More Information

Proposed Warmblood/Sport Horse/Sport Pony group
www.sporthorsecanada.ca

Canadian Livestock Records
www.clrc.ca

Welsh Pony & Cob Society
of Canada
www.welshponyandcob.org

Canadian Haflinger Association
www.haflinger.ca

Canadian Fjord Horse Association
www.cfha.org

American Sportpony Registry
www.americansportpony.com

Sport Ponies in Canada: What's happening, and
where do we go from here?

Good news for pony breeders in Canada - from all indications, the pony industry is definitely on its way up. The past two years have seen two new pony organizations form; Sport Pony Canada in 2004 and the new Pony Breeders of Ontario group at the end of 2005. Both organizations were started by breeders and owners who recognized a need in the Canadian horse industry and decided to step forward and fill it.

As anyone belonging to a breed organization knows, the geographic challenges to any Canada-wide group are immense. Sport Pony Canada, founded in Saskatchewan, was initally and still is dedicated to promoting the breeding, showing and sales of sport ponies in Canada. Canadian warmblood and sport horse groups were approached about joint efforts, with the idea that we had similar goals in mind. It would also be a huge benefit to be able to join established inspections, sales, shows, etc. With the proposed amalgamation of warmblood and sport horse groups, Sport Pony Canada was invited to join as a new and evolving breed registry. Sport Pony Canada will be holding its inagural meeting on January 13th, 2006 to elect interim board members.

The Pony Breeders of Ontario association was created recently by a small group of pony breeders in Ontario and will hold its first meeting in late February or early March of 2006. The group's aims are similar to other regional promotional groups, such as the Maryland Pony Breeder's Association. The PBO aims to encourage the showing of ponies in Ontario, through initiatives such as tracking show records and offering futurities. Diana Macdonald, interim President, explains “We are primarily a promotion and marketing group that will track animals for bragging purposes - we won't be replacing any breed registry or discipline/sport organization but wish to work with these other groups for the betterment of all.” Hopefully Canada will see more of these regional initiatives in the future.

The following is an overview of groups currently registering ponies in Canada.

Canadian registries which are incorporated under the Animal Pedigree Act can have their registries online at the Canadian Livestock Records Corp. website (see More Info at left) and statistics gathered are from this website. Records were examined for four Canadian pony registries. We've also looked at inspection records from the American Sportpony Registry. All facts and figures used are from the last complete year available (2004), except for the ASPR, which uses data from 2005 inspections.

The Welsh Pony & Cob Society of Canada is currently the largest pony registry in Canada, with 409 members, 10,333 purebred animals registered and 1,256 half-bred animals registered to date. 2004 saw 229 new purebred animals and 84 half-bred animals registered. 37% of all new registries in 2004 were half-bred animals. The WPCSC recorded 413 purebred transfers and 68 non-pure transfers, with 66 ponies exported, approximately 16% of all transfers. Ontario and Alberta led in numbers for registrations and members, with BC, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan following. The WPCSC currently does not allow registration of part-bred animals; any animal registered must have one purebred parent.

The Canadian Haflinger Association had 245 members in 2004 and a total of 1,938 ponies registered to date. They track only purebred ponies and had 206 new registries and 336 transfers of ownership with only four exports. The majority of their activity took place in Quebec (114 ponies registered; 86 members) and Ontario (79 ponies registered; 134 members). Quebec and Ontario accounted for 94% of new pony registries and 90% of members.

The Canadian Fjord Horse Association had 172 members in 2004 and a total of 2,719 animals registered to date. The CFHA tracks only purebred Fjords and registered 110 new animals in 2004. Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC saw the most registrations (in decending order). The registry also saw 34 animals exported.

The Canadian Pony Association recognizes the following studbooks for registration: Shetland ponies, excluding animals recorded in Section B of the American Shetland Pony Club stud book, and "animals of the following breeds, imported from Great Britain, formerly recorded in the National Pony Stud Book and now registered... (as) Dales, Dartmoor, Fell, Highland and Exmoor." The CPA has 96 members and has registered 8,796 Shetland ponies, 7 Polo ponies, 46 Dartmoor ponies, 46 Fell ponies, and 55 Highland ponies as of Dec. 31, 2004. 2004 saw 13 purebred registrations and 22 transfers, with the majority of the activity taking place in Ontario (65 members), Quebec (9 members) and Alberta (10 members).

The Canadian POA Association is currently not incorporated under the Animal Pedigree Act.

The American Sportpony Registry is also currently being used as a registry option by Canadian breeders. The number of Canadian members in the registry was not available, however inspection results were available from the three inpections held this year (2005).

The first, on May 14th, was held at Kingshill Equestrian Center in Ontario. Eleven ponies (seven mares/fillies, three colts and one gelding) were registered from a total of six owners. Ontario had a second inspection on September 4th, held at Pause Awhile Equestrian Center and organized by Darlene Morton. Twenty-seven ponies were inspected and approved from a total of fourteen owners. There were two stallions, sixteen mares/fillies, seven colts, one gelding and one unknown. Ponies inspected included *Stockham Commander M and Morton's Kitty Kat, Junior Champion Open Pony at the Ontario Open Sport Pony Line Show held this summer.

The third inspection was held on September 29th at Gloucester Downs in Aldergrove, BC. Sixteen ponies were registered from a total of seven owners and included five colts, ten mares/fillies and one stallion.

What's your opinion? We'd love to hear! Questions and or comments can be emailed to editor@sportponycanada.com