Connemara Pony breeders in New Inn (Co Galway)

Skip to main item    Note added on August 11th 1999    Skip to main item

Local Connemara Pony breeders have very recently been informed that the Inward Buyer Programme, which is run by the Irish Horse Board, is this year being extended to the Connemara Pony Performance Show. 

The Inward Buyer Programme allows a refund on travel expenses incurred by overseas buyers of ponies at the Show.  (Details will be available at the event.)

Please note that the next Performance Show is now just a matter of days away: i.e. on Tuesday August 17th 1999.

Additional information regarding this year's Performance Show can be seen at the end of this page.

Should you know of anybody who might be interested in the above information, it would be much appreciated if you could "copy and paste" the address of this web page (given immediately below), and Email it to them:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/connemara_pony.htm

Connemara Ponies - in Connemara

Interest in Connemara ponies has long since spread to parts of the world outside of Ireland, and such places now include England, France, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  As far back as 1399, a French chronicler who visited the Connemara region with King Richard of England made the following remark: "they (Connemara ponies) scout the hills and valleys more swiftly than deer".

Though Connemara ponies may appear very similar to other breeds in many respects, they tend to be different in one important way: and that is their general ability to survive, and if necessary to work hard, in the very challenging environment of the region that has been their home for many centuries. While Connemara (in the western part of County Galway) is a place of awesome beauty for many humans, with its remarkable mixture of rugged coastline, barren mountain peaks, exposed rock, forests, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and peat bogs - all of which are regularly pounded by cold and wet gale-force winds from the North Atlantic, this area is not a suitable habitat for most forms of livestock. The Connemara Pony however, has evolved and been bred - designed if you like by nature and by people - to cope with this unusual and sometimes extreme environment. Most other farm animals (like cattle for instance), would quickly die from such things as exposure, injury or starvation if left alone for very long in this region.

One consequence of the breeding referred to above is that the people who buy Connemara ponies can normally expect to pay out less in veterinary bills: which is thought to be a major factor in the growing international popularity of this sturdy (but otherwise very diverse) breed of pony. Also, the quality (and cost) of land required can be much lower than for other types of pony: as can be directly observed from the photographs further down this page.