to do farm work, and many other things. But horses eat enormous amounts of food and generally are not surefooted.
So how are you going to have pack animals, riding animals, and farm workers? Well, ponies of course! Ponies are smaller than horses no taller then 14.2 hands high so they are easier to handle, they are more surefooted then horses, and eat a lot less than horses. (One hand equals four inches.)
Horses (Especially Draft horses) require high quality feed, but ponies can easily survive on poor quality feed if worst comes to worst, do to the rugged conditions they were developed in. Most ponies are very easy to train, unlike Mustangs who hardly ever lose their wildness. Many people think ponies are too small to do anything, but that is not true at all. Ponies are proportionately stronger than horses, and all the ponies I will suggest you to research to possibly buy are almost the size of a horse.
Most ponies don’t even need to be shod, and that will come in handy in a disaster. In our area it costs approximately $430 to keep one horse shod for one year, on top of very expensive feed bills makes one mighty big sum to invest on a horse.
Here are a few good pony breeds, and benefits for survival and enjoyment.
Avelignese:From Italy
Surefooted
Unflappable temperament
Perfect family riding pony
Up to 14.3 hands high (hh)
Good for novice riders
Used for farm work
Color is chestnut w/flaxen mane and tail
Connemara: From Ireland
Good stamina
Hard feet
Good for riding and driving
Excellent for wet climates
Very intelligent
Up to 14.2 hh
Colors are Gray, bay, and brown
Dales and Fells ponies From England
Can carry huge weights
It was used to carry lead oar out of mines
Good riding and harness ponies
Surefooted
Good in bad weather
Sensible temperament
Dales up to 14.2 hh Fells up to 14 hh
Colors are Black, Dark Brown, and Bay
Garrano From Portugal
Good for riding and driving
Quite temperament
Good for woody and steep areas
Surefooted
Strong
10 to 14 hh
Colors are Bay, Brown, or Chestnut
Haflinger: From Austria
Surefooted
Good farm workers
Good riding ponies
Nice temperament
Up to 14 hh
Color is chestnut w/flaxen mane and tail
Highland: From Scotland
Very hardy and sturdy
Surefooted
Good in bad weather
Will do almost anything
It was used on deer hunts to haul dead deer out of Scottish hills
It also was used to haul peat out of the bogs
Very calm temperament
Up to 14.2 hh
Good riding pony
Colors are dun, gray, bay, and black
Good in swampy conditions
Nigerian From Nigeria
Excellent in hot climates
Quite temperament
Sturdy
Good stamina
Good for riding, driving, and packing
14 to 14.2 hh
Any color Norwegian Fjord: From Norway
Good for mountain areas
Were used as Vikings war ponies
Tireless workers
Excellent Temperament
Good farm workers
Good riding ponies
If worst comes to worst they can survive by eating stuff other horses consider inedible
Surefooted
Very hard feet
Remember what you teach them very well
13 to 14hh
Color is Dun
Welsh Mountain:
Up to 12 hh
Welsh pony class B:
Up to 13.2 hh
Welsh pony class C:
Up to 13.2 hh
Welsh pony class D (or Welsh Cob):
No height limit
All Welsh Ponies:
> From Wales
Hardy and sturdy
Eat very little
Surefooted
Good riding ponies
All colors except Piedball and Skewball
Any of these ponies are excellent choices for survival. Please research which one of those pony breeds will be best for you. I wrote this article so you can choose which pony breeds to research for survival and enjoyment. I hope that if you get a pony you will enjoy raising it as much as I enjoy my Icelandic pony Trigger (I did not include Icelandic ponies in my article because they generally have a bad attitude). My sisters and I also own a 35 year old Welsh Mountain pony whose just a big pet named Sam, a feisty 7 year old American Shetland named Dusty, and a very large and friendly 8 year old Quarter Horse named Sassy.