Below: View Little Heaven’s family tree, with photos of some of his ancestors

Thoroughbred stallion Little Heaven was perhaps the single greatest influence on the Connemara breed. He was allowed into the breed by Ireland in the 1940s, and we are honored that he was the grandsire of our two top performance horses — Lynfields Kiltuck and Kerrymor’s Autumn Hope.

It’s difficult to find information on the 15-hand bay stallion, but a few things appear in publications, and we have compiled them for those interested in this great horse.

Little Heaven’s offspring included the legendary Irish show jumper Dundrum, top U.S. breeding stallion *Texas Hope, and British grand prix dressage champion Little Model, an Olympic competitor.

We have found no evidence from quality sources that 1968 Olympic show jumping silver medalist Stroller, the only pony ever to medal at the Olympics, was a son of Little Heaven.

It seems likely, but we believe that the evidence doesn’t exist to prove it. Stroller’s owner, Marion Coakes, never mentioned Stroller’s sire or dam in her books on him. Top Connemara historian Elizabeth Petch lists Dundrum and Little Model as Little Heaven offspring and doesn’t include Stroller in her exhaustive chronicle of the breed that was published in 1998.

But Little Heaven doesn’t need Stroller to seal his fate as the greatest Connemara stallion ever. International coach William Micklem says on his website: Little Heaven was “so successful as a sire that it is now difficult to find a top performance Connemara pony without Little Heaven in the genes.”

Petch said Little Heaven’s legacy carried down through future generations was “great jumping ability.”

Little Heaven’s breeding career

Little Heaven, a bay, was born in 1942 at the Knockany Stud. His sire was Bala Hissar by Blandford and his dam was Outport by Portlaw.

Petch said Little Heaven was purchased by the Connemara Pony Breeders Society in December 1946 from the Orchardstown Stud, in Clonmel, in County Tipperary, Ireland, for £100 and was the society’s most expensive purchase to date.

Under Ireland’s Connemara breeding system, the CPBS bought the stallions for breeders to use for a fee.

The CPBS placed Little Heaven with Jack Bolger at Oughterard starting in 1947. The stallion stood there for five years.

Petch said Little Heaven was restricted to 40 mares. His fee was 5 guineas but only 25 shillings to nominated Connemara mares.

Petch noted that Little Heaven traveled by lorry to Clifden, Cashel and Carna during his last three seasons.

The Bolger family

Jack Bolger and son Bobby were profiled by Irish author Niamh O’Dochartaigh in “A Way with Horses,” published in 2005, based on the author interviewing Bobby.

The author said Jack Bolger was a top breeder and won the Connemara Stallion Class at the CPBS Connemara Pony Show on 14 occasions from 1932-1949, while winning the Supreme Championship three times.

O’Dochartaigh described how a stroke of fate led to Jack being alive at all and growing up in Oughterard. Jack’s parents planned to move to America and had booked passage on the Titanic, which sailed in April 1912, but his mother died before the trip, and Jack, his brother and his dad remained in Ireland.

Jack and his brother went to live with two uncles, John and Willie Roe.

The Roes kept Thoroughbreds and ponies, and Willie Roe eventually became a founding member of the CPBS in 1923. Following in the footsteps of the Roes, Jack would bring together the best of the Thoroughbred and Connemara worlds in his own life.

The author said Jack became a noted stallion handler and stood many Connemara stallions between 1932 and 1952, including Lavalley Rebel, Tiger Gil, Inishgoill Laddie, Silver Pearl, Lavalley Noble, Dun Lorenzo, Creganna Winter, Carna Bobby, Tully Lad and Calla Rebel.

O’Dochartaigh said Jack also stood Thoroughbred stallions Little Heaven and Winter and Irish Draughts Skibbereen and May Boy.

The book says the CPBS usually chose Jack to manage its stallions for the first few seasons before moving them to other custodians around Connemara.

Bobby would go on to become a CPBS council member himself.

