Where Tomorrow's Champions Are Made

The Australian Sports Pony is bred for its ability to perform in any athletic discipline at the highest level, primarily dressage, showjumping and eventing - which are often referred to as Olympic equestrian disciplines.

As a guide to what attributes and type are sought within an Australian Sports Pony, we can look to the American and British Sports Pony registering bodies who have used the German Riding Pony (Deutches Reitpony) as a model for their breed standard.

The German Riding Pony was originally developed through the crossing of native Mountain and Moorland ponies from the British Isles renowned for their calm, cool temperament and smaller size (eg: the Welsh B and New Forest) with horses of "hot blood" breeding (eg: Arabian and Thoroughbred), producing a noble pony of substance, character and good temperament with dynamic, spacious and elastic movement similar to a small warmblood. The quality of these ponies was developed through selective breeding and performance testing over many generations.

When we talk about cultivating an Australian Sports Pony worthy of international status, we have to remember that many of the bloodlines used to create the German Riding Pony, are already in Australia. 

Many ponies today, of both known and unknown parentage, have already been crossed with one or more of the breeds and bloodlines as mentioned above, to create a pony of substance with a large stride and bold character, and these ponies are already performing well in this country. Often we don't see them for the simple reason most won't be found in the pony hack ring. They won't have the highly refined bone of the ponies often seen doing well in open pony classes under saddle. You may find them in the hunter classes or out on the trail, or working stock, or being ridden at pony club. You may also find them in the dressage ring. They are a versatile pony.

The large majority of these ponies, however, have yet to be given the necessary opportunities and encouragement to prove themselves in the disciplines of dressage, showjumping or eventing. We hope to attract such ponies and their riders to learn about and experience these sports through the sharing of knowledge among members of the ASPR, participation in our Roll of Merit and Annual High Point Awards and in our ASPR competitions.

While our aim is to encourage more ponies to the Olympic disciplines, and to cultivate an Australian Sports Pony and breed on from it, we appreciate the quality and variety of the bloodlines already available to us 'in our own garden'. This is in no small part due to Australia having the second largest equine population in the world.

When it comes to sports ponies, particularly in dressage, it is now accepted globally that an equine 148 cms and under is considered a pony. The ASPR definition of a pony is also any equine 148 cms and under. 

For the vast number and variety of ponies in Australia, there are an equal number of people who choose to ride them. The ASPR believes the preferred size of a pony is a matter of personal choice made by the rider. 

While we realise that Australia has the ability to produce a top quality Sports Pony capable of competing at an international level, we also appreciate the need to produce top quality riders. We have a firm belief that the way to ensure that this occurs is to educate our child riders from a very early age in classical technique, similar to how child riders are trained in Europe.