Slow Start to Spring Festival
Lettermuckoo Boy at the Clifden Colt inspections. Photo: Satu Pitkannen.
The weekend started slowly on Thursday night in a subdued atmosphere with a pleasant photo exhibition in the Abbeyglen Castle Hotel and though the sun shone on Friday, the colt inspections with new format dragged on from 11.00am until 6.30pm. With inspectors, vets and farriers all having their say and all ponies undergoing rigorous examination, it was difficult to expedite matters.
Despite the stern inspection, 18 were considered Class 1 standard. This is a surprising statistic and some of those must be considered lucky. The committee must ensure that the best colts in the country are forward and that the whole process takes less time in the future. Sunshine can’t be guaranteed. The committee is to be congratulated on trying something innovative, even if some tweaking is needed. The whole operation was admirably transparent.
The Bartley O Sullivan lecture, third in this annual series, was presented by Jenny Hagenblad, a Swedish geneticist from Trondheim University. Entitled ‘A Ladies Night Out in Connemara’, it examined the contribution of some of the outstanding mares in the history of the breed. It was an in-depth, thoroughly-researched paper, illustrated with photographs, graphs and tables. It will be published and available in June and will reward careful study. The Society is indeed fortunate to have someone of Ms Hagenblad’s calibre engaged in this kind of research.
It is also fortunate to have a clinician of Philip Scott’s calibre who conducted the two Saturday clinics on loose jumping and the new Irish Connemara Green Hunter Championships for four year olds. Seasoned campaigners admitted to learning a great deal from Mr. Scott’s inciteful and articulate comments. The performance committee are to be congratulated on the excellent seminars and of course on initiating the new Green Hunter Championship which fills the gap nicely between the various loose-jumping and working hunter championships.
Ms. Hagenblad’s and Mr. Scott’s presentations were of the highest order and it was a shame that audiences were small. Perhaps it all reflects the economic downturn and, for various reasons, many of our regular friends did not travel from overseas. Maybe next year’s festival will need more advertising and a new impetus.
We cannot forget Emer McNamara’s table quiz on Friday evening. It is always an enjoyable, fun occasion and this year, it brought Padraic Heanue his first coveted win, while Christine Mares and her crew, who were second, must try again! A great evening as always.
Much more to come including the Awards night and the highlight of the weekend, the stallion parade. Reports later.
CAN YOU PLEASE WHEN THE CPBS AGM IS TO BE HELD, OR HAS IT BEEN HELD? WHO IS/WILL BE THE NEW CHAIR?? A LOT DEPENDS ON THE NEW FACE AND ITS ATTITUDES TO COMMUNICATION, THE ICCPS AND THINGS AT HOME JT
I believe the AGM is taking place the coming Sunday.
The AGM is on next Sunday. We’ll post as soon as we know who the members elect as the new President.
In my opinion, the advertising this year was poor. I tried to ask the CPBS what the lecture was going to be about, but I got no reply. It would also be great to let people know about other details, such as the workshops and the exhibition theme etc. on time. That may give a motivation to travel over. Now the good side was the catalogue of the colts shown on Friday!
i agree it was lovely to have a catalogue to refer to for the stallion inspections.