APA Status

Objective:

The Newfoundland Pony Society is seeking recognition of the Newfoundland Pony under the Animal Pedigree Act of Canada (APA). The Newfoundland Pony is a declared Heritage Animal under the Heritage Animals Act of Newfoundland and Labrador (HAA). The Newfoundland Pony Society is the organization designated by the HAA to preserve and protect the Newfoundland Pony and to keep the official Registry for the Newfoundland Pony. The Newfoundland Pony Society intends to meet the requirements of the APA while working within the framework of the HAA.

Committee Members:

Pat Morris, Chair email: mtcs@sympatico.ca

Debbie Bray email: barnabyblue@persona.ca

Herb Bray telephone: 709-596-1141

Barb Brown email: fergneil@nbnet.nb.ca

Mike Camden email: deerfieldfarm@sympatico.ca

Mac LeMessurier email: mac@epi.nf.net

Sharon McBurney email: baaoink@sympatico.ca

Latest Information:

The APA Committee presented the following report at the recent AGM. The report included a draft breed description. The committee wishes this draft be reviewed by all interested parties and welcomes your comments and inputs.

APA Committee Report - November 25th, 2007 AGM

Draft Breed Description (November 2007)

The Committee's next task is a Breeding Plan for the Newfoundland Pony. Some work has been done to date but there is still much to do. The plan will address the current Registry, registration problems, ponies DNA'd but not registered, progeny not registered, other ponies not registered, limited stallions, limited stallion lines, breeding practices, pony distribution, isolated populations, AI, etc.

Other Endeavours:

Herd Book

NPS will be creating a Herd Book in 2008. This book will provide a record of all Newfoundland Ponies that have been recorded by the Society. The information will include photographs, pedigrees and historical information on each animal. It will be an excellent source of information for breeders as well as a twenty-five year record of the Newfoundland Pony. It will be available on both hardcopy and CD. This will be done under the Registrar's office and Debbie Bray is prime.

Living Record

The Committee's work on the Breed Description identified a need to examine the Newfoundland Pony more closely. The committee members could recognize Newfoundland Ponies but we needed to determine what features made that recognition possible. What exactly makes a Newfoundland Pony, a Newfoundland Pony. This question brought us to a new level. We decided to sample some good to excellent ponies and define them through measurements, photographs and videos. This is time consuming work and we have completed eight ponies to date. The results are very interesting and helped get the draft breed description to where it is today. We can continue the measurements over the winter but we need better weather for the photographs. We are all improving our process as we go along. In the end, we hope to do as many ponies as possible. We are viewing both parents and progeny and different lines. The results will provide the data necessary to truly evaluate the Newfoundland Pony as well as expand our knowledge about the Newfoundland Pony. The results will also prove the Newfoundland Pony's characteristics and its ability to reproduce those characteristics.