Is anyone one else worried about our native ponies

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Patchworkpony

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Is anyone else worried that our wonderful native ponies are less hardy, more highly strung and possibly less long lived than they were? It has certainly happened in some breeds since the introduction of so called 'line breeding'.

Many of these unique British breeds were kept and bred for generations to help the farmers do tough jobs in tough landscapes. I do wonder if today's youngstock will grow up to be as potentially useful as their great grandparents were or, is their only place now just in the show ring? Our native ponies are so precious but once the original traits have gone they're gone for good. I have noticed recently that many of the native I fall across at shows etc. are just plain uptight, especially the youngsters - people certainly stuff them with too much high protein, sugary foods which of course doesn't help.
 
Interesting! I dont know much about breeding but I have just bought myself a new pony, a Highland. I started off looking for a connie, as I had one about 20 years ago and he was just lovely. However, when I started looking this time around the connies now are very different, in fact my Highland pony reminds me more of my old connie than any of the modern day ones do. So yes, there may be something in what you say.
 
I think it does have an impact when they are kept overfed and cossetted; and bred more as pretty riding ponies than the good all round workhorses that they should be. You just have to look at how many overheight ponies that there are now.

Stock kept on the fells and hills of Britiain HAD to be hardy to survive, we've largely removed that need now and the proper old fashioned breeders that run stock on the fells are finding it harder and harder to continue.
 
No I'm not trying to start a debate I am simply worried that many of today's native ponies are not as safe and hardy as they were thirty years ago. How can you buy a foal that has maybe 10 crosses back to same stallion and expect to be normal. Human beings don't mate with close relatives but lots Welsh cobs, for example, do just that!
 
I agree with the breeding thing, my sec D has the same bloodlines on his dam and sires lines going back a LONG way.

Looking back over pictures of natives from years & years ago they don't even LOOK the same breeds as they are now.
 
My pony comes from a long line of hardy welsh ponies- his mother was found feral in the mountains and yet...
He is the wimpiest, highly strung diva I know! So not all of it is breeding...
 
Touchstone - I couldn't have put it better myself. How I agree with everything you've said. I had a Welsh cob 25 years ago that I used to competition carriage drive, do long distant riding on and hunt with lots of different packs, however I was told in the show ring that his action wasn't quite straight enough to win.

The Welsh cob I did win with at all the major shows though wouldn't jump a stick on the ground out hunting and I would never have dared to drive her. I finally sold her to a showing home and got myself a proper old fashioned Waverhead fell that I broke to drive and taught to jump and hunt and he also accounted well for himself in the show ring. He was wonderful and did indeed work until he was over 20 but then he was a proper working native off the hills.
 
I think there are usually plenty of people upholding more traditional type,and other people making a new generation of sport horses.

Obviously there is not the need for horses to work down mines and pull huge carts etc like they once did, and an 11hh pony is not ideal for a lot of riders so I can see why.

I like it as I have a 15hh haffy and would love a 15hh Connie or highland!
 
Hmmm I'm not sure line/in breeding is a new phenomenon. It happend A LOT back in the day due to it being hard to go long distances to get different stallion lies. What has changed is that there are less of them now, agricultural modernisation and tractors accounted for a massive cull of native types which left a bigger genetic hole in the breed than anything before or since.
I can only talk about Connies though, and they have changed massively in the last 15 years, but nothing has changed the breed as much as the Ferguson 20 IMHO!
 
Line breeding is nothing new, though the traits for which ponies are bred may well be changing. I think it has more to do with how they are kept and trained than genetics though. I think more ponies are overweight, worked less and possibly less well trained in terms of a broad education these days.

I think, though this may not be a fair reflection countrywide, that more large natives are now owned by novicey adults as mother-daughter share types, who are more likely to be cheeky / ill-mannered due to rider weakenesses and are often under worked and overweight. These may be less long lived due to weight related issues, or highly strung in the sense of badly behaved.

Then you get the owners who keep their natives as fit as possible, fully clipped and bubbling with energy. These might be highly strung in the sense of sharper than a traditional native, and less hardy (can't leave a clipped out horse naked all winter!). I don't think this is a bad thing though (well I wouldn't, would I?).

Others may be bred selectively for show ring traits, not make the grade and have behavioural, conformational or health issues which were less common years ago. I wonder about the seeeming increasing prevalence of sweet itch in highlands, and highly strung temperaments in welsh Ds here (though my exp of the latter is limited, and even more so historically).

I'm less concerned if ponies don't get the breadth of education they used to (PC, mounted games, less real hacking etc) and are highly strung / ill mannered, than those which are kept perpetually obese. This is the most worrying thing I see in natives (and other breeds) on a regular basis.
 
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Some lines breed lighter ponies but protein or feeding makes natives fat, basically to make them more mature. Natives take a long time to mature and this should not be hurried. My active highland is out naked due to being turned away with lameness, I don't want him fat so god way to keep weight off and careful with too muc food etc. will feed to weather.
 
Touchstone - great pic from the fell museum. I visited the venue when the venerable Sylvia McCosh was still alive. Now there was a fell breeder who really understood the need for native pony hardiness. She was no mean gardener either and grew amazing plants right in the heart of Cumbria!
 
Highlands - heavy native breeds don't fully mature until they are 8 so you are doing so much the right thing and should have a pony that lasts into its 20's.
 
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