Connemara Pony breeders in New Inn (Co Galway)

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Skip to main item    Note added on August 11th 1999    Skip to main item

Local Connemara Pony breeders have very recently been informed that the Inward Buyer Programme, which is run by the Irish Horse Board, is this year being extended to the Connemara Pony Performance Show

The Inward Buyer Programme allows a refund on travel expenses incurred by overseas buyers of ponies at the Show.  (Details will be available at the event.)

Please note that the next Performance Show is now just a matter of days away: i.e. on Tuesday August 17th 1999.

Additional information regarding this year's Performance Show can be seen at the end of this page.

Should you know of anybody who might be interested in the above information, it would be much appreciated if you could "copy and paste" the address of this web page (given immediately below), and Email it to them:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/connemara_pony.htm




Connemara Ponies - in Connemara

Interest in Connemara ponies has long since spread to parts of the world outside of Ireland, and such places now include England, France, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  As far back as 1399, a French chronicler who visited the Connemara region with King Richard of England made the following remark: "they (Connemara ponies) scout the hills and valleys more swiftly than deer".

Though Connemara ponies may appear very similar to other breeds in many respects, they tend to be different in one important way: and that is their general ability to survive, and if necessary to work hard, in the very challenging environment of the region that has been their home for many centuries. While Connemara (in the western part of County Galway) is a place of awesome beauty for many humans, with its remarkable mixture of rugged coastline, barren mountain peaks, exposed rock, forests, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and peat bogs - all of which are regularly pounded by cold and wet gale-force winds from the North Atlantic, this area is not a suitable habitat for most forms of livestock. The Connemara Pony however, has evolved and been bred - designed if you like by nature and by people - to cope with this unusual and sometimes extreme environment. Most other farm animals (like cattle for instance), would quickly die from such things as exposure, injury or starvation if left alone for very long in this region.

One consequence of the breeding referred to above is that the people who buy Connemara ponies can normally expect to pay out less in veterinary bills: which is thought to be a major factor in the growing international popularity of this sturdy (but otherwise very diverse) breed of pony. Also, the quality (and cost) of land required can be much lower than for other types of pony: as can be directly observed from the photographs further down this page. 

In a similar way to the Irish language (which is still spoken in several parts of Connemara), the Connemara pony is another living reminder of Ireland's ancient past.

Connemara ponies are believed to be the descendants of the horses which the ancient Celts brought with them when they came to Ireland thousands of years ago. It seems likely that they would have all been domesticated when they first arrived, and that some of them then eventually ran wild again - for a period of many centuries - in the wide open spaces of the very varied Connemara countryside.

Google image search for Connemara

See also: The Esker Riada

It is understood that other feral horses, possibly also a left-over from the days of the ancient Celts, can be found in the Camargue (south of France).

As Connemara ponies are now bred under controlled conditions, they cannot really be classified as "feral" anymore.

Connemara Ponies - in New Inn (Co. Galway)

The photographs below (taken on July 12th 1999) show Connemara ponies in fields close to New Inn village, and not in Connemara.

pony_1.jpg (94473 bytes)

Why New Inn - which is thirty miles or so from the nearest part of Connemara?  The main reason is that one or two  local people started breeding Connemara ponies in New Inn approximately fifteen years ago. Since then, a number of others in the locality have gradually joined in - so that now New Inn has several individuals breeding these animals.

pony_2.jpg (91546 bytes)

A difficulty for overseas breeders of Connemara ponies is that the unique survival characteristics which the breed is famous for can rapidly become diluted when young animals are raised in areas which have less challenging environments than those found in Connemara. Fortunately, New Inn (in the eastern region of County Galway) is not seriously effected by this difficulty; because, as can be seen from the photographs, it has several isolated patches of land which are very similar to the land of Connemara.  Also, the general overall climatic conditions in the east of County Galway are of course almost identical to those in the west of the County.

pony_3.jpg (94295 bytes)

Last August (i.e August 1998), the breeders in the New Inn area collectively organised a "performance" event for Connemara ponies (from all parts of Ireland).  As its name implies, the main purpose of such an event is to demonstrate (to potential buyers) the ability of each animal to do the thing/s they are being purchased for: one of which, for example, might be show jumping. 

pony_4.jpg (65465 bytes)

Although such performance displays have in the past taken place overseas, last August's show was the very first of its kind here in Ireland.  Consequently, there is no need now for people here to make purchasing decisions based solely on the potentially misleading single issue of appearances. ("All that glitters is not gold! ")

pony_5.jpg (82015 bytes)

Last year's Performance Show was a great success, and the feeling is that this year's will be even better. For more information, please see the section below.




The 1999 Connemara Pony Performance Show is on
Tuesday August 17th 1999.

The Show starts at 10 A.M.

MAIN EVENT:
The Chanelle Twelve Bens Loose Jumping Championship
(List of Contestants)

The venue for the Show (which is the same as last year's), is approximately 4.5 Kilometres from the village of New Inn (County Galway). Special sign posts for the Show will be in place in the village on the day; and the Show Ground location (at Carra), relative to the village, is shown on MAP A below. The village of New Inn is situated on"Regional Road" R348 : roughly half way between the towns of Athenry and Ballinasloe (please see MAP B below).  

map_a.gif (3477 bytes) map_b.gif (7036 bytes)

Performance Show Telephone Contacts:

Grainne:  + 353 (0)905 75606            Eilis:  + 353 (0)905 75859


Show Winners

Connemara Pony Sales

For more general information on Connemara (including ponies) please see:
http://www.Connemara.net

CONNEMARA  PONY  WEB  RING:

Google image search for Connemara Ponies

 





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