The Sandalwood pony is threatened by the Australian Thoroughbred

The Sandalwood is a local horse breed from the island of Sumba, in Indonesia, whose population was estimated at 48,916 heads in 2011. This pony is suffering the full impact of a crossbreeding program with the Australian Thoroughbred, which poses a significant risk of extinction to the original strain. This situation is aggravated by the low level of education of the owners and poor land management according to a study published by Kathryn Monk and Yance De Fretes in 2012.