The initial years of the American Connemara Pony Society were chronicled in the first four volumes of the “American Connemara Pony Stud Book.” These hard-covered books spanned three years each and combined the secretary’s official notes with the few rules of the society and the ponies registered during the years covered.

Charlotte Read of Round Robin Farm (often referred to as Mrs. Bruce Read) served as honorary secretary and then the official secretary and treasurer for the first three volumes. She provided much of the content for the books and saved the history of those early days.

Looking back at Read’s notes, we can see who was responsible for the Connemara gaining traction in the United States and who the leading breeders and exhibitors were as the ACPS took shape.

Through the registrations in Volume 1 — for 107 fullbred Connemaras — we can track the 14 states and the District of Columbia where the first breeders lived. The volume covers the years of 1956 to 1958. The publication date was 1959.

 

 

Emphasis on performance

From the start, there was an emphasis on performance.

The first three volumes open with a single-page history of the Connemara, with the bottom half of the page dedicated to Connemaras famous in international performance. Dundrum’s career hadn’t hit the stratosphere when Volume 1 was printed; thus, he was not included. The heralded Connemaras in the volume were Korbous, an Irish eventer; Pretty Polly, an Arab Connemara riding pony; Little Squire, a US jumper; and the Nugget, 1913-1943, called one of the greatest show jumpers in history.

The top of the history page is two paragraphs with the familiar story of the Connemara developing under the harshest conditions on the west coast of Ireland, creating a hardy breed, but its origins were “lost in legend.”

The next page of each of the three volumes begins with the society’s mission. Under the header “American Connemara Pony Society,” the text says:

“In recognition of the need for a pony of a great stamina and versatility, capable of carrying an adult in the hunt field, yet gentle and tractable enough for a young child, fearless as a show jumper, yet suitable and steady as a driving pony, the American Connemara Pony Society was formed in December 1956. Under the auspices [Merriam Webster first definition: kindly patronage and guidance] of the Connemara Pony Breeders Society of Galway, Eire, and of the English Connemara Pony Society, the American Connemara Pony Stud Book has been established for the registration of ponies imported to or bred in this country as provided in the regulations.”

1957 meeting to form ACPS

While the society was founded in late 1956, Read’s 1957 “Secretary’s Report,” printed in Volume 1, says the first meeting to actually form the society was held in February 1957 at the Groton Inn in Groton, Massachusetts.

Those attending were Mrs. Charles Z. Case, of Avon, New York; Mrs. Esther C. Proctor, of Ipswich, Massachusetts; Mrs. Frederick Winthrop, of Groton House, Ipswich, Massachusetts; Mrs. Robert E. Carter III, M.F.H., of Groton; Mrs. Douwe B. Yntema, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Read, of Hollis, New Hampshire.

Read noted that a main reason for forming an American society was US breeders found it challenging to meet the requirement of having a pony inspected by the Connemara Pony Breeders Society to register Connemaras in Ireland.

The American society implemented its own inspections process in Volume 1 — with an inspection required to register a Connemara in the US — and then threw out inspections by 1962, when Volume 2 said any Connemara age 2 or older could be registered, period.

First ACPS annual meeting, 1958

In Read’s secretary’s report for 1958, also in Volume 1, she said the first annual ACPS meeting was held in inclement weather in February 1958, again at the Groton Inn.

Breeders present were Mr. and Mrs. Henry K. Bouchard, of Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Mrs. William C. Crane Jr., of Chesterland, Ohio, and The Plains, Virginia; Mr. Joseph L. Sisto, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania; Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Middendorf and their son, Michael, of Hamilton, Massachusetts; Mrs. Carl C. Johnson, of Weston, Massachusetts; and Read.

Crane mostly was referred to as Magalen Ohrstrom Crane or Magalen O. Crane. Her father, George Ohrstrom, bought The Chronicle of the Horse in 1954, and her brother, George Jr., owned it for the next 50 years after George Sr. died in 1955.

Registrations in Volume 1 show that other big breeders at this time included William Dolph of Fox Ridge Farm in Ivy, Virginia; Robert H. Wright Jr. of Columbus, Georgia, whose farm name of Rose Hill (or often Rosehill) would appear in later volumes; and Norine Randle Murchison of San Antonio, Texas (the Murchisons imported *Texas Hope to the United States in 1952 before the ACPS had formed).

Read’s report described three major concerns at the first annual meeting,

The first was the fees for registering horses needed to be raised because they didn’t cover costs. Volume 1 lists the fees, presumably the raised fees.

Transfer fees for registered Irish horses ranged from $1 to $5. Permanent registration for horses born in America ranged from $5 for horses with a temporary foal certificate to $20 for those without. And temporary foal certificates cost $3 to $4, depending on the timing.

Membership fees were $1 for a junior, $3 for a senior, and $20 for a life membership.

