EXMOOR pony Anchor Tawny Owl, known as called Tom, was guest of honour at the launch of a new book held at the Exmoor Pony Centre near Dulverton last weekend.

He is featured on the front cover of The Exmoor Pony Chronicles in a photograph taken as part of recreating the Exmoor perambulation in 2015.

“If any pony deserves a starring role, it’s Tom,” said author Dr Sue Baker.

“Through his work at and for the Pony Centre, he demonstrates the amazing versatility and usefulness of Exmoor ponies.

“He is an example of how ponies born into free-living herds, with wild instincts, can be taught to place their trust in people. It’s his choice to be this wonderfully co-operative public relations-savvy pony and that is so impressive.”

Much of the book is about the relationship between the ponies and the people who have ensured their well-being and survival.

It delves into ways in which Exmoor ponies have served the Exmoor communities and the wider world, under saddle or in harness, and shows how transport and communication once relied upon them.

This is portrayed through a collection of stories and anecdotes, many obtained by Sue “in farmhouse kitchens, in local hostelries and leaning on gates” as she has listened and chronicled for over four decades.

“This has yielded a tapestry made up of so many different threads – including ponies harnessed for warfare, meeting a famous cowboy, Exmoors travelling to the Antipodes, pony sales from central London to deepest Exmoor, how one Exmoor pony lived with bison, threats from pony-rustling, tales of ponies being a shepherd’s pillow or transport for the rabbit-catcher.”

She added: “I have been so privileged. People have been so generous with their time, sharing tales and memories and allowing me to copy and use their family photographs. This is their book as much as it is mine.”

The 160-page hardback Exmoor Pony Chronicles is published by Halsgrove (ISBN: 9780857043153, £24.99).