The Summer 1979 issue (Vol. 9, No. 3) of the American Connemara Pony Society News was eight pages.

ACPS Secretary Betty O’Brien wrote a very short column on the cover apologizing for the newsletter being “appallingly late.” There are no dates on these newsletters, so who knows what she considered extra late.

We can tell from a section listing ad rates that the newsletter was intended to be published on the first day of March, June, September and December.

The newsletter cost 75 cents per copy. We first saw the 75-cent price on the cover of a 1975 issue.

President’s column

ACPS President Peter Goltra started off his column savoring memories of the annual meeting in Kentucky in 1978 in conjunction with the FEI World Eventing Championships. He then encouraged ACPS members to attend the upcoming 1979 annual meeting, being held in conjunction with the St, Louis National Charity Horse Show. He outlined the schedule. The annual meeting would be held on Saturday, before the show started. Committee meetings would be Sunday. The Connemara classes in the show were Monday and Tuesday. And he noted that Joe and Joan McKenna would be hosting a dinner at the McKenna home on Tuesday night. Our mom was an excellent hostess. Having the entire ACPS membership to the house for dinner would not have fazed her at all.

Goltra also included this interesting note: “With respect to the show, I understand that there are one or two potentially outstanding contestants who may be unable to make the trip due to financial limitations. I hope that anyone desiring to be of assistance will contact Mrs. O’Brien for details.” So, the ACPS was looking for sponsors to help those competitors get to St. Louis.

We don’t know who those competitors were or if that happened.

News items

Short news items included that Judith Heishin, of New York City, owner of Gilnocky Amy (by Fox Ridge Star Light out of *Glencara Lady) was crusading for a rule change with the American Horse Shows Association to permit adults to ride ponies (presumably in hunter shows). She had published an article on the subject in the Horsemen’s Yankee Pedlar, a major horse newspaper in the Northeast. She also was forming an organization tentatively called The Society of Adults Riding Ponies and Small Horses. The news item provided her address for anyone wanting to offer support.

As of 2025, the United States Equestrian Federation, the AHSA’s successor, still seems to be grappling with this concept; adults can show ponies at hunter shows with a lot of restrictions. But adults can show Connemara ponies in Connemara divisions, though USEF’s rule adds “unless the class specifications state otherwise.”

An item on Red Ridge Super Star and owner Sean O’Connor of Glastonbury, Connecticut, said the two won the performance championship at Woodstock (the Region 1 Connemara Show held in conjunction with the Green Mountain Horse Association show in Woodstock, Vermont) for the third year in a row, retiring the challenge trophy for the championship. Sean’s parents planned to donate a new challenge trophy in memory of Patrick Keough (see below).

A for-sale ad for Red Ridge Super Star appeared on a later page. The 13-2 hand, 8-year-old mare by *Texas Hope out of *Bo-Peep had been Pony Clubbed through the B level; had evented successfully at Training and Pre-training levels; and, as mentioned, was performance champion at Woodstock three years in a row. She also loved trails, was an honest jumper, was perfectly sound and had no vices. The price was $6,000. Her photo is in the gallery below. The ad said she would be competing at the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show that year.

A third news item in the newsletter said Charlene O’Neil, chair of the California region, reported that there would be a contingent of Connemaras in the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year’s Day.

And a fourth news item said Avens Golden Ruby (*Ruta Raitni out of *Ciotog) and rider Melanie Jacobi of Alberta, Canada, had secured a place on the Alberta Junior Combined Training team competing in Boston, Massachusetts. The other three on the team were 16-hand Thoroughbreds. The writer said the fact that Goldie could not see over the jumps did not deter her one bit.

The Connemara statistics section said there were two stallion registrations, another stallion had been gelded, and one owner reported a Connemara death — of imported mare *Bah Bah (by Tiger Gill out of *Knockadoe Grey), brought to the United States by Robert H. Wright Jr. of Columbus, Georgia. *Bah Bah had seven foals. Her last, Golden Stirrup’s Anarach, a halfbred colt, was 8 weeks old when *Bah Bah died of emphysema.

Connemara Country publication

There’s also an ad for Caroline Nesbitt’s Connemara Country publication, a new magazine published six times a year and costing $10 for the year. She was located in New Hampshire. We made an attempt to figure out how the Connemara Country fit into the ACPS sphere. It appears the ACPS started using the Connemara Country as the society’s official publication starting in 1983, augmented by ACPS News supplements sent to members in the months that Connemara Country wasn’t published. These supplements were letter-size sheets with text containing brief news announcements, upcoming events and ads. There was no layout (the type ran across the page) and no photos.

“Paddy” Keough dies in show ring

The centerfold of the Summer 1979 newsletter was dedicated to  horseman Patrick “Paddy” J. Keough, who collapsed and died as he was showing Custusha’s Cashel Rock in the ring at Woodstock on Aug. 3, 1979.

He was 61 and had a recent history of heart ailments.

The story said: “Disregarding the heat and overall strain of competition” on the morning of Aug. 3, “Pat brought the 7-year-old stud into the ring and showed him as he always had in the championship (conformation) class. When the judge indicated the winner of the class by pointing with his card to Rocky, Paddy nodded, smiled and collapsed. He died at the feet of the last in a long line of champions he had trained throughout his career.”

The story lists the names of horses he touched through riding, training or coaching: Me-Can-Do, Easter Joy, General MacArthur, Mr. Sparks, and Pampered. The horses may have been famous in their day. We’re not finding anything on them now.

Keough, born in 1918, was the son of an Irish immigrant horseman, who established the Miles River Stable in Hamilton, Massachusetts, which went on to become the oldest public stable in the Northeast. Paddy followed in his father’s footsteps (as did his children) and continued it, and the Keoughs produced some of the country’s best horses for over 50 years, the story says.

Keough rode himself, as well as training generations of horses and riders in all disciplines. He was a charter member of the Professional Horseman’s Association and a former US Cavalryman.

The story says he was never too self-impressed to get his hands dirty around the barn.

He was survived by his wife, Barbara, and children Patrick III, Michael and Ann Elizabeth, plus the hundreds of riders, owners, jockeys, trainers and show officials that became a second family.

The writer said he never lost sight of the single most important factor: kindness: “Without kindness, he’d say, a horse turns sour, a student loses heart, an opponent becomes bitter and the sport suffers.”

Michael and Patrick continued to ride Connemaras after their father’s death. They trained our stallion, Lynfields Kiltuck, for a period of time in the early 1980s.