Changing Height Requirements

The second topic was members’ desire to change the height range under the “Points of the Connemara” section. Attendees agreed unanimously to change the range to 13 to 14.2 hands from 13 to 14 hands. One might ask whether the height or other conformation points were mandatory. It’s difficult to tell, due to seeming inconsistency in Stud Book 1 in the registration of ponies outside the height range.

Thirteen fullbreds were 14 hands or taller, with one (mare Whitewood Irish Eve) listed as 14.2 and a 1/2 hands. Ninety-four fullbreds were under 14 hands.

There was a note with the entry for 12.3-hand stallion Peanut Curley that said it was a three-year provisional registration; the stallion’s get must measure at least 13 hands. Two mares also were 12.3 hands, with no apparent limitation on their registration, but they were Ireland-registered transfers, while Peanut Curley was not. Volume 1 said all ponies registered in Ireland would be accepted in American’s stud book. Volume 2 changed that rule considerably.

On the height issue, one fullbred mare (Glencara Pussy), who was 12 hands and not an Ireland-registered transfer, was registered as a halfbred, though her parents were both Connemaras. A note under her entry said: “This mare does not qualify for the Pure Bred Division due to size. Any of her progeny measuring at least 13 hands may be entered in the Pure Bred Division if they qualify in all other respects.”

Again, American-born Whitewood Irish Eve, taller than 14.2 hands, was allowed in.

Whatever the height listed, the registered Connemaras may have been taller as mature animals. *Texas Hope’s height is listed in Volume 1 as 13.3 hands, yet he was described as 14.1 hands on his stallion promotional sheet that appeared in publications over the years. He definitely looked 14.1 hands or taller when we visited and photographed him in 1975, when he was 25.

The third topic that 1958 meeting attendees discussed was the members’ desire to add breed classes to some of the leading open shows of the summer season.

First Connemara horse show results

The second page of Read’s two-page report for 1958 covered what horses were doing in the show ring. She said the big event of the year was the Eastern Pony Congress Show, held in June 1958 in Rising Sun, Maryland. She said the show was the first to hold breeding (conformation) and performance classes for Connemara ponies in the United States.

The New England exhibitors were Harry Middendorf, Dr. and Mrs. Carl Johnson, and Read, while those from Virginia were Crane, of Whitewood Stud, and Dolph, who owned *Texas Hope by 1958.

The results, in the order that Read published them, were:

Dolph’s *Texas Hope took home the titles Champion Stallion and Grand Champion Connemara. Crane’s Whitewood Biscuit was Champion Mare and Reserve Champion Connemara. The foal class was won by Whitewood Stud’s Tully Winter; the yearling class by Middendorf’s Lystra Lad; and the 2-year-old class by Read’s An Tostal.

Read said there also were Connemara breeding classes in September 1958 at the Eastern States Exposition, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Middendorf’s Lystra Lad was Champion, while Read’s yearling filly Alydun was Reserve Champion.

Other leading ponies in performance classes during the year were Whitewood Corn Pone, owned by the Johnsons; Whitewood Biscuit and Stinger, owned by Crane and Whitewood Stud; Glencara Lady, owned by Middendorf; Rosmuck Surprise, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bouchard; and Wicklow Mountain Rose Bay, owned by Read.

 

 

Volume 1 registrations

Volume 1 listed registrations for 16 fullbred stallions, 86 fullbred mares and five purebred geldings for a total of 107 fullbreds. In addition, there were 38 fullbred temporary foal certificates. In the halfbred section, there were two geldings, two mares, and four temporary foal certificates.

An asterisk by the horse’s name seemed to indicate that the horse was an import that was permanently registered in Ireland before transferring to the US, based on our observation of when the asterisk was used. Nothing in Volume 1 spells it out specifically.

The asterisk was left off *Texas Hope’s name in Volume 1, though *Texas Hope always carried the asterisk in his promotional material. His registration does not include a permanent number in Ireland. He was indeed an import. We will not be removing the asterisk.

The first horse registered in the ACPS was imported stallion *Farravane Boy by Mrs. Magruder Dent Jr. of Polaris Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia. The gray stallion was by Mayboy out of Farravane and born in 1945.

Second was *Tooreen Laddie (by Innishgoill Laddie out of Grey Swan), registered by Mrs. Edward Harris Jr., whose family established Hideaway Farm (though its early name was Hideaway Stables).

Third was *Texas Pride (by Carna Bobby out of Maheree), belonging to Dolph; and fourth was Dolph’s *Texas Hope (by Little Heaven out of Knock Molly).

That’s quite a group.

The first registered mare was Read’s Wicklow Mountain Rose Bay, by MacDara out of *Clare Dun.

