A shared love for the Connemara Pony made for a happy day in Clifden yesterday, writes Eileen Battersby
GOD SMILES on the good and he smiled a great deal yesterday on one of Irelands finest natural resources, the Connemara Pony. And if God was smiling, he had to contend with some competition, the long-absent sun.
After what seemed like years of rain, well weeks, summer reigned at Clifden for the 84th annual Connemara Pony Show.
The streets were lined with horseboxes. Within minutes of arrival, my ice cream was stolen by a passing filly on her way to the show ring. The grey, who prefers to remain anonymous, then went on to be placed in her class. "She is highly intelligent, and knows her mind," said her owner, who offered to replace my cone. "She likes her food. I haven't known her to eat ice cream before, but maybe it's the heat."
A young girl whose pony had come fourth in her class held the green ribbon and remarked to the two girls standing beside her: "I wasn't going to come. I thought she wasn't schooled enough but she rode like she'd done it a hundred times." She kissed the pony, which seemed a self-contained type, anxious to sunbathe in peace.
A group of English visitors stood in a huddle, marking numbers in their catalogues. They seemed serious and knowledgeable. Did they have ponies competing? "No, we're here to buy. We breed Connemaras back in England but we can't breed them fast enough. We often buy from the ring . . . the standard's high, there's good stuff here."
By the rail in ring two, Siobhán Sexton was delighted. Not only had her pony Fear Sneachta won his class, the Registered Connemara Pony ridden by rider over 16 and under 21 years of age, but she had also been presented with a visitor's ribbon which was fastened to her waist.
"We're from Cork," she said. "I've had him for three and a half years. We bought him in Cork. He was bred there." Her praise seemed to drift over the white grey pony, as he stood dozing in the sun. "He's always like that, very relaxed. We have to give him a bit of oats."
Meanwhile, Mirah Hector by the great Westside Mirah, was standing in his stable. This seven-year-old dappled gray gelding, owned by Deborah McCann from Wicklow, had come third in his ridden class.
He was open to visitors, particularly if they were willing to groom him. This is a pony who thrives on human contact; in fact he expects to be petted.
Deborah's daughter Emily then rode Paddy Haven's seven-year-old stallion, Celtic Moy Sailor, to victory in the ridden stallion class.
Katherine Wilkinson and her daughter, another Emily (14), brought two ponies over from Baildon, West Yorkshire, and Emily won the junior ridden class on Delmrose Applejack, a 12-year grey gelding by an English-bred Connemara stallion, Village Canal Beau.
Two girls rode by, riding side saddle. A man walked up behind them leading a mare and foal. A woman from Ohio said: "They're so cute." The man said: "She's a clever pony, the mare, she can read my mind." The American woman looked thoughtful and said, "I meant 'cute' as in pretty, but I know that over here 'cute' means intelligent."
The man with the mare and foal paused before saying, "well, they're clever and pretty. The Connemara has it all, they used to work on farms and bring the families to Mass as well."
The American woman was enjoying the encounter and asked "what are their names?" The breeder said, "I call her 'mother' and she's 'the young one'. You see she has a new foal most years."
Earlier Cara Connelly was walking her lovely grey mare down the road, back to her temporary stable. The mare was trotting along, with a hint of outrage. "We didn't come anywhere," said Cara, "she's a bit fat." Mind you, the mare who looked youthful, about six, is actually 15 and "quite a character".
The judges were favouring lean, fit-looking ponies, lighter than the traditional well- conditioned - plump - show animal. Many observers were delighted: the Connemara Pony for all its appeal and winning temperament is a performance animal and the ridden Connemara pony was impressing riders on the lookout for hunters.
On a day when many fragments of conversation concerned dope tests in Beijing, the Connemara Pony, the small horse with the heart of the lion, proved why the breed is internationally popular and bred throughout Europe as well as in New Zealand and the US.
• Connemara Pony Breeders Society: 095-21863