One version of the story was recorded by Whyte Melville, who wrote the novel around the horse, Katerfelto. He was a perfect little horse and was owned by Sir Thomas Acland, and he was allowed to run free on the moor. Sir Thomas refused many offers to sell his stallion, but he did loan him to a neighbor. This neighbor kept the horse for some time, and afterwards, told Sir Thomas that the horse was dead. The novel is mentioned by G.S. Lowe in The Horses of the British Empire (1907).

Lowe writes: 'There is a romantic story founded on fact in connection with such improvements on Exmoor. Katerfelto, the title of one of Whyte Melville's best novels, was a sort of specter horse constantly seen on the moors, but no one knew where he came from. After being talked about for some time, it was decided to catch him, and in doing so the horse took an extraordinary leap, which has ever afterwards been called Katerfelto's leap. Caught he was, and kept by an ancestor of the Froude family in East Anstey. Old men who lived forty years ago (who were alive in 1860) can remember him, and so it may be that a hundred years have passed since Katerfelto appeared in the flesh.

'He has been described as a dun stallion of about 14 hands, with a black list down his back (highly uncommon color scheme in the Arab, or in the Barb), and of a blood-like appearance. He may have been therefore a racing Galloway for what anyone knows... Anyway, Katerfelto was running with the ponies for two or three years, and it is probable that the present breed inherit much of his blood. "The Druid" gives a different account of Katerfelto from this, and wrote that Katerfelto's dam, stolen from some gypsies, proved in foal to an Arab, but I had my version from the late Mr. Froude Bellow and I fancy the correct one.'

Another version of the story passed into legend about a freebooter or political offender who rode Katerfelto up the country to Prolock. There he turned him loose, and escaped by sea to a foreign refuge.

For more information, visit:

• Exmoor Pony
• Bibliography