New Group Forms for Sport Ponies in Canada
Sport Pony Canada is a newly-founded group dedicated to promoting the breeding, showing, and sales of sport ponies in Canada and North America. Sport ponies are one of the newest trends in the horse breeding industry, and are generally based on established pony breeds such as Welsh, Connemara, and New Forest Pony with thoroughbred and warmblood crosses gaining popularity. The goal is to create an athletic pony of a balanced, small horse type for children and small adults to compete on.
A sport pony is defined as a pony that is bred to compete in one of the performance disciplines such as hunter/jumper, dressage, eventing, reining, or combined driving. Currently Sport Pony Canada is not a breed registry, though we are pursuing the possibility.
The group was formed when Alana Longman, a lifelong Welsh pony and cob breeder in Saskatchewan, was looking to establish a Saskatchewan or Prairies Pony Promotion Group in September of 2003. With strong interest from Albera and British Columbia, the group grew to Western Canada, and with the addition of pony breeders in Ontario, the organization has grown Canada-wide and started taking memberships in the beginning of 2005.
As part of our goal to help top breeders and trainers find markets for their ponies, we are planning a Private Treaty Sale and tradeshow booth at Spruce Meadows Masters, Sept. 7-11, 2005. The sale, to be held at Sweet Talk Stables about 20 minutes from Spruce Meadows, will feature 30 trained ponies available for private purchase. We believe this is perhaps the first initiative in Canada that has seen such top-quality ponies available in one place to the public.
A key part of our promotional effors has been the website, which features listings of breeders from all over Canada and the US. The site also features the bi-monthly Sport Pony Magazine, with industry news, trends, profiles, and feature articles.
For more information, please visit our website: www.sportponycanada.com
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