Irish Sport Pony
The Irish Sport Pony Studbook was approved by Department of Agriculture and Marine (DAFM) in 2016 and the Irish Sport Pony Studbook is the studbook of origin for this breed.
Prior to this date, there were many high class performance ponies being bred in Ireland and winning at Championship level showjumping and eventing.
Due to the fact that there wasn’t a performance pony studbook in Ireland at the time, the ancestry and recognition for the breeders was lost. The Irish Pony society provided its records to assist in the development of this fledgling studbook. This allowed for cross bred IPS and Connemara ponies to have full pedigree records for the new studbook.
The overall aim of the breeding programme for the Irish Sport Pony is to breed a pony with similar traits to the Irish Sport Horse in a smaller size. The main objective is breed improvement and to produce a performance pony that is sound, athletic with good paces and suitable temperament and capable of winning at the highest international level in FEI disciplines.
The Irish Sport Pony should be a functionally correct model of balanced proportions that is conducive to successful performance at international level in FEI disciplines. The pony should move correctly, be light- footed, balanced and supple with good self-carriage and impulsion from the hindquarters. Irish Sport Ponies should have a good temperament, be rideable, sound, intelligent and willing to perform. They should have courage, be careful when jumping with good technique and scope.
The numbers registered in the studbook are small but growing.
