Autumn 2009 Newsletter
President’s Address
Welcome to the Christmas Newsletter 2009. This has been a tremendous year for the Connemara pony with successes at the European Championships and our two-day show in Clifden, which ended with the Puissance competition. Pony prices have decreased due to the economic downturn but nevertheless there has been movement in the sales rings. It is now more critical than ever for mare owners to evaluate their mares with a view to selecting the most suitable stallions for breeding with their mares. I want to say a special thanks to the local shows that organise Connemara classes throughout the year. They are so important in promoting the pony and allowing breeders to display their breeding stock.
The world Equestrian games will be held next year in Kentucky from the 25th September to the 10th October. The American Connemara pony Society will be organising, with the help of the CPBS, a display booth in the Irish breed village at the games. Members who may be interested in going and could help at the booth should contact our Secretary.
Major development is taking place in ring one in the show grounds in Clifden, which will make it an all weather surface and will greatly enhance the 2010 show.
It is with regret we note the sudden death of Mr Robert Bolger our Council member, who contributed so much to the Society during his lifetime. The CPBS wishes to sympathise with his wife Bridie and family members.
My thanks to all pony enthusiasts, who contributed to the success of the pony during the year. Information on successful ponies is always welcome. Please forward details to the Secretary.
I wish you a peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year
Dermot Power
Sudden Death of Council member
It was with great sadness the CPBS learnt of the sudden death of Bobby Bolger, who passed away on Monday 2nd November. Bobby was one of the longest serving members on the CPBS Council and was a familiar face on the Inspection team. Connemara Ponies were Bobby's passion and he bred ponies under the prefix 'Coral'. One of his best known ponies is Coral Misty who won the Supreme Championship in Clifden on two separate occasions as did his other mare Queen Gillian. The CPBS offers its deepest sympathy to Bobby's wife Bridie and his sons and daughters. May he rest in peace.
Christmas Ride and Drive
It’s that time of year again, and time to be getting the driving ponies fit for the drive across the mountain from Spiddal to Moycullen. It starts on Spiddal Pier at 11am, December 27th, and if you cannot drive you can always ride – ridden ponies are welcome!
Connemara Pony Show DVD
The Connemara Pony Show DVD is available from the CPBS office. There are two DVD’s. One DVD contains footage from the show on Thursday and the other is of the performance show on Friday and included the puissance competition. Each DVD is priced at €30 + €3.50 p+p.
An Capaillín
The newest edition of An Capaillín will be available in early January. It is priced at €15 and will be posted free of charge to members of the CPBS. A huge thank you to Ruth Rogers who has put so much time into producing An Capaillín.
Connemara Pony Spring Festival
The annual stallion parade will take place in the Showgrounds, Clifden on Sunday 28th March 2010. A huge variety of activities have been arranged to coincide with the stallion parade. On Wednesday 24th March colt inspections will take place in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, followed on Thursday by colt inspections in Claregalway, Co. Galway and in Clifden on Friday 26th. On Thursday evening Nina Gustafson will share with us her collection of photos of Connemara ponies in the Abbeyglen hotel. Nina and her husband have been travelling to Ireland from Sweden and photographing Connemara ponies since 1979. On Friday night the ever popular table quiz will take place in the Station House Hotel. A registered Connemara pony sale will be held in Clifden Mart on Saturday 27th March. Pat Lyne, well known author on Connemara ponies will give a lecture entitled ‘The Arabian influence in the Connemara pony’ on Saturday evening in the Station House Theatre, followed by an auction of a specially commissioned painting. The annual stallion parade will run all day on Sunday. On Monday 29th filly inspections will be held in Claregalway.
Inspections
Application forms for the Spring inspections will be available to download on www.cpbs.ie after Christmas. The closing date for application for inspections is the 1st March 2010. Geldings no longer have to be presented for Inspection. An application from for upgrading a gelding aged two and over to Class 1 is available from the CPBS office.
Membership
Annual membership is due on or before 31st January 2010. If you have not paid your membership by this date you will not be eligible to vote at the AGM. Membership is once again €50.
Hall of Fame
On Saturday 31st October the CPBS annual social took place. The Hall of Fame breeder awards were presented to Micéal Higgins, Athenry, Co. Galway, former vice-president of the CPBS, to Beatrice Maxwell-Murphy, Taylors Hill, Galway and to Paddy Folan, Rosmuc, Co. Galway. The performance awards were awarded to the owners and breeders of Ballyowen Maybell Molly (Gold Medallist at the European Championships), Sillogue Darkie (Member of the team which won a silver medal at the European Championships) and Prospect Peter ( winner of the 148cms grade A in the RDS).
Office Opening Hours
To facilitate issuing a large number of passports the CPBS will be open to the public on Tuesday and Friday from 9am to 1pm. Telephones will be attended daily from 9am to 11am. We would like to remind members that all forms are available to download on www.cpbs.ie . If you have a query we would encourage you to email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . All foal books are being issued in strict rotation.
Connemara Pony Sales
A catalogue sale of registered Connemara ponies will take place in Clifden Mart on Saturday 20th February and Saturday 27th March. For further details on these sales please visit www.connemaraponysales.com or phone 095 21861.
Stallion List
We are currently putting together our stallion list for the 2010 season which will be available on our website. However, we are relying on stallion owners to keep us updated if a stallion dies or is sold on, so please keep us informed. If any stallion owner does not wish to have their contact details printed on this list please contact us on 095 21863.
Foal Registrations
In response to the delay in issuing passports the CPBS office are actively working to improve this service and apologize for this delay. The average length of time to process a passport is 8 minutes and this is where all details are correct. Problems such as no name, wrong breeder, colour omitted etc all result in delaying the passport. Here are a number of areas which the breeder/owner can help improve our service.
Please ensure to name your foal when submitting your foal registration application. Unnamed foals results in the delay of issuing that passport.
A list of prefixes will be available on our international database www.connemara-pony.com . Breeders should refer to this to ensure they don’t use another breeder’s prefix. A registered prefix can only be used by the registered owner at the start of a name. Prefixes can not be used by anyone else other than the registered owner of the prefix.
Please ensure the correct details are on your bloodtype/dna form. When your vet is marking your foal please ensure the vet has recorded the colour of the foal. In order to be recorded as the breeder of the foal you have to be the registered owner of the dam. Passports are issued in strict rotation as the results are reported back from Weatherbys DNA Laboratory. However please note that when Weatherbys report back results to our office the CPBS don’t issue your passport on the same day as your result will be reported on a list with over a hundred other results. Registration numbers will not be issued over the phone for foals and can be only given once the passport is ready to be issued.
Breeders who may have blood typed a number of foals at the same time may not receive all passports at the one time. This is because of issuing passports in rotation, and results may come on different lists. It routinely takes 2 weeks from when you post your blood away to Weatherbys DNA Laboratory to when Weatherbys report the result to our office. (Please note this may vary depending on time of year) However we generally receive four lists each month back from the lab. For example in October 2009 we received lists on the 02/10/09, 15/10/09, 23/10/09 and 29/10/09 with a total of 469 results. In September we received four lists with a total of 905 results. The figures given above don’t include duplicates, repeat tests, samples taken at inspection, exclusions, searches, foreign ponies, dams/sires that are bloodtyped only. Where more than one foal is being sampled please ensure that the samples/bloodkits are not mixed up as repeat samples are mandatory. When the CPBS office returns your bloodkit (s) to you please ensure not to mix up the contents of the kits. Each kit is specific to that foal. We would ask breeders to blood type their foals as early as they can. Blood can be taken once the foal is a day old.
We wish all our members a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.