Some think that the Yakut horse is related to a creature that existed before the last ice age, roaming with prehistoric mammals like the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros.

The horse gradually evolved into the three types found today: the northern original, the smaller southern type and the larger southern type.

The horses are well suited to the severe Arctic conditions and can withstand temperatures as low as -60°F / -50°C.

• Their manes and tail are thick and long.
• They are smaller than most other horses, so they lose less body heat.
• They have very thick skin and in winter they grow a dense covering of hair.
• Their hooves are very strong so they can scrape away deep snow while looking for food.
• They can store reserves of fat during the summer when food is plentiful. The fat acts as both insulation against the cold and as a source of energy to draw on during winter.

The Antarctic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, used Yakut ponies on his doomed expedition to the south pole in 1910. None survived (nor did Scott) - some died while pulling sledges, and others became killer whale lunch when they were trapped on an ice-floe.