Dales Ponies on RBST Critical List!!

[jowyles]

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust has put the Dales ponies onto its 'critical' list due to falling numbers! Calling for all that own mares to think about breeding them to keep the breed alive! Full artical available from:
http://www.rbst.org.uk/html/news_articles/watchlist_pressrel.htm

[~*sugarlump*~]

that's terrible!:(

http://www.rbst.org.uk/html/rare_breeds/equine.html all the horses and ponies that are at risk

[Maddison's girl]

my daughter rode a Dales pony whilst on holiday and she said he was the nicest pony that she had ever ridden! They are gorgeous, its such a same.

[jowyles]

Yes the RBST are doing a great deal to work to keep the breeds alive!! If you ever see their stand at an event go over an have a chat etc because without them many breeds such as Suffolk Punch would already be extinct, We dont want to end up a country where we only have the choice of warmbloods or throughbreds how boring would that be!!

[ambatt]

List from RBST website:

1. Critical Cleveland Bay, Eriskay Pony, Suffolk
2. Endangered Fell Pony, Exmoor Pony, Hackney Horse
3. Vulnerable Dales Pony, Dartmoor Pony, Highland Pony Feral Welsh Mountain
Pony (Section A)

4. At Risk Clydesdale
5. Feral -
6 . Imported Irish Draught
7. Traditional Shire

I did not realise that Cleveland Bays were so critical, they are magnificent horses.

This is a sad reflection on how our taste in horses has changed. When I was a child we only had natives and native crosses - I started with Welshies then Exmoor and then moved to Arabs. Now it is all warmbloods..

All the Native Horse and Pony Breeders need to work together to promote and publicise how verstatile these breeds are.

Dammit, I might even put a halt on my Iberian breed to help support our native breeds.

This is very worrying news.

[~*sugarlump*~]

i cant beleive ferral wlesh As are on there!:eek:
i have actually seen wild welsh ponies in the brecon beacons, they were lovely!

[jowyles]

Yes that list isnt even up to date, Dales has been moved up. If it wasnt for the Queen there would be no Cleveland Bays alive today, mainly because many got killed in the wars as they were used as cavalry horses.

[xXxJadexXx]

god!:eek:

[horseygal90]

Ah, don't let the Cleveland Bays die out - I want a stud of those gorgeous horses when I'm older!

[lindz]

Im surprised that they have gone from vulerable to critical (see chart) :

http://www.rbst.org.uk/html/rare_breeds/equine.html

300 mares registered is hardly as bad as in 1955 when the breed really was on the verge of dying out with JUST 4 registered fillies!

Still, Im not dismissing it. Is is cause for concern that numbers are dropping. Id be interested to know just how many the numbers have dropped by.

[jowyles]

Well if you click on my first link its the RBST data that says it from their news section. If the amount of foals born each year is falling its causing problems.

[c2b]

I have a Dales mare. I belong to the Dales society. As I understand it the RBT has altered how it collects its data. It used to be the number of mares of breeding age and now is the number of breeding mares. Many people with mares for whatever reason don't want to breed from them, hence the difference in numbers.
I believe there were about 100 foals registered last year.

[anna_tucker]

Yes that is certainly the case C2B.

As I understand it the system has now taken into reflection that many mares will never have a foal and this is even more true with their increased popularity for the ring, which is positive for the breed profile but has the negative effect in that there is no 'time' to breed from them. and that figure for 100 foals was the world wide figure, around 85 were born in the UK I believe and 11 of them came from one breeder.

We breed Dales ponies from our stallion (Lowhouses Black Magic) and have 3 foals due next year. Currently we are retaining all our fillies (with one possible exception) in order to make sure they have at least one foal in their lifetime and most likely they will remain with us as ridden and breeding animals for their whole lifes.

We have 5 adult mares of our own to go back into foal next spring but are currently looking for 2 more mares to join our happy herd.

It is a great improvement on the post-war figures but that does not mean the Dales are out of danger. This readjustment was long overdue and means that Dales can get their true recognition as one of our rarest breeds.