Interestingly, the second mare registered was *Clare Dun herself, by Lavalley Rebel out of Miss McGauley. This standout mare produced famed performance stallion An Tostal, who sired 58 foals and rose through the ranks of New England’s eventing scene, eventually making it to the Three Day Olympic Trials in 1965. *Clare Dun also produced Kerrymor Farm’s amazing Round Robin’s Easter Bonnet, mother of eight foals and top performer in eventing and hunters at the same time. I would have loved to see *Clare Dun registered first, honoring her with that No. 1 entry. No. 2 will have to do.

The next three mares — *Sun Cloud (by Tiger Gill out of Sundrop), *Sandy Grey (by Clough Droighnean out of Truska Molly), and *Miss Murvey (by Carna Dun out of Murvey Colleen) — also belonged to Read.

Note that Read’s Round Robin Farm was located in E. Pepperell, Massachusetts, rather than her listed home of Hollis, New Hampshire, so her horses were all registered in Massachusetts. No horses registered in Volume 1 were located in New Hampshire. But New Hampshire certainly played a major role in the shaping of the ACPS through Read’s participation.

Top breeders in Volume 1

A relatively few breeders registered a large number of the fullbred Connemaras. Dolph registered 22, while Wright registered nine, and Al Mavis of Rochester, Illinois, registered eight.

Murchison registered six, while Read registered five.

Some horses were registered only under the farm name. Whitewood Stud registered 10 fullbred horses, in addition to two fullbreds registered under Crane’s name. LeWa Farm, owned by Thomas R. Chalmers of Lake Forest, Illinois, registered 10 fullbreds under the farm name.

Looking at registrations by horse gender, Murchison registered the most stallions with four: Rambling On, Clever Boy, Palm Lor’s First Boy, and Happy Boy. She was the breeder and owner of all four, with two by *Texas Hope (Rambling On and Clever Boy) and two by *Texas Pride (Palm Lor’s First Boy and Happy Boy), all foaled in in 1954 and 1955.

Dolph ranked second in registering stallions with three. In addition to *Texas Hope and *Texas Pride, he registered *Star Dust, by Little Heaven out of Oughterard Star.

Dolph also registered the most mares with 19. Mavis and Wright ranked second, with eight mares each.

The temporary foal certificates of Volume 1 might seem to indicate which breeders had momentum in expanding their herd. Read and Dolph each had seven. However, given that the volume covered three years, there was duplication between foals and fullbreds registered in the same volume. Three of Read’s foals and four of Dolph’s were registered fully in the same volume.

Crane registered seven foals under Whitewood Stud, in addition to one under her own name, and there was no crossover with fullbreds registered in the volume.

Missing information

There is a noticeable lack of information for some registered fullbreds in Volume 1.

Eleven fullbreds provided no sire name, dam name or breeder. None was an import. Seven of those were owned by the same farm.

There is probably a back story, which may be lost to history, but it does make one wonder how these Connemaras were verified as fullbred Connemaras.

Four additional fullbreds provided no dam name but did list a sire.

Volume 2 implemented a rule change from Volume 1, saying it would register only purebred ponies that were the offspring of registered stock. In addition, it would no longer accept Connemaras registered in Ireland automatically if the sire and dam and their parents did not appear on the registration papers. It grandfathered in ponies already in the US, as of November 1960, even if not registered by that date.

Offspring of halfbreds

Volume 1 offered hope to those with halfbred Connemaras wanting to breed fullbred Connemaras. It said third-generation offspring of a halfbred Con­nemara mare or stallion would be eligible for entry as a fullbred in the stud book, provided that, according to records, all intervening crosses were to fullbred Connemaras only.

Color trends

As for coat color for the fullbred Connemaras in Volume 1, 58 were gray, 21 dun, four gray dun (counted in both groups), four black, 22 bay (with one bay dun counted in both groups), eight brown, three chestnut, four cream, no palomino, and 11 roan. The roans consisted of two gray roans (also counted in the grays), one strawberry roan, one chestnut roan (counted in both groups), two blue roans, one yellow roan, one bay roan (also counted with the bays) and two plain roans.

Society details

At the time Volume 1 was published, the top three ACPS officials were Mrs. Frederic Winthrop as patroness; Middendorf as president; and Crane as vice president. Mrs. Carl C. Johnson was listed as editorial committee, but there’s no indication whether she was the committee, oversaw the committee, or was an editor herself. And, in this volume, Read was listed as the honorary secretary.

No membership numbers were provided in Volume 1, but there were 40 members by 1960, as reported in Volume 2, so the total likely was less than 40.

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Read our summary of Volume 2

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Below are the Volume 1 images of Connemaras *Farravane Boy, *Wicklow Mountain Rose Bay, *Texas Hope, Whitewood Muffin, Lystra Lad, Ceann Beag, Pipers Star, Bold Venture, Cullahara, and Whitewood Biscuit.