The 1973 Summer Issue (Vol. III, No. 2) of the American Connemara Pony Society News was 10 pages.

Fall meeting and agenda: The president’s message from Dorothy Lyons noted that there would be five significant shows that year with all Connemara classes or notable Connemara divisions; the show names weren’t listed. Also, she encouraged readers to attend the annual meeting in the Middleburg/Morven Park area, being held Nov. 10, 1973, at the same time as the Middleburg Hunt Races. The newsletter listed the agenda items that would be discussed, so those voting would have time to consider them. These included a plan by Catherine and Peter Goltra to restructure the board into a term-limited and member-voted group of nine members, saying the current board of 27 members was nonfunctioning. The Goltras also proposed making the secretary’s job a paid business position not requiring ACPS membership.

*Camlin Cinco’s death: There was a tribute to imported stallion *Camlin Cinco, who was put down on Sept. 11 (not sure if that’s 1972 or 1973) after a pasture accident and a great effort to save him by Cornell veterinarians. He was owned by Frank and Doris Fee of Franmeryl Farm in Ballston Spa, New York. Our research indicates that *Camlin Cinco was born in 1958, bred by Ireland’s Garnet Irwin, so he was about 15. The stud books list eight foals, all fullbreds, for him.

Registration errors: The secretary, again, Doris Fee, summarized her frustration with trying to process Connemara registrations, saying that 90 percent could not be processed as sent in, requiring additional correspondence. Errors included omission of a signature, lack of the date of transaction or the address of the new owner, and lack of payment or an incorrect payment. Rarer instances of problems included a mare owner not knowing which stallion produced a foal, a registration listing one stallion but the genealogy of another, and submission of an application from an owner who said the pony “must be a Connemara because it looks just like a picture I saw of one once.”

To those who had asked Fee to bill them after the registration was processed, she said the answer would always be no and listed the obvious reasons.

Elmira, New York, Connemara division: There was a summary of the Elmira Fall Horse Show in Elmira, New York. Apparently, there had not been a Connemara division for several years, but 10 Connemara classes were included in 1973 at the three-day show, with the Connemaras judged by Victor Hugo-Vidal, whose effort was called faultless, and he was also described as very kind to exhibitors. Thirty Connemaras from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania competed. The results were to be published in the next issue (which we don’t have).

CPBS meeting notes: This newsletter included notes from the Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society meeting from Aug. 19, 1973.

The CPBS talked about Ireland’s Connemara Pony Show that year having riding classes for the first time. (In the ACPS’ Stud Book I, the secretary’s summary of 1958 said the big event of the year was the Eastern Pony Congress Show, held in Maryland. The secretary said the show was the first to hold conformation and performance classes for Connemara ponies in the United States. Apparently, it was 14 years ahead of Ireland, too, as far as holding performance classes.)

The CPBS considered establishing of an “International Secretariat for Connemara Pony Societies,” whose purpose would be to circulate a newsletter to members of various Connemara societies. Something like that organization does exist in the 2020s, some 50 years later, but it’s pretty lacking and certainly does not publish a newsletter that I have received.

The CPBS also summarized its decision to create a “Half Bred Register” that would include only Connemara mares’ offspring by Thoroughbred stallion Speck, owned by Garnet Irwin, with a view to introducing blood into the breed. Just one stallion? Not sure what happened to that idea.

And then there was a discussion on whether Irish owners should provide proper care for their ponies’ feet and deworm them. In 1973.