USA mares move to canada

The Newfoundland Pony Conservancy's mission is to provide safe haven for critically endangered Newfoundland Ponies, to save the breed through careful breeding; and to educate the public to the plight of these creatures.
As part of our yearly planning, NPCC representatives assessed the current state of affairs in both countries, as well as the need for Newfoundland Pony Breeders to expand the lesser used blood lines, and avoiding inbreeding.
The breed currently has no genetic health issues but it is vital to maintain this and preserve genetic diversity.

Following these discussions, we have sent important purebred registered mares born in the USA to an established Newfoundland Pony farm in Canada as part of a multi-breeder international cooperative breeding program. This is the first time mares have been exported to Canada as a deliberate breeding strategy. A stallion was sent to Newfoundland some years ago by the USA's first ever Newfoundland Pony Breeder, Cindy Mehaney of Fiddler's Green Stable, Michigan. Cindy got us started, back in 2010 and we are forever grateful for her mentorship.

Having worked cooperatively with Canada over the years; we know these mare's bloodlines are ones that Canada can use.
On the USA side of things, with only 60 ponies here, access to suitable stallions is extremely limited. What few intact stallions are in the USA are almost all close relatives, or carry common bloodlines that are appearing more and more in foals.
This is a relic, Landrace breed, a rare mix of a large variety of ancestral, working mountain and moorland ponies, interbreeding on the island of Newfoundland over 400 years. We need to preserve the breed's diversity of TYPE as influenced by the particular ancestral breeds that interbred in the various regions of the vast island while conserving the unique inner traits that distinguish the breed.
Every Newfoundland pony owner is a breed steward in some sense. In an ideal world, Newfoundland Ponies would only go to people who will breed them. Owning any critically endangered breed is a responsibility and not without its challenges. With such a small total population, every pony's genetic package is important for the future.

Breeding choices matter 100%! There is one bloodline that appears in the majority of this breed, a stunning foundation stallion who sure puts his stamp on the foals, but overused. Losing other bloodlines is worrisome. However logistics, with ponies living all across the vastness of North America, make it very difficult to connect the right mare and stallion.

So what about AI/semen collection alternatives? The process is expensive, complicated over the border, and the efficacy is limited.

That said, the mares are now on lease to P & P Pastures LTD. With their help and that of other breeders in Canada, we have selected some amazing stallions for the ladies, without the most common lines, but carrying bloodlines either we do not have or are very limited in the USA. These foals will make a difference in expanding the underused lines, and aid in keeping the breed healthy and diverse in both countries. P & P Pastures will own half of the foals born, and we will own half.

Our mission encompasses the welfare of the individual ponies and the welfare of the breed. That's how we work...that's how we "pony on".
​And that's why we did this.