PIT PONIES - EQUINE MINERS

Ponies are frequently seen grazing on the farms near coal mines. Most of these rugged little ponies are descendants of pit ponies which were used to haul coal from mines as early as the 1600s.
When coal was first mined in America, breeds such as the hearty Shetland ponies from northern Scotland were imported in great numbers to work in the mines of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

The Dark World of the Hard Working Little Mine Ponies
Life in the coal mines has never been easy for either man or beast. But few equines have received better care and respect than the pit pony. In some larger mines – particularly in Europe – a pony would be bred, born, and put to work without ever having seen the light of the sun. Whether this confinement was insensitive or really more humane has been debated for some time. However, a pony in the mines received excellent care and attention throughout its working life