Conservation of an equine feral breed: the Asturcón Pony

Abstract

SummaryThe Asturcón Pony was on the verge of disappearing during the decade of the 1970. The creation of A. C. P. R. A (Breeders Association of Asturcón Ponies) and the measures undertaken by this association have made possible the present population of 400 of these animals and future perspectives for them to be bred at large for agrotourism and children's training in horseback riding and other equestrian sports. In spite of the fact that the recovery of the breed is being carried out with few individuals, our results show a high genetic variability. Analysing the allelic frequencies of blood polymorphism, we have obtained an average heterozygosity of 0.3649±0.1070 akin to that of other ponies such as the Dartmoor (0.3396±0.1060), Shetland (0.3158±0.1246 or the Connemara (0.3797±0.1000) and even superior to breeds such as the P. S. I. (0.2857±0.1194) and the Arabian (0.2299±0.0969).