breeding sports ponies

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lisaward

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what sort of market is there for sports ponies ??

I am still undecided about breeding from my trad cob and what i'd put her to if i do .....

what age do you sell at as i usually sell as foals with my horse foals,or do sport ponies sell better backed and produced as this may create problems finding a small rider,
that and the fact i will have to keep for longer.

what size is the best seller ?
my mare is 14.1hh approx
 
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breezing

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I have kept my 2 homebred sport ponies they are now rising 5 and when they have had a few more outings and I feel they are ready for a new homw I will put them on the market.I dont think I will get anywhere near the price I was hoping for when I started this breeding project ,but I have really enjoyed watching them grow up and hope I can find someone to love and enjoy them and to bring out their potential .
 
Waterborn

Waterborn

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I too have two homebred sports ponies, the earliest is now 3 (this year). It's great to see them growing up but make sure you grade your mare with the SPSS if you can, breed from the best stallion you can afford, don't expect to make a profit and be prepared for a long wait before you see the results ...
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holiday

holiday

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I think as a "sweeping statement" sports ponies are being bred to try and aim for the optimum height of 148cms, in the showjumping there are height limits but for an FEI pony for dressage or eventing they need to be as close as possible to the 148cms.

Show ponies tend to have a different type of movement they tend to be less quick in the hind leg and less knee of a sports pony. They have vast amounts of classes to enter whereas the true sports pony is really aimed at the ridden classes in the field they are to be aimed at. They obviously have the Futurities to look forward to and also the SPSS Annual Show and grading.

You would need to closely look at your mare to decide which way to go in breeding a sports pony from her, does she have a good jump in her to think of crossing her to a jumping pony. What sort of movement does she have? Im assuming she would have some knee due to her being a tradional so you could go for a very athletic pony to add more to her movement and quicken her hind leg to go along the dressage lineage or even a more lighter weight to go towards the eventing lines.

On the other hand there is a very good market for coloured cobs - just as an afterthought!!!!! We are trying to breed coloured tradionals alongside our sports ponies!!!!! As a useful easy marketing type pony!!!!!

From a selling point of view I realistically feel they are easier to sell under saddle with a competition record, there are of course minimum age limits for ponies for the teams. We dont sell any of our foals some would be for sale especially the geldings but we dont advertise them and only sell the odd ones, mainly as I have planned already which way my breeding programme is going even with this years foals lol!!!!! Some of which have been bred purposely to keep as brood mares and ive been lucky enough to have fillies from those mares, and a colt from a mare that I wanted to breed a colt which I was also lucky enough to feel he will be good enough to be kept entire and stand with me.

I realise it isnt always possible to keep/produce ponies and to find good jockeys for them is also quite difficult but from a pony foal point of view people expect ponies to be very cheap - as many show ponies can be found as foals at a very reasonable cost, breeding sports ponies isnt a cheap way of breeding as the sires can be very expensive "in pony terms" and many of the sports pony sires are only available via AI which all of course adds to the cost, which im sure from a breeders point of view you are well aware!!!!

Have a look at the stallions on the SPSS site they are all graded and inspected and there are a wide range of different types.
http://www.sportpony.org.uk/stallions.shtml

Hope that helps and gives a little insight to how we feel about our ponies and how we are producing and our breeding programme.

The one thing I would say is we totally adore them and they give us such pleasure and our 2010 crop is on its way!!!!!!!!!!!!! How exciting!!!!!!
 
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lisaward

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no i was doubtful it was what i wanted to do with my mare and you have just confirmed my views.
I am going to look at bigger stallions with the view to breeding a nice 15.2hh or go for a traditional
or leave off breeding her
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