Bobby told the author that “type” was the most important attribute that must be maintained and then began his description of type as an attractive head with large dark eyes set wide apart. He said the head should be well set on and the neck should have good length of rein (as in, a long neck). Bobby said, above all, the correct type of pony should have a good temperament and substance combined with quality with “some of the quality coming from the Thoroughbred blood.”

O’Dochartaigh said that Bobby, similar to Jack, believed that Carna Bobby, registered as the son of fullbred Connemara stallion Gil, was actually produced by one of the Thoroughbreds that the Bolgers stood. Carna Bobby’s dam was Carna Dolly, who was later bred to Little Heaven five times.

But, looking at the timeline, Carna Bobby was born in 1946, and Little Heaven started his stallion career with the Bolgers in 1947, so Little Heaven likely wasn’t the sire.

Carna Dolly had extensive Thoroughbred blood herself, the author says. Indeed, she was a halfbred mare by Thoroughbred Buckna.

All of which would make Carna Bobby three-quarters Thoroughbred.

But back to Little Heaven

Bobby recalled men from all over Connemara bringing their mares to be covered by Little Heaven and other stallions stationed at the farm, according to O’Dochartaigh.

As an adult, Bobby married and moved to his own place, acquiring two islands in Cashel Bay to graze his ponies. One of his mares was named Cashel Bay, by Little Heaven out of Carna Dolly. The mare became a successful racer. The author said Jack and Bobby eventually concentrated on pony racing, a very popular sport at the time, in the 1950s and 1960s.

Garnet Irwin’s praise for Little Heaven

Another fan of Little Heaven was Connemara, Ireland, native and longtime Connemara breeder Garnet Irwin (1913-2005), who claimed the best and most productive input to the breed came with the introduction of Little Heaven’s genes, according to O’Dochartaigh.

Irwin was another horsewoman profiled in O’Dochartaigh’s book.

O’Dochartaigh said Irwin believed that Dundrum and Little Model put Connemaras on the world map and were “the reason for the popularity of the native pony to this day.”

And, sadly, O’Dochartaigh said that Irwin was angered “to think of how Little Heaven was disposed of in the end, being sold at (the) Athenry cattle fair to a dealer for 9 pounds and transported to England for the meat trade.”

Short summaries of Little Heaven offspring Dundrum and *Texas Hope appear below.

Irish show jumper Dundrum

Tommy Wade on Irish Connemara show jumper Dundrum.

Irish show jumper Dundrum, ridden by Tommy Wade, is the most famous Connemara ever. The gelding, out of Connemara mare Evergood by Little Heaven, jumped a clear round in 1963 to clinch Ireland’s Nations Cup competition and its famed Aga Khan Trophy for the Irish team at the annual Dublin Horse Show. The video below captures a few of Dundrum’s jumps and the atmosphere at the show.

Wade said of Dundrum in 2013 at Wade’s induction into Ireland’s Show Jumping Hall of Fame: “He was like a little Thoroughbred; he was all muscle, and he was a lovely horse to ride, strong and powerful.”

For a true understanding of Dundrum’s amazing athleticism and how Little Heaven changed the public perception of the Connemara breed, see our tribute to Dundrum.

Stallion *Texas Hope

Connemara stallion *Texas Hope with Jim Bailey in 1975 at Lynfields Farm in Vermont.

*Texas Hope, a Connemara stallion imported into the United States from Ireland, was the most popular Connemara stallion in America from the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s. He was out of Connemara mare Knock Molly by Little Heaven. Texas Hope sired 99 foals, according to Tephra.se.

For more about *Texas Hope, read our tribute to this top sire.

Little Heaven’s ancestors

Little Heaven’s pedigree appears below. Bold names indicate there’s a linked photo. Blandford appears to be the Thoroughbred whose traits were retained the most in future generations of Connemaras, particularly those descending from Texas Hope. Study the photos to see what features your offspring received from Little Heaven and his ancestors.