There is both an art and a science to breeding, but the foundation for any breeding programme is the use of quality stock. Regardless of whether you start with award winning bloodstock, or whatever mares you can lay your hands on, the aim of any breeding programme should be to produce offspring which are of a better quality than the parents. The better the quality of the mares you start with, the more challenging this is.

We are a small stud, and we don't breed for 'volume'. Most years we only breed one or two mares. Some years we may not breed at all, or other breeders may have our mares on lease. 2005 was a big year for us - we had four foals!

Like many breeders, most of our mares are related, but we didn't start with the Matriarch. Our move into breeding purebred Connemara Ponies is really the result of serendipity. Our first pony, Knockrah Moonshadow came into our ownership because she was not a colt. When Moonshadow was still a foal, we were given her grandmother Canningvale Bonnie Sue, and now to come full circle, Bunratty Bridgette is back in the care of Kohatu as well.

For some time we had been acutely aware of the state of the narrowing genepool in New Zealand. Imports of ponies are few and far between due to the distances and costs involved, and while Australia faces similar problems, there are ponies still to be found there which offer fresh genetic material to New Zealand. In 2005, a search was begun in Australia to find a suitable mare to introduce new bloodlines into the country, and Biwmares Madonna joined the Kohatu Stud in May that year.

The last of the Kohatu mares is the Thoroughbred 'My Two Dads'. Here in New Zealand, the large pony/small hack market is not typically met with purebred ponies (relatively few of our Connemaras are full height or overheight - most seem to be under 14hh). There are some truly exceptional part-bred ponies out there carrying the Connemara flag in open competition, and we hope some of them will carry the Kohatu prefix.

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