Conservation
Efforts are now being made to ensure the continued survival of purebred Pottoks. The Pottok was the first Basque horse breed to be included in the list of indigenous Basque breeds requiring conservation efforts in June 1995. Its status was classified as endangered.
Various reserves, for example in Bidarray in Lower Navarre or the ZAPE Society in the Aralar Range have been set up to protect the pony and its environment. There is much debate about how best to increase numbers - whether to focus only on the purebreds or to employ selective crossbreeding to build greater numbers of Pottok-like ponies.
Pottok are shown both at agricultural shows and town festivals:
- Espelette (Labourd) on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in January
- Markina-Xemein (Biscay) on the second Saturday in October at the Euskal Herriko Arrazen Erakusketa ("Basque Country Breeds' Show")
- Zumarraga (Gipuzkoa) on the 13th of December at the Santa Lutzi Feria
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