Two charts of fullbred Connemara registrations by year in the United States from 1956-1988 show there was a big drop-off in the registrations twice in the 1970s before the numbers evened out. The top chart shows permanent registrations, and the bottom one shows temporary foal certificates.

These charts, previously combined, were revised and split into two in January 2023.

In December 2022, we discovered that mare registrations in Stud Book 4 voided 134 numbers in the middle of the registration numbers, which made it appear that more mares were registered than in reality.

Since we were redoing the chart, splitting it into two provided more clarity.

The drop in registrations may have been an inevitable correction after a huge push in the 1960s by seemingly very competitive breeders wanting to dominate the Connemara market in the US.

Competitive may be an understatement to describe Robert H. Wright Jr.’s registration of 43 fullbred Connemaras, most of which he imported, in American Connemara Pony Stud Book Volume 2, along with 26 foals that weren’t permanently registered in the same volume (many Connemaras had temporary foal certificates and permanent registrations in the same volume in the first four volumes since each volume covered three years).

Other breeders who appeared to be trying to match Wright’s efforts in the 1960s would have pulled back eventually, as well.

Additionally, the drop-off in registrations may have been due to outside forces such as the two oil crises in the 1970s, which would have limited discretionary income for a broader group of Connemara lovers. However, the first oil crisis started in 1973, and one of the biggest drops in registrations occurred in 1972, so outside influences likely played a smaller role than factors going on within the society.

We will update this post after we dig into the data more deeply and look for answers.

The year 1956 likely didn’t register any Connemaras, though it was the year the American Connemara Pony Society was founded. The society didn’t actually take shape until 1957. Still, Stud Book Volume 1 covered the years 1956-1958, so we used 1956 as the starting date.

Given the three-year range of Volumes 1 to 4, there was no way for us to separate registrations by year, so we divided the total fullbred Connemaras per volume by three to get a yearly average for the first 12 years in the chart.