The Pit Ponies
Reg patted the horse gently. Easy, easy, he murmured, trying to calm him. The horse had only been in the mines for three weeks, and was not adjusting well. His hooves clattered on the rock ground, as he stepped nervously to one side, bumping against the wall of the shaft. There was very little room to move, and the horse was taking up most of it.As the horse danced around, Reg noticed movement in the dim light. A train of carts was ahead of them, rolling down the tracks. At that moment, the horse broke free and bolted forward.Reg panicked, trying to hit the emergency stop on the tracks, but it was too late. The horse ran directly into the carts. There was nothing Reg could do for it. The horse was dead.His supervisor came by shortly to check on the situation.Pity about the horse, he said. Make sure you save the tack.Reg was left with the remains to load into a cart. The horses legs stuck out as it was rolled out of the mine.What Are Pit Ponies?Coal is a hot commodity. It burns pretty hot, after all. People can find all sorts of uses for burning coal, or at least they used to. These days people find it a bit dirty, so its fallen out of favor. Now its mostly used where you cant see it, generating 19% of electric power in the US.Back in its glory days, it was commonly used everywhere. It was once the primary method of power, used for homes, businesses, transportation, and industrial factories. But Im not going to get into the history of coal, this isnt an blog about coal use. I write about horse stuff, which is why this is an article on mining.Coal is found in the most inconvenient of places, underground. If we wanted to harness its power, we had to dig like gophers to collect it. And by we, I mean, likely not any of us reading this, but instead the unfortunate people whose livelihoods revolved around working in the coal mines. Coal mining is a dirty job, with the bonus of also being incredibly dangerous.If you havent spent much time underground, thats understandable, we arent a subterranean species. But youve probably heard the rumors of life underground, as its well known for having bad air quality that annoyingly kills you, and rocks, so many rocks. Sometimes the rocks stay where you want them to be, and other times they move around, making their way to their new location, your crushed body.Theres the danger of explosions. If the initial blast didnt kill you, the new bad air vents or falling rocks could.In this completely unstable environment, men smack the the walls repeatedly in hopes of gathering that sweet burnable rock. Women and children used to help, too, as gathering burnable rocks was a favorite past time of those who wanted to eat food, but then people found out and didnt actually like this. In yet another blow to freedom, rules were made that prevented women from working in the mines, and prohibited children under 10. Once they were a solid double digits in age, boys could destroy their lungs breathing in coal air.Once this significant portion of the population was banned, the people making money off the mines realized they didnt have enough labor to reach their quotas. They soon figured out another vulnerable population they could exploit: horses. Being animals, they cant form labor unions and they mostly do as theyre told, so they were perfect.Horses begin being used to haul the carts in the mines. They became known as the Pit Ponies. Their job was simple, haul the empty cart into the mine, pull it back out when its full. But it was hard work and incredibly dangerous.Where were Pit Ponies Used?The first record instance of pit ponies being used was in Great Britain in 1750. They were also used around Europe, Australia, and the United States. See the bottom of this post for more.Pit Pony in New Aberdeen, Nova Scotia, August 1946What Breeds were the Pit Ponies?Even though they are called Pit Ponies, they actually came in all sizes, it just depended on the size of the mine. It the mine was tall enough, a draft type could be used. In smaller mines, ponies like welsh and Shetlands were used. Various cobs were used as well. The breed was not important, it was just about the type.Mining ponies needed to be thick,: low set and heavy bodied, with lots of bone and substance. They needed to hold their heads low and be careful with their feet. Only geldings and stallions were used.Once of the most popular breeds was the Shetland ponies. In the 1850s, after women were banned from the mines, thousands of Shetland ponies were imported to England to fill the labor gap. