Tour Scotland Photograph Shetland Pony Shetland Islands

Tour Scotland photograph of a Shetland Pony on the Shetland Islands, Scotland. Photographic Prints of UK, Scotland, Shetland from Danita Delimont.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Old Shetland. Based on the extensive collection of old photographs and postcards gathered over the years by Shetland native Douglas Smith, this beautifully presented book provides fascinating insight into the lives of Shetlanders from the 19th to the mid 20th centuries. As is usual in a fishing and maritime community, the men folk were typically absent for long periods of time at sea and the role of women was vital to the life of the islands. They are pictured here performing task as varied as gutting the herring catch, knitting the complex Fair Isle patterns and gossamer thin shawls for which the islands are famous, cutting and drying peat for fuel, shelling bait for the fishermen and burning seaweed for Kelp to supply chemical manufacturers. The wartime period 1939 to 1945 and the island’s crucial role as a lifeline to occupied Norway via the “Shetland Bus” is detailed and there are some fine examples of the unique and mysterious Brochs, substantial round stone defensive towers located throughout the islands. The herring and whaling boats, social occasions such as football and dancing, not to mention the annual Up-Helly-Aa fire festival celebration are all covered in this very comprehensive volume. Old Shetland.

Tour Scotland Photograph Skewbald Shetland Pony

Tour Scotland photograph of a Skewbald Shetland Pony on the Shetland Islands, Scotland. Shetlands can be almost every colour, including skewbald and piebald, called pinto in the United States, but are mainly black, chestnut, bay, grey, palomino, dun, roan, cremello, and silver dapple. Shetland ponies were first used for pulling carts, carrying peat, coal and other items, and plowing farm land. Then, as the Industrial Revolution increased the need for coal in the mid 19th century, thousands of Shetland ponies traveled to mainland Britain to be pit ponies, working underground hauling coal, often for their entire, often very short, lives. Coal mines in the eastern United States also imported some of these animals. The last pony mine in the United States closed in 1971.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Photograph Miniature Shetland Pony Kinross

Tour Scotland photograph of a miniature Shetland Pony, with owner, at the Agricultural Show in Kinross, Perthshire, Scotland. Shetland ponies originated in the Shetland Isles, located north east of mainland Scotland. Small horses have been kept on the Shetland Isles since the Bronze Age. People who lived on the islands probably later crossed the native stock with ponies imported by Norse settlers. Shetland ponies were first used for pulling carts, carrying peat, coal and other items, and plowing farm land. Then, as the Industrial Revolution increased the need for coal in the mid 19th century, thousands of Shetland ponies travelled to mainland Britain to be pit ponies, working underground hauling coal, often for their entire, often short, lives. Coal mines in the eastern United States also imported some of these animals. The last pony mine in the United States closed in 1971.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.