The Cornish Goonhilly pony, like the Devon Pack Horse is now extinct. It was bred out of existence through crossing with Arab blood. At the time it was considered that crossing would save it from extinction. Infact the prodgeny of the Arab were so popular that the best of the first crosses were all snapped up. This however signalled the end for the breed, nothing remained of the former Goonhilly, and the Arab crosses remaining were the weakest, and not tough enough to withstand the rigours of the exposed heath.

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THE GOONHILLY NAGS

(The Cornishman, March 6th, 1884)

"Lord Falmouth has just presented Mr. John Williams of Lannarth, with a fine Arab steed, brought from Egypt---a stallion to be set free on Goonhilly-Downs. In connection with the gift one condition only was attached---that the horse should not be employed in any sense to work. In a few years The Goonhilly will again be noted for its breed of wild ponies---fleet of foot and difficult to overtake."

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(Devon & Exeter Daily Gazette. Jan 14th, 1889)

"The ancient breed of Goonhilly ponies, which have long braved the elements, in a wild and windy part of the coast of Cornwall between Helston and the Lizard Head, have recently been saved from extinction by Mr. John Williams, M. F. H., son of an extensive owner of adjacent property. The ponies are an exceedingly active weight-carrying breed, with stout cob-like frame, and the best of them are noted for their blood-like heads and legs. It is believed that the original Goonhilly pony was used as a packhorse before the extension of roads, and those who are learned in the history of the active little horses of Cornwall, to which the ponies are allied, are well aware that the breed has never crossed satisfactorily with thoroughbred sires, the offspring proving "a weedy trashy race, too light for the general purpose of riding or driving" (Mr. Karkeeks Farming of Cornwall, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 1845). Mr. Williams has acted with judgement in selecting his sires from among the ponies entered in the Hakney Horse Stud Book, the foals, as we have seen in his pastures at Scorrier House, Cornwall, having stout frames, pleasant features, and short clean legs. In one case the experiment of using a thoroughbred was tried, and the result is a foal far less promising than the others."