Seendieks Dandelion - lot 39 of the German www.ponyforum.de auction on the 10th april 2008

Welsh ponies and Cobs- the forgotten Heroes of British Sport Pony Breeding.

Ask someone to recommend a pony breed to produce a quality performance pony and Welsh ponies and Cobs would be far from the top of the list. For years the idea of using a welsh cob stallion to breed a top class dressage, show jump or event pony would have been considered unusual to say the least. Times are changing though, records are proving that for years now, welsh bred ponies have been leading the way in all three of the affiliated disciplines, as well as in Driving and Endurance.
Even to a long standing believer the list of ponies with a quarter or more welsh blood performing at the top is surprisingly long.
Welsh part breds have always been popular. Tough, intelligent, hardy, talented and carefull with quality and bone, they have the paces to succeed inhand and under saddle, they are the foundation of many a successful riding pony, working hunter pony and show hunter pony, one would think they would be an obvious choice to breed a performance pony. Not so, for too long, pony breeding has been a mystery to most people, not least the riders and owners themselves. So many good welsh pedigrees have been thrown in the bin and the ponies sold as something off the boat, such has been the overriding interest in irish ponies for Showjumping and Eventing.



Crabberi Donnadea ridden in BSJA classes by Chloe Lowther
Forever Star Turn ridden by Jamie cotton
Dylasau Derior -138, reg cob by Minyffordd Democrat
Rosedale Monarch,
Flinor Songbird
Celton Lara
Brookhall Glimpse,
Nantcol Premier- reg wpb
CJ II -reg sec D All Top Flight Jumping Ponies, reg pure or part bred welsh

With the new and welcome interest in sport pony breeding the same problem persists, only from the opposite direction- the continent, Europe. Big money is paid for German, Dutch and foreign Dressage ponies, stallions and their stud fees when if a good look was taken at their pedigrees it would become clear that the continentals realised a long time ago what a very fine performance influence the welsh breed is. (Deja vu for warmblood breeders, the continentals found the English Thoroughbred. And used it to breed the modern riding horses and ponies that the british find so irresistible)

Machno Ramezez-ridden y Stena Hoerner
Ruckham chester- ridden by Sammy Page, owned by Rosemary Neale. By sec D, out of D x arab x Dartmoor
Llanwnda Winston sec D, dressage and driving.
Maesyfron Rhett ridden by Myles watt
All successful Dressage Ponies

Some examples of impressive continental stallions with welsh bloodlines are :

Manitu N... Top Dressage Pony Stallion, Danish Nordic and British Champion, he has outstanding welsh bloodlines with Downland Chevalier and Nebo Black Magic in his pedigree.
Black Boy... Top German Riding Pony Stallion.. Welsh Dam.. Jardine.. German sire by Grannus, Jardines pedigree oozes quality welsh breeding with Coed Coch, Cusop, Gredington, Downland to name but a few.

There are many types of welsh though, many that are not suited to ridden work at all. Some are very good ridden cobs and ponies whilst still not having the movement for competition riding. The types that have the paces and conformation for modern dressage, eventing, show jumping and endurance have long been overlooked for a variety of reasons, for not being true to type, for being under or over height or very often for merely being the wrong colour or sex. As very few pure bred colts are of the quality necessary to be retained as breeding animals, they are more often than not either never registered with their parent society or gelded and passed on indifferently at sales or to dealers. It is only recently that welsh ponies are being specifically bred for ridden sports and as such they are equally as valuable as mares, geldings or stallions.
The waste product element of welsh breeding is a little like the racehorse industry, to breed the champion, hundreds are of also rans are produced that are surplus to requirements, like racing, many of these rejects could well be valuable performance ponies in the making, it just takes a little patience and time. Fortunately for the welsh breeds they are not as expensive to keep and often have little experience, making them an easier animal to produce all round.

As times and habits change and move on, the sport pony we are seeing today will become more purpose bred, like the warmbloods did, the type will evolve and become more specialised. More people are recognising how talented the native breeds are, recognising the bloodlines that produce the action and paces required for each sport. It is early days yet but soon the British will be breeding ponies that will look like the warmblood horses our top senior riders are competing on.
As progress speeds up, the downside is that breeding generations will advance so rapidly that the recognised bloodlines will be thinned out as names like BWLCH VALENTINO, OAKLEY BUBBLING SPRING and PENTRE EIDDWEN COMET will become further back in the pedigrees. Not before some breeders have maximised on them and produced fit strong animals with good crossings of these hitherto undervalued lines.

