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About Us
New Forest Pony Owners and Breeders
The NFPO&B is the official Promotional Group for the New Forest Pony under the umbrella of the Australian Pony Stud Book Society.
We aim to promote the knowledge and appreciation of the New Forest pony in Australia and encourage breeding, ownership, registration and participation of these ponies in all equine activities.
Our Newsletter
Our newsletter is published 4 times a year with photos, stories and information for New Forest ponies Australia wide.
Subscriptions are available for $25.00 per year. Or $20.00 for prompt payment before the 30TH April each year.
Enquiries can be made with the club secretary.
Our Awards
We offer various Awards for New Forest ponies, ANF’s and Part bred New Forest ponies to participate in each year.
These Awards are available to ponies Australia wide.
Annual General Meeting
Our next Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 28th March 2009 at the Riddells Creek Hotel, Riddells Creek commencing 10.00am.
The Committee
First Association in Australia for New Forest ponies
New Forest Pony Society of Australia
New Forest Pony Owners & Breeders
The New Forest Pony Society of Australia, our forerunner, held their first meeting in September 1973 with early New Forest importers coming together for the first time.
The New Forest breed was accepted into their own section of the APSB Stud Book in 1981.
Prior to that date they had been registered within the Australian Pony section of the Studbook.
Much later, in 2004, for administrative reasons we were required by the APSB to change our name.
We are now known as the New Forest Pony Owners & Breeders. In 2008 we celebrated our 35th Anniversary with Appreciation Awards being presented to Janet McBain (Blackburn) and Alison Charlton for their part in initiating that first meeting in 1973.
Historical Notes for New Forest Ponies in Australia (revised 2008)
New Forest Ponies: UK to Australia
New Foresters are one of the native breeds of the Ponies of Britain.
The harsh environment of moors, bogs and forests in the south of England, which has been their haunt for thousands of years, has determined their hardiness, agility and adaptability.
New Forest Ponies are known to have come to Australia in earlier times, but were not recorded as a breed.
Australia 1969 - 1970
Several pony breeders in three states independently, and unknown to each other imported New Forest Ponies in 1969 and 1970.
The New Forest Pony Breeding and Cattle Society (NFPB&CS UK) facilitated contact between the importers, so breeders were able to get together to discuss their interest in New Forest ponies.
Their first meeting in September 1973 marked the beginning of the New Forest Pony Society of Australia.
Registration and Promotion in Australia
In 1981, the APSB (Australian Pony Stud Book Society) agreed to accept registrations for New Forest ponies as a breed.
Prior to this, New Forest ponies had been registered in the Australian section of the Stud book which remained open to new entries.
New Forest pony owners had met and agreed that New Forest ponies in Australia must retain their characteristics as set out in the New Forest Pony Breeding & Cattle Society (UK) breed standard with all pony pedigrees being held in an exclusive register administered by the APSB and those pedigrees being directly traceable to the NFPB&CS (UK) studbook.
The desirability of promoting the breed by commencing a second register, with an upgrading system over four generations, to breed Australian New Forest Ponies was also recognised.
This section would register the progeny of New Forest stallions and suitable mares.
The two registration systems would remain separate.
In this manner it was envisaged that interested pony enthusiasts would have easier access to ponies with the wonderful attributes of the New Forest pony, a system to encourage breeders, and a means to promote the ponies.
The APSB declined to accept this proposal from the NFPSA so NFPSA members owners to administer this new register themselves.
Classes for the Australian New Forest ponies were sponsored at Agricultural shows and eventually at Royal Melbourne Show.
The Australian New Forest ponies began to excel in open competition, becoming great ambassadors for the New Forest breed.
New Forest breeders were elected to the State APSB committees in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and NSW, allowing the interests of New Forest ponies a voice within the APSB.
In 1983, Federal Council of the APSB accepted the regulations of the NFPSA relating to the Australian New Forest upgrading system.
All ponies previously registered with the NFPSA were accepted by the APSB.
The NFPSA had also kept a third register of New Forest ponies that were not eligible as APSB New Forests ponies or NFPSA Australian New Forest ponies.
When the APSB accepted registration of Australian New Forest ponies, this register was disbanded.
In more recent times the APSB has provided a partbred register for ponies with a minimum of 25% APSB breeding and no height limit.
This register is now being well supported with growing show classes.
New Forest Ponies in the 21ST Century
During the 1970s and 1980s many more New Forest ponies (section 1) were imported and many Australian New Forest ponies (section 2) were bred.
Since the 1990s the purebred section 1 New Forest ponies have become more numerous and available as performance ponies and imported UK New Forest semen has been used successfully for AI thereby increasing the available New Forest gene pool in Australia.
The section 2 Australian New Forest ponies continued as ambassadors for the breed exhibiting true New Forest characteristics, however due to declining registrations and entries in show classes the prospect of closing the Australian New Forest Section of the Stud Book has been a topic of extensive debate.
A review of recent APSB records showed minimal new registrations.
A survey of New Forest Pony Owners and Breeders in 2007 resulted in a majority in favour of closure of the ANF (Australian New Forest) Stud Book to new registrations.
The 2007 AGM of the NFPO&B (New Forest Pony Owners & Breeders) voted to close the ANF Stud Book to new registrations at entry level after the 2008 foaling season, but to retain registration of progeny from ANF ponies currently in the upgrading system.
The motion was forwarded to the Victorian APSB Committee and thence to Federal Council where it was accepted.
Owners of ANF registered mares will have the option to register progeny within the upgrading system ie in the ANF Stud Book or in the APSB Partbred register.
APSB Part-bred Register: Recognition of Breed of Origin
Following a motion put forward by the NFPO&B in 2007, Federal Council adopted a suffix to be added to partbred registration which identifies the breed of origin of the pony.
As a partbred may, in theory, have grandparents of four different APSB breeds, the owner of the pony being registered must designate which breed is to be acknowledged by the suffix.
The APSB has consented to put on classes for Mountain and Moorland partbred ponies at the annual Stud Pony Show.
The Future
With demand for New Forest ponies exceeding supply, with New Forest ponies excelling in open competition in all disciplines of equine sports and activities, with parents and adults recognising the physical and mental health benefits of owning and riding a pony of quality, and one with a placid temperament, the future of the New Forest pony in Australia is assured.
Written by Alison Charlton and Wendy James ref: NF History in Australia.