The Spring 1978 issue (Vol. 8, No. 2) of the American Connemara Pony Society News was eight pages.

We are reviewing these newsletters as we read them and not reading ahead. So we are learning new things and sometimes have to go back and adjust old reviews with updated information.

Also, we’re going to admit here that we have just learned through our research that ACPS President Peter S. Goltra was once married to Connemara breeder Catherine Mack. We said in our Winter 1978 review that Goltra owned stallion Aladdin. Ultimately, Mack owned, showed and stood Aladdin at her Virginia farm. That is the extent of our knowledge, since our parents rarely shared this type of information with us. But if you wondered how Aladdin went from Goltra to Mack, that’s the link.

Secretary asks people to pay on time

ACPS Secretary Betty O’Brien’s update in the newsletter went through the seemingly never-ending concerns of society dues needing to be paid, information needed for publications, stud books not selling well, etc. Honestly, there is so much pleading in these 1970s newsletters for members to pay their dues or buy ACPS publications, it makes it sound as if the Connemara owners and breeders in the decade were contributing little.

President weighs in on breed’s diverse looks

ACPS President Goltra’s column was one of the most interesting items in this newsletter. The first part asked people to send in their money to hold hotel rooms for the annual meeting in Lexington, Kentucky.

But the second half of the column pivoted and discussed Secretary O’Brien’s comment in the previous newsletter on Connemara diversity.

O’Brien had highlighted a statement by veterinarian George Allen, DVM, who reviewed a parade of different looking Connemaras as part of the most recent annual meeting. Allen had said the differences in conformation in front of him made it difficult to realize that the ponies were all the same breed.

Goltra responded in the latest newsletter, saying: “I was fascinated by the broad diversity of our genetic base, which Mrs. O’Brien mentioned in the Winter (1978) newsletter. This comment on Betsy Ervin’s demonstration after the annual meeting pointed up, I thought, the reason behind the excellence of the Connemara in so many different disciplines. Although many breeders, including myself, have in the past formed particular images of what Connemaras should look and be like, it has become clear that the strength of the Connemara breed lies in its heterozygosity (genetic variation) and the varied aptitudes lying therein. It is less clear, however, how the society can best serve the resultant highly varied interests of its members. If you as an owner or breeder feel that there are ways in which the ACPS should be serving you but isn’t, I hope you will write Mrs. O’Brien or me so that we may take steps to serve you better.”

So, as of 1978, the ACPS seemed fine with a diversity of looks and athletic ability among its Connemara ranks.

Blood-typing halted temporarily

The previous newsletter, the Winter 1978 issue, said all stallion registrations had to be accompanied by a blood-type certificate.

This issue said the ACPS was temporarily suspending the requirement while it found a lab to do the tests for Connemara stallions.

Stallions gelded

Dorothy Lyons, of Bar Bar A Connemara Pony Farm in Santa Barbara, California, reported that Bar Bar A’s Kilkerrin Paddy (by Georgia’s Mister Irish out of Morning Mist) had been gelded. She did not provide a reason. Our research shows Paddy, born in 1962, was originally registered as Jack’s Irishman in Stud Book III by owner Jack K. Feazelle. Robert H. Wright Jr. was the breeder. So, Paddy would have been 16 in 1978. The Tephra.se database lists 27 foals for Paddy.

And Mildred Young, of Hitching Post Farm in Greenville, South Carolina, reported that her Whitewood Galwayman, born in 1970, was gelded. She said her farm already had too much Whitewood  blood, and his foals lacked the size she had hoped for (unsure if that’s height or bone). He was 14.1 hands when registered. A lot of performance Connemaras advertised in the newsletters in 1978 were 15 hands or taller. Galwayman would have been 8 years old. Tephra.se lists five foals for the stallion.

Deceased Connemaras

Imported mare *Hope Gill by Tiger Gill out of Hope, by Rebel) was reported as deceased by owner Katherine Grayson, of Blue Ridge Farm. She said *Hope Gill was the farm’s foundation mare and had passed along her good looks and temperament to numerous descendants.

*Hope Gill had 12 foals from 1955 to 1977, according to the newsletter, though one dun colt was listed as unnamed. *Hope Gill’s first owner in the US was Harry S. Middendorf of Lystra Farm, our research shows.

Interview with Karen Lende on Erin’s Shamrock

The main feature in this newsletter was an interview with Karen Lende (now Karen O’Connor) about her wildly successful eventing Connemara, Erin’s Shamrock, then 14, by *Tooreen Laddie out of Erinbay and bred by Hideaway Farm. The story was written by Caroline H. Nesbitt.

“Shammy,” as Lende called him, ended the 1976 eventing season as the leading competitor in Area 1 in Open Preliminary.

In 1977, Shammy and Lende finished second to US team captain Michael Plumb and Laser in the 1977 National Open Intermediate Championships at Radnor, Pennsylvania, and were invited to go to the USET headquarters in Hamilton, Massachusetts, for further training with team coach Jack LeGoff.

The gelding was 15 hands, and Lende said she wasn’t looking for him to climb the eventing ladder when she bought him as a green 6-year-old in 1970 for a Pony Club mount. Lende was 12.

She tried Shamrock and two siblings also bred by Hideaway Farm at a location in Connecticut, after her dressage instructor, Dr. H. L. M. Van Shaik, had suggested a Connemara. Lende said “something clicked right away” with Shammy.

She was expecting to move on to a bigger Thoroughbred to event. But Shammy rose to the occasion as Lende tackled bigger challenges.

“Every time I’d move up a level, I’d think, ‘Well, he won’t be able to do it this time,’ but he has,” Lende told Nesbitt.

She also noted that his size and handiness often gave him an advantage over larger horses: “He’s really good in trappy country, very clever with his feet. He can turn on a dime and keep up his speed when a lot of other horses have to slow down.”

Lende said she wanted to be careful not to overface him, but it hadn’t happened yet, and she would be surprised if it ever did.

The one negative she pointed to was dressage “because a Connemara just doesn’t move like a big horse, and that’s against him.”

“The thing I really want to stress, though, is his soundness,” Lende said. “I’ve never had any trouble. He’s just incredibly sound. Eventing puts so much stress on a horse’s legs. It’s really unusual to find one that doesn’t have trouble sooner or later. But Shammy’s 100 percent sound, and he’s been through so much.”

She talked about him not being wound too tightly or edgy, but he did have his tricks, such as getting out of his stall and being hard to catch afterward.

“I really like the intelligence of the breed and cooperation,” Lende said. “You feel like you’re doing it together — he’s been there right with me whenever I’ve moved up again. The culmination of all his success is exciting.”

The story was accompanied by a photo of Lende and Erin’s Shamrock (see gallery below).

And that was the only photo in the whole newsletter.

But there was a great ad (with no photo) for dark bay gelding Gilnocky Exodus (by Erin Laddie out of *Glencara Lady), 15 hands. He had successfully evented in Pre-training and Training levels, had competed in many Pony Club C regional rallies, had hunted for five seasons (by juniors and fragile mothers), had lived alone and with other horses, had taken humans ski-joring (human on skis pulled behind the horse), was a good mover and 100 percent sound, had no buck, and loaded and trailered well. All for $3,000. Sounded like the greatest deal ever. We have searched high and low on the internet for more info on Gilnocky Exodus. Nothing so far.