What are Arabian Ponies?
An Arabian Pony is any pony sized purebred Arabian or Arabian crossbred with any pony breed. They stand no taller than 14.2 hh(58 inches) and are usually very hardy.
Arabian bred ponies have been around for centuries around the world! They have been bred for many different purposes for many different reasons. Virtually all pony breeds of today have been refined by the use of Arabian blood! The thing that is unique about Arabian Ponies is that there is no "One size fits all" pony.
Someone might prefer a stockier built pony for working cows or something for their small rider to do Jr. Rodeos but like the athletic abilities of the Arabian! They might go with an Arab and Paint Pony or POA or Quarter Pony cross.
Someone else might be looking for an Arab and Connemara cross or maybe some Welsh for that perfect Hunter/Jumper!
Others might be just looking for that perfect pony for little Johny to ride around the yard and down the dirt road and hit the trails with his buddies.
Or, if you are like me, you just never grew out of your love for ponies and Arabians and found that the two make an excellent all around, hardy mount that can go anywhere and do anything you ask.
We have found that our cross of Arabian with Shetland has produced a very hardy pony with excellent bone, tough hooves, easy on the food bills, very trainable, super smart ponies that are capable of getting out of tough situations and keeping their riders safe by doing so. I can think of a few times that Reno's ability to reason out bad situations has been such a blessing! But his extreme smarts can make him a pill too!
No matter what the reason is that has brought you to look into Arabian Ponies, We welcome you and hope we can help you learn more about them!
What is APRA?
The Arabian Pony Registry of America!
In North America, there are a few ways of recognizing these cross breds but most of the time, arabian cross ponies were being registered as Paint Pony, POA, Quarter Pony, ect. When this happens, the uniqueness of the Arabian part of them get lost in the shuffle. When they are registered as Half Arabians, only the Arab half is important enough to even bother putting on the pedigrees so the pony side gets lost!
So there needed to be a way to equally recognize both the Arabian and the Pony sides as it is two equals that create the whole pony. It is the two halves that make the whole, plain and simple. So both need to be recognized as being important to that specific pony!
APRA is different in that Arabian and Pony pedigrees are included in full on the certificate. One parent need not be a purebred in order to be registered either.
If you would like to find out more about APRA, please go to the Official APRA Website or you can also go to the APRA Yahoo Group and ask questions there of other Arabian Pony enthusiasts from around North America!
Happy Trails!
We are happy to answere your questions, feel free to email us at the link above!
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