The loins and hindquarters should be strong and well covered with muscle. The hind quarters should be of medium length and neither level or steeply sloping with the tail well set up. The hocks should be well let down with plenty of length from hip to hock, clean cut and with plenty of bone below the hock. Dartmoor ponies should have a powerful second thigh and should not be 'sickled' or 'cow-hocked'. The fore-legs should not be tied in at the elbows and the fore-arm should be muscular and relatively long with the knee fairly large and flat on the front. The cannons should be short with ample good flat flinty bone. The pasterns should be sloping but not too long, and the feet should be hard and well shaped. The Dartmoor pony's movement should be straight and coming from the shoulder with a good hock action but without exaggeration. The mane and tail should be full and flowing so overall The Dartmoor is a very good looking pony sturdily built but with quality.

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It must be remembered that the horse was not indigenous to Britain although it is known that when Julius Caesar landed at Pegwell Bay there were horses existent within British shores, as he makes a note of it in his 'Commentaries' It is thought that these animals were small, tough and wiry probably standing no higher that 13 hh.

The first mention of The Dartmoor Pony appeared in 1012. Between the 12th and 15th century the ponies were used extensively to carry tin off the Moor to the stannary towns, but when the tin mining boom came to an end theses ponies were probably left to roam the Moor although some continued to be used on the farms. Whilst these equines were no doubt fast and agile due to their small size they were not exactly efficient weight carriers, and a Knight in his shining armour would weigh a considerable amount, let alone the basic cavalry soldier.

In 1535 Henry V111, who looked upon 'Little horses and nags of small stature' with distaste, directed that any person who kept their mares with 'any stoned horse under the stature of 14 handfuls' were to be liable to a fine of 40 shillings and furthermore all occupiers of land, 'to the extent of one mile in compass' were to keep 'two mares apt and able to bear foals of the altitude and height of 13 handfuls at least upon pain of 40s. So the quest for the larger weight bearing horse began, although it is thought that in certain remote and wild areas such as Dartmoor little attention was actually paid to this legislation, as to enforce it would be difficult and no doubt the little hardy ponies were of great use on the land.

Around 1750 came the Industrial Revolution where the little horse came into it's own again mainly in the coal mines closely followed by demands on the sporting front where small fast agile ponies were required for Polo, when the 10th Hussars, returned from India, bringing the game back with them.

In 1893 The National Pony Society was formed, (the first of its kind), and for some years this was known as 'The Polo Pony Society'. This was closely followed in 1899 by The Mountain And Moorland sections opened in The Polo Pony Stud Book. and it was agreed to accept the Dartmoor registrations with a local committee appointed to select suitable ponies. In 1925 The Dartmoor Pony Society was formed and from here the Dartmoor pony breed has grown to it's present day standard. For further reference to the history of The Dartmoor Pony there is a very good book called The Dartmoor Pony written by Joseph Palmer, complete with foreword by H.R.H The Prince Of Wales, Duke Of Cornwall.