Connemara pony
| Connemara pony | |
|---|---|
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| Important data | |
| Origin: | Ireland |
| Main breeding area: | Connemara |
| Distribution: | Europe |
| Stick measure : | 128 - 148 cm |
| Colors : | mostly mold or brown tables |
| Main application area: | Riding horse, agricultural work |
Connemara ponies are Irish riding ponies. Their home, the Connemara landscape , is located on the far west corner of Ireland . It is damp, barren and even today only sparsely populated. But for many centuries small horses have been living there half wild in the peaty swamps and scree slopes. These ponies have always been valued for their frugality, health and reliability.
Background information on horse evaluation and breeding can be found under: Exterior , interior and horse breeding .
Exterior
Connemara Ponies are usually between 138 cm and 153 cm Height large. The basic colors, brown, black and fox, come before the fur colors . The colors (Isabellen) lightened by the single cream (crCr) are popular , but there are also increasing fans for the doubly lightened white tables (Cr / Cr, Blue Eyed Cream, Perlinos, Cremellos). Spiky- haired specimens (roans) are often found. Most of the Connemara are mold .
The Connemara is well built and well proportioned. It has a medium-sized dry head with medium-sized ears and large eyes, sloping and long shoulders, a well-formed withers and back with a good saddle position , clear legs, dry joints and hard hooves, cannon bones from 18 to 21 cm.
He has a good walk, a rhythmic, lively and energetic trot, as well as an expansive canter.
interior
Connemara ponies are very agile and reliable riding ponies. They are very versatile: They are particularly suitable for show jumping and cross-country riding , but are also used as dressage and therapy horses or carriage horses .
Breeding history
Because of the crossbreeding with different horse breeds ( Berber , Arab , Welsh ponies , English thoroughbred , but also cold blood breeds), the Connemara ponies are not unique in appearance. There are three types of Connemara ponies today:
- the Eastern type: these ponies are petite and similar in appearance to the Arabs.
- the Irish Draft type: taller and at the same time stronger type.
- the Clifden type: Clifden ponies still have the typical pony characteristics and are reminiscent of the yellow old pony with the fawn color that was common in the past (brown tables).
Probably the most famous horse with Connemara blood to this day has been Stroller , an Irish hunter pony. Although his ancestry is not exactly proven, he probably had 50% Connemara blood. With a height of only 145 cm (other sources speak of 155 cm), he won the silver medal in individual jumping at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico under his rider Marion Mold. Two years later he achieved an even more enormous achievement: Stroller won what is probably the most difficult jumping in the world, the German Jumping Derby with zero points. The little jumping miracle died in 1986 at the age of 36.
See also
literature
- Martin Haller : Ponies from Ireland: the Connemaras , Müller Rüschlikon, Cham 1994, ISBN 3-275-01058-1 .
