Connemara Pony breeder, Finola Mulholland from Co Armagh, writes:
Having been to two Connemara inspections during the last week, and having conversed with the members involved, I want to let fellow Connemara folk know how important it is to support the present CPBS (Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society) council members, who are pushing so hard to make things better for the ponies and their breeders.
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It is because of them that the amnesty scheme was passed, allowing ponies who normally would not have been eligible for full inclusion in the stud book to come back into the gene pool. The breed needs all the diversity it can get, in order to remain healthy, and go forward not only into the future, but WITH a future !
As Fiona Comer's research shows, in-breeding is causing a contraction of the gene pool.
It is not enough just to breed to the winning stallions, without thinking beyond the next foal, but vital to consider all aspects of the ponies’ characteristics, such as colour and size, and diversify the pedigrees. I have been assured that the inspection team will return North in the autumn, if we can present them with at least 20 fillies or mares to evaluate.
They were so pleased with what they saw in Gransha on Monday last, and that seven of the candidates were there under amnesty, proved the success of the open approach, which they wish to employ going forward. We do not realise how much of the cost of both passports and inspection fees are covered for us by DAFM.
HR officer for the CPBS, Cáit Brandy Hennessy, informs me that the stallion inspection fee, for which I paid 100 euros, would be 250 if not for the subsidy from the DAFM. These funds are available because of the status of the Connemara, which on a world scale is regarded as a Rare Breed. Inspections are an integral part of maintaining that status, without which the subsidy would disappear, and many ponies would likely go unregistered.
Not only would this reduce their value in monetary terms, but the core of the breed which would be left would spiral even further into in-breeding depression.
So, stand up, fellow breeders and owners, and make sure your ponies are out in strength. We love the breed too much to let them descend into oblivion.
Let us prove it.