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American Dartmoor Sportpony
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The Dartmoor Sportpony is a breed, which has at least 50% Dartmoor Pony blood (created by crossing Dartmoor stallions with mares of other breeds) and is recognized for registration with the American Dartmoor Pony Association. Crossbreeding the Dartmoor became popular with breeders trying to create the perfect replacement pony for children who had outgrown their Dartmoor. The Dartmoor Pony contributes both its kind disposition (very important quality as a child's mount) and plenty of bone for a pony that possesses versatility, strength and intelligence.
The American Dartmoor Sportpony registry was created to fill a need. Every breed of equine has a special purpose and was not meant to be good at every discipline. Due to this and to meet the current trend or market, breed registries would often add outside blood to make their breed come closer to what the market was asking for. Many foundation bloodlines and unique qualities of various breeds have been lost forever. To protect the Dartmoor Pony from losing its unique and original qualities so valuable for preserving and passing on in its pure form as well as to crosses, the American Dartmoor Sportpony registry was started. With this, breeders can get the special qualities of the Dartmoor in an equine to suit their needs and discipline. Sportponies come in various builds and sizes suitable to all types of disciplines and can be bred to another American Dartmoor Sportpony or Dartmoor Pony to be registrable. You can’t get more versatile than this!
Dartmoor Sportponies have helped the purebred Dartmoor as well. Since purebreds are rare and can only come from the limited number of purebred mares available to breed with purebred stallions, the process of increasing numbers is slow. With low worldwide numbers, it is hard to get the publicity needed to increase interest, breeding and marketing. Since the number of mares of other breeds is endless, the number of Sportponies being bred is at a higher rate. As they enter shows and do well, they are increasing the knowledge of the Dartmoor Pony and its contribution. With this added exposure, the purebred Dartmoor is on the rise.
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Since last update on 9/3/03
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