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Shetlands worked in the mines.In the US, it was more common for mules to be used in mining. Horses were still used, but it wasnt nearly as common as in Europe. Pit Pony in 1894What Were the Working Conditions Like?This is not a life any horse would have picked, but regulations on horse welfare helped the horses a bit. Unfortunately it did take a many years and lots of people lobbying their governments for that to happen.To start with, many men loved the horses, but others viewed them simply as equipment, there to do their jobs as fast as possible. Some men shared their lunches with the horses and packed them treats, but others would hit the exact same horses with wood to try to make them work faster. Sometimes fights would break out among the men who had to witness their favorite horse being abused by another.The mining companies put the horses through a short training to ensure their suitability, which was basically pulling a cart on rails. If they were suitable, they went down to the mines.They were fitted with hot shoes above ground, and a template made so subsequent shoeings could be cold shod. The mines were extremely flammable; sparks could not be used down there.Their shifts were about 8 hours long. They would pull three carts of coal at a time, with some miners swearing the horses could count. They said if the horse heard a fourth cart being attached, they would refuse to move. In an average day, they would haul 30 tons of coal.The horses worked in near darkness. They would learn the tunnels by feel, but injuries were common. Heads and backs were often scraped on the low ceilings, with some losing their skin down to the bone. Eye injuries were common until regulations required eye cages to protect the eyes. Blind horses were not allowed to work in the mines.Carts would fall to break, slamming horses into walls. Rocks would fall. Skin infections from standing in rancid water were common.But many horses were credited with saving miners lives. They were able to sense cave-ins before they happened, and would halt, keeping their handler safe away from the falling rocks.The callous attitude towards the horses leaked out over time, causing many regulations to go into effect to protect the horses. The British Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1887 was the first to protect the horses. Later on, in 1911, a full report of the working conditions was published, resulting in further regulations. Some of the new laws required horses to be checked by a veterinarian once a year, with horse keepers required to report injuries to the vet. Horses were required to be at least age four to work.In some areas, the ponies got an annual two week holiday. They were pulled up from the mines, and allowed to live out in the fields, just being a horse likely the best days of their lives.Where Did Pit Ponies Live?There were two different kinds of lives for the ponies. The lucky ones, if you can call any creature working in a coal mine lucky, were the horses employed at slope and drift mines. These were the kind of mines that one could simply walk out of. These horses would finish their shifts, and head back to their lives above the surface, resting in their stalls or even turned out for the night.The unlucky ones lived in shaft mines. These mines were accessed, quite literally, by a shaft, meaning everyone was lowered into the shaft. The men took elevators. If a horse didnt fit in the elevator, it was bound up, and lowered down by a strong chain. The logistics of lowering a horse into a shaft are understandably difficult, so these horses had the displeasure of living underground, all the time.Example of a pit pony stall, as reconstructed by the German Mining Museum in Bochum. The horses had their ownWhat Did Pit Ponies Wear?The basics hauling equipment was a harness that could be attached to the carts. Skull pads helped protect from ceiling scraping. Eye cages would protect the eyes. When the horse had breaks, he was given a snap, or nosebag to have a snack.How Long were Pit Ponies Used?Pit ponies were used for several centuries, starting in the 1750s, and continuing on until the late 1990s. Different countries stopped using pit ponies at different times, with the most recent being Robbie, who retired in May 1999 in South Wales. The USs last pit pony mine, located in Iowa, closed in 1971, and Australias last mine closed in 1990.In Britain, at the height of pony use in 1913, there were 70,000 ponies working in the mines. These numbers dropped down to 55 ponies in 1984, as the main underground roads begin using mechanical haulage, and ponies were used on the secondary routes. Youd have thought that with more modern technology, the horses would be phased out way earlier, but no. There was always a chance of a gas problem, so anything that could create a spark, like electric, was a hazard.Individually, it was said that pit ponies had a shortened lifespan, but it just depended how lucky the horse was. A mule in the US would normally live about 20 years, but when used in the mines, the life span was only 3 years.Continued Working Animal UseWith the paragraph above, youd think this was phased out, right? But no, it still exists in developing countries. Working animals are very common, and with salaries as low as $1.50 a day, animal welfare isnt at the top of mind.An organization known as Brooke is trying to help these animals. The equines are desperately needed by their owners to make money to feed their families, but they dont always have the resources for good care. Brooke helps people learn to take better care of their animals and works to improve working conditions.It would have be better if these harsh working conditions were left in the past, but we cant ignore that its still happening. I encourage you to check out Brooke or similar organizations to see if theres something you can do to help these animals.Time to go hug my horses.The post The Pit Ponies appeared first on An Equestrian Life.
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