AMPS Inc
The Australian Miniature Pony became a recognised breed in 1974. There are over 1200 members of the Australian Miniature Pony Society Australia wide, with delegates in each state.
The Australian Miniature Pony was established as a result of crosses with small Shetland ponies, Fallabella, miniature horses and small ponies. Some lines of miniature ponies can be traced back to the early nineteen hundreds. The miniature pony can vary in type from the fine-boned and leggy to the more compact heavy type.
Miniature Ponies have a maximum height of 87cm and should look well proportioned. Ideally the animal will simply look like a pony in miniature. The length of the neck and legs should be proportion to the body, with well sprung ribs and a generous girth. Please refer to description page for Society's Standard of Breeding.
Miniature ponies are inquisitive, very intelligent, and have a gentle and affectionate nature. They need firm but kind handling. They make wonderful pets for people of all ages!! Often people who can not cope with a 'big' horse anymore, will take to miniatures to satisfy that need for a horse.
Ideal as a child's first pony and many are used in nursing home visits for disabled and elderly therapy. Well suited to harness work .
Background on Shetland Ponies and Australian Pony Stud Book Society Inc (APSB)
The first recorded pony breeds to arrive in Australia during the 1800s
included purebred Shetland, Welsh Mountain, Welsh of Cob Type, English
Hackney Horse and Hackney Pony as well as Timor Exmoor and Hungarian
ponies.
With the establishment of the Australian Pony Stud Book, the pedigrees
of the most influential of these bloodlines and their descendants were
recorded in Volume One of the Society's Stud Book. Initially three breed
sections were set in place within the Stud Book, one for purebred
Shetlands, one for purebred Hackney ponies and the third, named the
`Australian Pony' section, comprised the other imported British Mountain
and Moorland pony breeds imported to Australia from the turn of the
century to that time. It also contained the pedigrees of the `home bred'
ponies, produced as a result of the crossing of various horse and pony
breeds for over a century, thus establishing the genetic pool
responsible for the Australian pony as a breed. Some years later,
individual sections were set in place for the Welsh Mountain and Welsh
Pony sections and other British Moorland pony breeds.
The Shetland Pony has been a part of the Australian Pony Stud Book since
the foundation of the Society in 1931. From the outset, the breed has
had its own section within the Stud Book, and only purebred stock were
accepted for registration in Volume One. Shetland ponies had been
imported to Australia as far back as the 1850s and fortunately accurate
records were kept of their breeding and progeny, enabling seventeen
purebred stallions and fifty-five mares to be registered in Volume one
of the Society’s Stud Book.
Some of the first Shetlands imported to Australia from the Shetland
Isles were the stallions DOCKIN and KING PIPPEN. Along with eighteen
mares, they landed in 1857 in the care of Andrew Lyall, sent over to
Scotland by his brother William to select the ponies.
One of the most influential Shetland studs established long before the
foundation of the APSB was SHETLAND HEIGHTS. Situated on the coast of
Westernport Bay in Victoria, the property named, Shetland Heights
belonged to Colonel Thomas Small, who moved there from NSW with his
family in the 1890s. Having a love of Shetland ponies, in time he put
together a large herd. some descended from the Lyall ponies, but it is
also believed he brought out a large ship load from the Shetland Isles
prior to 1900.
In 1910 Colonel Small sold his property to the Maclellan family of
Melbourne. Over the next eighteen months or so, Mrs Macellan imported
from the U.K the Shetland stallion, HALCYON OF BODIAM, a grandson of the
famous JACK, the mares WHITESOX OF KNOCKHOLT and MISS FLOSS OF BLYTH and
the filly JADESTONE.
These were the first registered Shetlands to arrive in Australia and
along with the ponies acquired from Colonel Small, laid the foundation
of what was to become one of the most influential Shetland studs of all
time – SHETLAND HEIGHTS.
Influential studs such as FENWICK, YARRA LEA, ROB ROY and GREEN VALLEY,
to name a few were established along the bloodlines of SHETLAND HEIGHTS.
Fenwick and Rob Roy studs also imported ponies in the 30s and these
ponies were registered in Volume One of the APSB. As a result of the
accurate records kept by these early stud masters and their inclusion in
the Society’s stud book, breeders to day can be proud of the quality of
ponies and the depth of bloodlines within the APSB Shetland section.
