The Connemara Pony may be getting too big, but its annual show in Clifden is never too long. Perhaps that's why the organisers of this year's annual event in Clifden have decided to extend it to a full week.
Some 500 ponies and up to 1,000 international visitors are expected to attend this year's show in August, hosted by the Connemara Pony Breeders' Society (CPBS).
To mark the show's 80th anniversary, a conference will be held on breeding policy, a special seminar on the pony's heritage will be held in co-operation with Galway County Council, and the society has also planned a visit to its herd in the Connemara National Park.
"It is very important that we recognise the bond that existed between pony and people over the generations before mechanisation changed the nature of that relationship," Mr Dermot Power, president of the society said this week, while announcing details of the show in Galway city.
The society took over management of the State's herd of Connemara ponies at the Connemara National Park in Letterfrack almost two years ago.
Ten young ponies and two older ponies were given to the society under a management agreement between Dúchas, the Heritage Service, and the society.
Dúchas had managed the herd since the establishment of the Connemara National Park in 1980. Following the presentation of six mares with some foals to the late President Childers in October 1974, it was decided that a herd of pure-bred Connemara ponies should be kept in the national park.
At the time, the then president of the CPBS, Mr John Luskin, identified the challenge ahead as preserving the pony's unique dimensions.
A decision to bow to the demands of German buyers in the late 1950s is believed to have influenced the growth in height, from an original 13.2 hands.
An Arab-bred stallion named Nazeel or "Little Heaven" was brought in to service the native mares at the time. Unfortunately, the current generation of ponies is now at risk of reaching the 14.2 hand limit, while quite a few exceed it.
There is a view within the breeders' society that the ponies should not be allowed to be registered if they exceed 146 centimetres at two years.
The CPBS was formed almost 80 years ago to encourage breeding, to publish a stud book for animals and to organise the annual Connemara Pony Show.
