British native breeds
Britain's abundant and diverse native breeds make up the best and largest selection of pony bloodlines in the world - Native British pony bloodlines are at the heart of the continent's top sport ponies. Their hardiness and often gentle and willing temperaments also mean they are great all-round mounts for both children and adults.
Dales www.raresteeds.com
Dartmoor www.dartmoorponysociety.co.uk
Eriskay www.eriskaypony.com
Exmoor Fell www.fellponysociety.org
Highland www.highlandponysociety.com
New Forest www.newforestpony.com
Shetland www.shetlandponystudbooksociety.co.uk
Welsh A,B C and D www.wpcs.uk.com
The three British draught breeds are famous worldwide, with shire horses being exported all over the world from the UK.
Clydesdale www.clydesdalehorsesociety.com
Shire www.shire-horse.org.uk
Suffolk Punch www.suffolkhorsesociety.fsnet.co.uk
Cleveland Bay Horse www.clevelandbay.com
Hackney horse and Pony www.hackney-horse.org.uk
Unfortunately many of our native breeds are on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Register:
The Cleveland Bay Horse, Dales Pony, Eriskay Pony and Suffolk are on the Critical list (less than 500)
The Exmoor and Hackney are on the Endangered list
The Dartmoor , Fell, Highland, Welsh (Section A) are on the Vulnerable list with the Clydesdale listed as At Risk and the Shire horse on the Traditional register (less than 3000)
However, the future could be looking up as more and more people realise the benefits of our native breeds. In 2004, the Dartmoor Pony Society registered 267 foals, the highest total for over 30 years and in the same year, the Fell Pony Society registered 365 foals, an increase of nearly 35% on the 2000 total of 272.
Native breeds are also contributing to maintaining the ecology of important British nature sites, and preserving the land in an environmentally friendly way, not only for grazing projects - there are examples of using heavy horses for logging, and fell ponies to take materials to inaccessible areas to fix footpaths. Click here for more details.
