Did Robert Falcon Scott's Manchurian ponies survive?

Answer 1

No, they did not. They actually planned to deliberately push the horses hard until they were too weak to walk any further. Then they would be killed, slaughtered and fed to the dogs, and the skin used for insulation etc.

Summary:

• 20 horses were bought.
• 19 survived to Antarctica
• Alternative 1: 9 died while transporting supplies to the depots
• Alternative 2: 6 of the 8 ponies transporting supplies to the depots died
• 10 joined the main expedition to the pole point and died or were killed on the way

The cause of the difference between alternative 1 and 2 can be that some horses died at the base, even though they did not join in supplying the depots. Sources say that at least two were killed because they fell into the icy water at the base.

I have found some references, but I have not tracked it down to the original sources. See sources and related links (below) for more information.

"Unfortunately, of the 20 siberian-bred ponies Scott elected to bring on the expedition, few of them lived to fulfill their purported usefulness. Many of the underfed ponies died of exhaustion, disappeared in the night, or were lost at sea on the voyage to the South pole. Others met a grizzlier fate: some horses, battered and fatigued, were preyed upon by Scott's scant crew of dogs; and two of them fell victim to killer whales when they floated off on an ice flow and were unable to be recovered safely. (Captain L.E.G. Oates had been put in charge of the ponies. When they slipped into the water where killer whales were hungrily waiting, Oates reportedly killed the ponies with an axe and an ice pick, saying that he couldn't leave them to be eaten alive.)"

Nine horses died during preparations for the main expedition:

"Of 19 ponies brought south to aid in laying depots on the Ross Ice Shelf (traversed during the first and final quarters of the trek) nine were lost before the journey began."

National Geographic seems to have done a slight miscalculation (my corrections/comments in brackets):

"Michael and the other nine [eight] ponies [nine altogether] died en route to stock up supply depots for Scott and his men on their return journey from the Pole."

"Of the eight ponies that had begun the depot-laying journey, only two returned home."

"The first to leave were those with the motor sledges while the others with ponies and dogs followed behind - ten men each with a pony and sledge."

"The ponies continued to fare badly, two were lost in the sea when they broke through ice. When they were unable to be retrieved, they fell victim to killer whales. Before the sun went down for the winter, only 10 ponies were left out of an original 19."