Sec A's, Shetlands and other Small Breeds...

[MosMum]

Should they really be bred in this current climate?

I went to Carmarthen Sales the other week wherea Sec A went for £5. Shetlands are a world of their own but ignorant owners buy them thinking 'cute, little' and in fact they are sometimes bratty escapologists, and small doesn't necessarily mean 'kids pony'!

Personally, for my little ones (aged 6 and 2.5 years) I would prefer a sensible 13.2 or slightly bigger so they can start by sitting in front of me!

I know some have fantastic blood lines and maybe for that reason SHOULD be bred as they are still selling simply as show stock, but the mountain we cross to get to our livery yard is well stocked with 'trash' ponies Admittedly there are a couple I want to kidnap... but really!

 

[Enfys]

In answer to your question probably not, but who is going to stop it?

In a perfect world, all the flotsam would come off the mountains and moors and only pure to type ponies should be on there, I have lived both on Dartmoor (Bovey, Two Bridges, Roborough) and in Wales (I could ride to your yard from my field gate directly across the mountain) and the crossbreeds that I have seen for years (and in some cases, even fed over my fence) are pathetic.

But, in a way, it is the buyers fault, if they didn't go "Ahhhhhhhhh, isn't that pretty?" then none of these coloureds and spotties would have been bred in the days when they did make a reasonable price. On the other side of Brynamman there used to be dozens of spotted ponies, I knew one of the owners too, when spotties became popular he purposely bought in a spotted stallion and it bred anything with a functionng uterus.

Ponies have never made much money, 30 years ago we were buying Exmoors from Bampton for 10 pounds (a LOT then for what they were) but at least they made 12.2, 20-25 years ago we were picking up coloureds from Tavistock for a tenner, and solid bay colts were only making a pound or two back then. A farmer I knew in Yelverton sold his solid colts directly to the meat man, he fattened them up and to him they were no more than beef steers. Their short lives, in actual fact, probably weren't so bad.

 

[MosMum]

There are LOADS of coloured horses on the commons around here (Treboeth). I guess at least they usually make a reasonable height and are generally quiet (I know, 'generally' is a bad word with horses lol) but the overbreeding is causing some pretty odd conformations, I'm no expert but there are a few around here who are quite young and very swaybacked and cow-hocked!

Sec A's will always be the saddest for me, I guess, they are just up there with pot bellied pigs- not great pets, not good eating, only really pets for people who want something 'different' but when they bored, no real future for the horse.

 

[ozpoz]

i agree completely with your questioning whether they should be bred - i think the current economic situation hasn't helped at all, and responsible breeding has never been more of an issue.

But I do think there is nothing to beat a good section A pony for a child to learn to ride well on. They can be narrow and small enough for a baby, and are naturally balanced, and that is important when a child's head is still large in proportion to it's body, and the child is wobbly! They also move well and have a proper shoulder and I've never known one which didn't enjoy jumping!
And if both mare and stallion have a kind temperament and the breeder is able to care for youngstock properly, then yes - this is the native breed that has put so many of our top riders where they are today!

We need our good Welsh ponies! I am a huge fan