The special devotion that the Connemara pony evokes was clearly evident in Galway, writes EILEEN BATTERSBYin Clifden
A SMALL herd of ponies graze contentedly in a field. One of them, a mare, has a foal. The mother looks up at the cars and horse boxes passing along the road. A few miles away, the scene is far less relaxed. The famous showgrounds in Clifden is alive with the 87th Annual Connemara Pony Show.
This is one of the wonders of the Irish and international equestrian calendar; Clifden is intimate, the breeders know each other, some of the stallions are so well known and respected that they are regarded as revered members of the community.
Last year’s supreme champion, Currachmore Cashel, is the sire of many of yesterday’s competitors, including Terrence Sweeneys Dunloughan Troy, winner of the three-year colt class.
Troy is unusual for several reasons, as the son of the much-loved Bay Lass, a former winner at the Dublin Horse Show and herself the daughter of Brown Lady, a three-time Clifden winner and now 34, well retired from competition.
Troy is the first embryo transfer winner at Clifden. Sweeney, his breeder and owner, decided to try embryo transfer as Bay Lass has lost seven foals. “I loved the mare and was desperate to have a foal from her. So we tried this technique and it worked, but ironically she also carried a filly foal full term who was born four weeks after Troy.”
Earlier this year, Troy was passed as a registered Connemara stallion. For Sweeney from Ballyconneelly yesterday’s win was also his first since taking a red ribbon showing a filly foal when he was 13 years old. “The win is extra special not only because of all Bay Lass went through trying to have a foal but also because we lost her two years ago and there’s her mother, Troy’s grandmother, still alive at 34.
Clifden is worthy of the Connemara pony, a great small horse internationally recognised as a talented, intelligent and versatile athlete. There are 17 Connemara pony societies across the world and the breed has more than played its part in the ongoing success story of the Irish horse.
One of the most praised aspects of the recent Dublin Horse Show was the high quality of the ridden Connemara classes. At Clifden, Padraig Flannagan, winner in the RDS of the Connemara Working Hunter, won the ridden stallion class on Young Walt.
Henry O’Toole from the Sky Road just outside Clifden made the short journey to the showgrounds with one stallion, two mares and a filly foal.
One of the mares, Castle Urchin, twice supreme champion at Clifden, won the 10-15 year old mare class, with her filly foal, Castle Jasmine, at foot. Mother and daughter were shown by O’Toole’s son.
His stallion placed fourth, while his second mare, Village Linnet, now seven, won her class and then took the overall Supreme Champion. Jo MacInnes, a member of the British Connemara Pony Society and a colt inspector who judged the young stock classes, and was also one of the six judges deciding the supreme champion, said of Village Linnet: “She is just such a beautiful mare. The standard is very high. There is quality across the board. But then, the Connemara pony is a great breed.”
The show continues this morning with six working hunter classes. The entries are large, and have been so in all the showing and ridden classes.
This is the second year of the puissance events, which have attracted 19 competitors including last year’s winner.
Another new event, inaugurated last year – the parade of the champions through the town – is expected to take place after the puissance.
So is the Connemara pony continuing to ride out the recession as the success of last year’s show suggests?
According to Connemara Pony Society secretary Niamh Philbin, “People are looking more to performance and breeders are taking the initiative.
“We in the society are anxious to promote the pony as a performance animal suitable for a wide range of riders.”
This weekend’s Connemara pony sales at Clifden are offering 400 ridden and breeding ponies and with them, a chance to share in an Irish success story.
Recent incidents of neglect or cruelty of horses were “regrettable and unacceptable”, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said yesterday, writes Seán Mac Connell.
Speaking at the Connemara Pony Show, he reminded owners it was now a legal requirement to have horses microchipped and to have a passport issued from an approved agency containing details relating to the horse.