In 10 years time we will already be looking back at the breeding we see around us now as back in the old days and hopefully there will be ponies competing that will do justice to all the old bloodlines of any of the native breeds and who knows, the Welsh bred pony may even be recognised as the world class performance pony producer that it is.

Showjumping:
MACHNO CARWYN
Sire Carregcoch Bleddyn by Cathedine Express / dam Machno Ceridwen by Tylan Danny
Winner of 2 x European individual gold, 4 national gold and 1 bronze, placed in 25 grand prix with 7 wins, won 50 of 130 international competitions



Full registered welsh cob, bred in Wales. His sire Carregcoch Bleddyn (3 crossings of PENTRE EIDDWEN COMET) stands in Wales. Do British Performance Pony breeders flock to his door? More fool them if they dont, Bleddyn has produced t was third by a nahis
years winner of the 4yr old Potential Jumping Pony Championship, Machno Showtime who was third in the potential dressage pony final-

(This article highlights the strength of the welsh influence) ----------------------------

Carole Mortimer writes -

4 January, 2007

A German-bred bay mare won the first pony final of the SEIB/BEF young horse evaluations
The dressage performer Conchita was the winner of the first pony final of the South Essex Insurance Brokers/British Equestrian Federation young horse evaluations. These took place at the Sports Pony Studbook grading and in-hand show at the Heart of England Equestrian Centre.

Nicki Parnell's German-bred bay gained the highest mark of the four finalists ..... the top qualifiers from the six regional evaluations for four-year-olds held earlier in the year.

Conchita, who was ridden by Nicki's daughter, Sarah, is by the exported Welsh pony stallion Constantin ..... sire of many successful German ponies, including the 1999 European dressage gold and silver medallists Conrad and Cash And Go. She is out of a mare by the Trakehner sire Michaelangelo and was bought in Germany as a three-year-old.

"I wasn't really looking for mare, but she was the sweetest, nicest, well-mannered pony I'd seen in a long time and was just perfect for a child," said Nicki, who formerly rode internationally for Bermuda as an eventer.

Conchita's overall score of 85.65% also meant that she was awarded an elite mare diploma.

Tynycae Sandmartin, another successful pony by the Pincus's grand prix stallion Wurlitzer, was the best British-bred, finishing just behind the winner. Out of the mare Tynycae Goldfinch, by Sarnau Valentine, Sandmartin is owned by her breeder, Serena Pincus, and was ridden by Sheepcote Stud's stable jockey Kara Smith. Sandmartin was also the winner of the Central Prefix Register (CPR) award for the highest qualifying score by any horse or pony with a CPR prefix in this year's evaluations.

Top potential show jumper Machno Showtime was third with a score of 83.9%. Nicola Slater's pony was bred by Merion Jones and is by the successful Welsh section D stallion Carregcoch Bleddyn, the leading sire of performance ponies in 2005.

NOTICE HOW ALL THREE OF THE ABOVE PONIES ARE WELSH BRED!



SAKAMA CHESNI
Bred by Mrs Wilson of Co Durham reg sec C. winner of HOYS 2006 138 cms Championship.
By CAERBERLLAN TYWYSOG COCH by PAITH TYWYSOG COCH (2006 winner of the British Breeders Award for leading sire of British Performance Ponies) by CIPYN RED FLYER. Out of PARKTON VICTORIA by PADDOCK PLAYBOY (4 crossings of PENTRE EIDDWEN COMET)



EVENTING

BOWHOUSE TOMOS reg WPB

Won PC. Eventing County Open WHP
BSPS Summer Champs, Won Novice and Open WHP.
Hunted with Cheshire Forest.
2004
BSJA winnings and British dressage points in a few outings. Jumping Newcomers and Foxhunters.
1st and qual, RIHS WHP. 1st Brougham BE.PN.
Double Clear at Gatcombe FEI pony trials and qual. Final trials.
8th and clear at Weston Park FEI pony trials.
2nd Sklpton BE.PC
Rodbaston P.C open O.D.E (3' 6") Double clear.
1st, Area 5 Open O.D.E Over full up, B.E, Novice track.
3rd W.W.W Open P.C. Over full up, B.E. Novice track,
7th Cleobury Mortimer PN.
Invited to Ballendenisk 2.D.E October. (his team were 5th)


Does anyone know of any reg welsh ponies we can add to this list? we will continue to add to it as we come across results.
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If anyone has any foto's of ponies competing in any sport that they would like to see on this page, please send them in with details of the ponies breeding and achievements. please make sure you have the permission of the photographer to use the picture.

CONNEMARAS
We hope to write something similar about Connemaras in the near future, do you have anything we could use? Is your pony a reg pure or part bred Connemara, send in the details, with or without a foto and we would be very glad to use it.