An 18-month-old British-bred Exmoor colt has been exported to stand at stud in the USA.
Punchards Heimdall — “Ezra” — was bred by Ann Tompkinson in Suffolk and bought as a weanling by Liz Wright from Cambridgeshire.
Earlier this month she sold him to Joseph Struckus and Sonya Kahn of Exmoor Ponies of North America, a conservation group that owns 21 of the USA’s 40 Exmoors.
“We have the largest herd outside the UK, with the most diverse stallion lines in the world,” said vet Dr Lisa Wojan, farm agent for the stud.
“And we hold the rarer, old-fashioned stallion lines so our animals are true to moorland type.”
Punchards Heimdall carries rare bloodlines, as his sire goes back to Royal Duke, one of the first stallions registered in the Exmoor studbook.
According to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, there are fewer than 500 Exmoor breeding mares in the UK.
This article was first published in the current issue of Horse & Hound, 18 November ’10
