The 1978 Winter Issue (Vol. 8, No. 1) of the American Connemara Pony Society News was eight pages filled with lots of interesting news.

Annual meeting and demonstration of Connemaras

ACPS Secretary Betty O’Brien summarized the annual meeting held in November 1977 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Driscoll, who owned an old stone farmhouse in Ambler, Pennsylvania, hosted the dinner Saturday night. Our stud books tell us the Driscolls had purchased stallion Timberlea’s Killymoon (by Far Above’s Shannon out of Far Above’s Bonny Leenane), but Killymoon does not seem to have had any offspring.

Betsy Ervin (who had a Connemara farm with husband Robert), also of Ambler, organized a demonstration Sunday morning of nine Connemaras, led off by her own mare, *Callowfeenish Lady, to serve as illustrations for a talk by veterinarian George Allen, DMV, on the relationship between conformation and soundness.

Secretary O’Brien said: “Those who have been struggling for years with the problem of standards for the typical Connemara will be interested in Dr. Allen’s comment on the differences in conformation among the Connemaras lined up before him. It was difficult, he said, to realize that they were all the same breed. What made this all the more dramatic was that Betsy had so assigned numbers that animals of very similar breeding were standing next to each other — and they were indeed different!”

And O’Brien left it at that.

We would have said to Dr. Allen that the variations go back to the origins of the Connemara and the fact that the breed is essentially a mutt, combining the best of many breeds. And we would have said to O’Brien that there’s no need to struggle with this concept. It just is.

But, can you imagine intentionally creating that parade of different Connemaras today amid the hugely partisan sides of those who prefer the coarse horses and those who’d rather have the refined ones? We wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions on Ervin’s motives.

Other news from the meeting: As of Jan. 1, 1978, all permanent registrations had to include identification cards with cowlicks and other markings noted on the cards. All stallion registrations had to be accompanied by a blood-type certificate. And fees were increased ($10 to register a Connemara between ages 2 and 3; $20 at age 3 or older; and $40 without a TFC). Our database of the stud book shows that a lot of owners, including society officials, skipped the TFC.

O’Brien said the first two registration changes were part of a nationwide movement toward proper identification of horses: “We have had some sticky questions of identity arise within our society in the past year or so (she didn’t elaborate). These moves, while not by any means foolproof, will help to settle some of the kinds of questions that have arisen, thus providing protection to the breeder, the owner and the stud book.”

She said fees increased to cover costs and to ensure on-time registration, again to protect the breed and to keep track of Connemaras being bred.

President’s column

ACPS President Peter Goltra also mentioned the annual meeting, saying members sat around the dinner sharing stories of Connemaras excelling in different disciplines. He asked newsletter readers to fill in a mail-in card on what they were doing with their Connemaras. He added that they should look at the list of committees in the newsletter and indicate if they wanted to serve on one, again using the card.

Goltra noted that the next annual meeting would be in Lexington, Kentucky, in conjunction with the World Championships.

By this point, Goltra had purchased 10 Connemaras, according to our stud book research, and registered three, including Aladdin (by Erin Laddie out of Fox Ridge Irish Lady), born in 1972. The Tephra.se database shows Aladdin as the sire of 36 Connemaras through maybe 2005, where it cuts off.

First annual Connemara Award, the Camlin Trophy

Spring Ledge Bridgette was selected as the first recipient of the ACPS Camlin Trophy, donated by longtime Irish breeder Garnet Irwin for an outstanding performance Connemara in America. Bridgette, owned by Dorothy Lyons, had been ridden by Dr. Marian “Doc” Molthan in The Great American Horse Race across the country in 1976 and finished ninth. The ride is covered in detail here.

Bridgette also completed the Tevis Cup a year later, in 1977, with rider Caroline Wurtz, one of Doc’s nieces. Later that year, in October 1977, Bridgette showed in a Connemara hunter division in Tucson with Caroline. Bridgette’s adult height was listed as 14.1 hands.

Doc was in the process of buying Bridgette, according to this report.

Other Connemaras in competition

The competition section lists some single show accomplishments, as well as bigger titles.

Among the bigger titles, halfbred gelding Starlight of Lakeside (by Fox Ridge Star Light out of a mare named Honey) owned by Lester W. Hammond of Fryeburg, Maine, was 1977 Maine Horse Association Champion Green Working Hunter and Champion Green Hunter Under Saddle.

Two partbreds from Polaris Farm, the breeding farm in Charlottesville, Virginia, of Mrs. Magruder Dent Jr., won AHSA (USEF) horse of the year awards (non-Connemara). Polaris Make Believe (by a Thoroughbred sire out of Whitewood Muffin) placed fourth in the Large Pony Hunter Division, and Polaris Cookie (by an Arabian sire out of halfbred Polaris Madcap) finished second in the Green Medium Pony Division.

Death notices

Two deaths were reported.

*Western Lily by Inishgoill Laddie out of Western Echo) died at age 26 in September 1977 due to ongoing health issues and a complicated birth of foal Mollie MacDara (by Whitewood Galway Bay), reported owner Mildred C. Young of Hitching Post Farm in Greenville, South Carolina. Lily was imported by Whitewood Stud and registered in Stud Book I, published in 1959. She had 11 foals.

Also deceased was *Blagdon Silver Gilt, who was only 12 when he died in 1976. Way too young.

The English bred stallion, born in 1964, was by Wisbridge Golden Rebel out of Silver Lining (by Carna Bobby).

He was shown in hand successfully in England, losing only once, to his dam.

Then, he was imported to the US by Jackie Harris of Hideaway Farm, where he produced eight foals (these included Hideaway Bay, granddam of Hideaway’s Erin Go Bragh, so Blagdon Silver Gilt’s bloodlines definitely live on in America).

His height at registration in Stud Book IV in 1968 was 14.0 ½ hands, so he likely stayed a pony.

He was gelded and sold and his whereabouts unknown for a few years, O’Brien said.

Our stud book database shows he was purchased around 1970 by Maple Lane Farm in Illinois.

O’Brien said he was subsequently purchased in October 1974 by Douglas Hood, former Canadian Grand Prix Team member, for Michelle Hood (daughter, we think), and taken to Briar Hall Stables in Oakville, Ontario.

The gelding was renamed Shaun Goilin.

Mrs. Hood wrote to the ACPS News: “For two years, he proved to have all of the excellent qualities of the Connemara: devotion, gentleness with heart, sure-footedness, and the ability to jump well on all terrain. Together, Michelle and Shaun Goilin won 136 ribbons, seven championships and seven reserve championships in the best of company. His untimely death came on Oct. 18, 1976, just three weeks before the show which was to have been his last with Michelle, the Royal Agriculture Winter Fair.”

Michelle Hood donated the Shaun Goilin Memorial Trophy to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in the gelding’s honor.

Miscellaneous

There’s a review of two new magazines: “Equus” and “Horses and Horsemanship,” with an interesting item in the second publication.

The reviewer, who may have been Secretary O’Brien, said there was one error of fact in the article on Connemaras, as it stated that the ACPS had separate sections of the registry for those over 14.2, an idea that was proposed some years ago but was never actually put in practice.

So, that explains why the Section II notations were used with horses registered in Stud Book III and described and not used in Stud Book IV. The whole idea just fell by the wayside.

On Page 6 of the newsletter, there’s an ad for Custusha’s Cashel Rock with two photos. We have been debating whether to use the ad photos because they were not earned for doing something. Still debating, but we’ll include these two.