Sections

[Deleted]

I have kept horses for many years, including Welsh section D's.
I am due to get my first Dales very soon, but being new to the Dales pony, I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on the Sections for me?
I keep seeing section A Dales and section B's.... what do these mean with regard to the breeding etc?
Thank you x

[valerie n scout]

The breeding is mostly the same and it's not to do with the height as with Welshies, some ponies are born with more white than is acceptable x

[jap]

a section A mare can breed a stallion, providing he fills the section A criteria himself, whereas a section b mare cannot.Any colt she has has to become a gelding. Section B mares can and are bred from

[katiekynoch]

This is probably a naive question but why can Section B mares be used for breeding when all Section B colts have to be gelded? Doesn't that increase the possibility of producing more Section B ponies, thus perpetuating the 'faults' that make them Section B in the first place?

Apologies in advance for my lack of knowledge.

[DalesLady]

Hi

Section B simply means the pony has either a little too much white or simply a little white in the wrong place. I think the reason for gelding colts out of section B mares is a policy to make sure we do not increase the white in the breed, but because the Dales is an "improved" breed, there are no guarantees that Section A ponies will only breed A's and B ponies will only breed B's. Its one of the exciting things about breeding Dales ponies. you never quite know what you are going to get.

The markings allowed for a Dales are: white to fetlock on hind legs only, a star eyelevel, not below and a snip. They can have all those, but may only have one white hind foot, or a star or a snip or no white at all.

We have a section B mare who's star is a little low on her face, but no other white at all. She bred a beautiful colt, correctly marked (now rising 3 and gelded of course); and we also bred a section B filly, out of a section A mare. That filly had a rather pretty thin white blaze, wide as a pencil only, but she is undoubtedly a Section B.

The Dales pony is rare and the decision to breed from Section B mares in my opinion is a good one. She can breed a section A filly who can then go on to breed a perfectly marked colt who can be licensed; a good way to keep the bloodlines wider and the breed less endangered.

I do think however, although I do want to maintain the breed as it is without too much white, that we do get a little too hung up on how much white there is on a pony and forget to look at its conformation and whether the animal is actually true to type and fit for purpose. If you are not breeding, section A or section B makes absolutely no difference.

I really hope I have explained clearly, I am not always that coherent when trying to say what I mean.

[harveydales]

Very interesting and helpful explanation, Penny.

[DalesLady]

if we were on facebook Pam, I would press the like button for that. I was waiting for someone to say I had something wrong

[ikklecob]

That's a fab explanation DL. Nice and simple. The explanation I looked at confuzzuled me ... but I am often easily confuzzuled

[jap]

You couldn't have put it better Penny. Anna x

[cadeby]

Like

[carolinec]

Great explanation

[colmworthdales]

Great explanation. Please continue to breed from your Section mares. My bay-brown mare Hettie May has a tiny amount of white on a heel on near fore but otherwise fine. She has had five foals - four fillies of which one was a Section B with white on her front foot, another Section B with two lovely even white socks above the fetlocks on her hind legs which look very smart. Otherwise three section As, one a gelding and the other two fillies. Hope they will both be bred from in due course and keep up the diversity in the breed.

[tinkerdorisalison]

My grey mare is a section B, she has bred a sec a filly and a section B gelding (who funnily has the same white markings as described on her passport. Her head had already gone white when I got her aged 4)

[zeldalithgow]

Maybe we should post some pics of the obvious Section B ponies and the ones that are not so obvious ;D

[harleydales]

This is probably a silly question - how about greys? Are they As or Bs?

Harley is a B because he has too much white on his hind leg, and is also over-height at 15.1hh. Conformation-wise he has a super front end, but is close behind, which to me is more of a fault than the amount of white, as Penny said further up in the posts.