Horses : Traditional Australian Pony

RARE BREEDS TRUST OF AUSTRALIA

Horses : Traditional Australian Pony

Country of Origin

Outline map of Australia

Australia

Australian Status

Uses

Riding, driving, pony club, eventing, campdrafting, and jumping - ideal children’s/small adults mount.

Breed traits

From the Standard of Pony Type set by the APSB published in 1949;
A pony should be compact, sturdy and free from coarseness. A free and surefooted mover. alert and with energy in his movement, characteristic of a pony type. Capable of great endurance and with the ability to cover ground. It must not exceed more than 14 hands.

Head: small, clean cut and alert. Broad between the eyes and tapering to a fine muzzle. Ears small and almond shaped. Jaw bone rounded but free from coarseness, open under the throat and join the neck in a free flowing curve.

Body: Shoulders should be deep and well laid back. Fine yet definite wither. Chest deep with plenty of heart room. Ribs well sprung but not rounded like barrel hoops. Back short and straight, short strong muscular loins. Hindquarters long from hip to pin bone, well rounded and powerful. Tail set fairly high and gaily carried.

Legs: Knees and hocks well developed, Hocks well let down, forearm long and cannon bone short. Tendons pronounced denoting strength and stamina. Bone strong and flat but not clumsy.

Feet: Feathers at back of fore and hind fetlock joints are natural, pasterns short and strong. Hoof should be small, neat and rounded. Heels wide and frog well developed and in close contact with the ground.

A Traditional Australian Pony is a pony that has no outside blood in it's pedigree from the 1950s onwards. This means all ponies within the pony's pedigree from 1960 onwards should be registered in the Australian section of the APSB Inc ONLY.

History

Ponies of various breeds have been imported into Australia since the beginning of the 1800s. These breeds included but were not limited to the:

Timor Ponies
Hungarian Ponies
Hackney Pony
Hackney Horse
Exmoor Ponies
Highland Ponies
Shetland Ponies
Small Thoroughbreds and Arabs
Connemara Ponies and
Welsh / Welsh Partbred ponies.

All these breeds contributed to refining an animal that was suited to Australian conditions and was a versatile all round mount for both adults and children. Many of their early pedigrees were recorded by way of newspaper articles, Royal Shows, Stock Journals and Government records.

Pony Study Book Societies formation

In 1931 the Australian Pony Stud Book Society was formed. The original Studbook started with three breeds. Beside the Shetland and Hackney sections, the founders of the Studbook created the "Australian Pony" section. This section was originally to record all other breeds imported into Australia, not exceeding 14hh, and their genetic pool which contributed to the forming of the foundation stock for the “homebred Australian Pony”.

The intention was to produce a versatile pony of type, size, temperament and substance suitable for all applications as required by the variable climatic conditions of the Australian continent. Unfortunately many of the original ponies / horses from breeders of much earlier eras were not recorded as foundation stock in Volume 1 of the Studbook due to various reasons.

Some of these earlier ponies, as well as some of today’s traditional Australian Ponies, could also be considered Waler Ponies.

In 1951 the Qld Branch of the APSBS broke away from the Federal Council to form its own Society and produced a Studbook with many pedigrees going back many generations not recorded in the original APSBS Volume 1. The APSBS later recorded these ponies in Volumes VII / VIII.

1970 saw the formation of the Australian Welsh Pony and Cob Society Stud Book. This saw a significant increase in the number of Welsh Ponies, mainly stallions, being imported into Australia. Sadly many Traditional Australian Pony mares found their way into a dual purpose breeding program for these studs.

A black & white photograph of Felix Johnstone with Champion Pony "General MacArthur" in Hughenden in 1954 from Flinders Shire Historical Collection public domain.

Current Stud Book classifications

Currently the Australian Pony Stud Book Society administers a greater number of the different breeds. The Society has created individual sections for all the Mountain and Moorland breeds, Riding Ponies, Gypsy Cobs and an APSB part bred section. The APSB part bred section includes the part breds of all those individual breeds and Australian pony part breds. This has left the 'Australian Pony' Section for just the Australian Pony.

Now with the Society's focus on only allowing Welsh Pony A / B blood to be the only outside blood now allowed into the breed, the Traditional Australian Pony, that was a sturdy mixture of such a diverse variety of blood, is now changing into a more welsh quasi counterpart. The catch cry today touted by some as "the modern Australian Pony”.

With the help of some dedicated breeders, that have a very real worry of where this sort of crossing will take the breed in the future, we have realised that, though the Australian Pony is technically safe from extinction and would not normally come under our radar, the Traditional Australian Pony is far from safe.

Breed Association

Australian Pony Stud Book Society (APSB)

Additional Links

Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria’s official Catalogue of Annual Exhibitions 1900 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U6hyUKuchwI3eDXkl8Y-w5w-bVMEvpqE/view?usp=sharing
Extract from the Queensland Stud Pony Society 1953 https://drive.google.com/file/d/16HvpM-pB0azmzu0EJQLa6u6lnY-CqZGM/view?usp=sharing
Barolin Pony Stud advertisement – est. 1946 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UqBSu_H5bDpryX-CSdsQpl_sAnLkDJfb/view?usp=sharing
Photo; from the Australian War Memorial featured in the Queenslander 1902 https://drive.google.com/file/d/17lAbUimO7i4m4vInoqJl8HUJgLjrq6xa/view?usp=sharing
Australian Post Stamp issue “Horses in Australia” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ap8h6kuc2h8VZ9EmRmWnvXH-E-DRAOnW/view?usp=sharing
Glenville Pony Stud by Andrew Gray reference APSB Journal 1994 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UvGc2vXjhRT_qnuFzwoMjiYnpfye6k4t/view?usp=sharing
Royal George born 1944 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OWgdJIdUZAsnuAUl18dYi43eJ3l7P7cV/view?usp=sharing
Little Tartar born 1933 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NMrmLDkitI1_dS6Ax4ycw6iHzy8mK7FW/view?usp=sharing

Below are links to additional photos around the beginning of the 20th century of ponies around Australia.

Australian Population

2022 716

Traditional Australian Pony 2022 census, mares - click to view/download

Photo Credits

Top: Jalengla Dinarth Jim, champion pony stallion at the Royal Sydney Show 1935 from the public domain of the State Library of NSW.

Middle: photo kindly supplied by Judy Shirley.

Bottom: A black & white photograph of Felix Johnstone with Champion Pony "General MacArthur" in Hughenden in 1954 from Flinders Shire Historical Collection public domain.

Page by Amy Young.

Updated April 2022 (census figures ) by Janet Lane - list below...

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RARE BREEDS TRUST OF AUSTRALIA