Connemara Pony Festival 16th to 23rd August
Grace Maxwell Murphy on her Connemara pony mare Thiergartenhof’s Larissa at Furbo Beach for the launch of the Connemara Pony Festival which take place in Clifden from August 16-23
Clifden, the capital of Connemara, will once again host the famous Connemara Pony Festival from Sunday 16th to Sunday 23rd August. Visitors and ponies will flock to the town to experience this amazing festival celebrating the Connemara pony. For the first time the festival will feature an art trail with a number of paintings of Connemara ponies on display in shop windows in the town.
The opening event of the festival is the Show Queen competition taking place in the Station House Theatre on Sunday evening where the Connemara
Pony Show Queen will be crowned. In recent years the bus tour visiting studs in Connemara has become increasingly popular with overseas visitors and this year it will run over two days. On Monday the tour will travel from Clifden towards Letterfrack and Renvyle and on Tuesday it will travel from Cashel to Ballyconneely.
Tuesday is International day and the ICCPS AGM will take place in the morning followed by a memorial service for deceased friends. A linear profiling workshop will follow this. On Tuesday evening the Abbeyglen Castle Hotel will host the International reception where the Danish and Swedish Societies will be presented with perpetual trophies for their national shows to celebrate their jubilee anniversaries. Tom MacLochlainn, President of the Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society, said: “We take the opportunity this year of celebrating the golden jubilees of both Societies. The Jubilee Cups being presented to them are but small tokens of gratitude for over fifty years of trade, tourism and enduring friendships. It is amazing how cultural, social, religious and linguistic barriers never even appeared as ‘An Capaillín’ gave us common ground. It is an incredible story and, in welcoming our visitors from all over the globe, we extend a very special ‘céad mile fáilte’ to our Scandinavian friends.”
The highlight of the festival is the Connemara Pony Show now running over three days and commencing on Wednesday morning. The first class of the day is the Four Year Old Performance Mare Championship featuring an attractive €5,000 prize fund sponsored by Horse Sport Ireland. On Wednesday afternoon Emma Massingale, who recently spent a month on an island off Connemara with her Connemara ponies, will give a demonstration. The Green Hunter and three year old loose jumping finals will also take place on Wednesday.
Thursday features in-hand classes, ridden classes, dog show, Irish dancing, Séan Nós dancing, domestic arts and best dressed lady competition. The winner of the best dressed lady competition will receive a €500 voucher to spend in Millars Connemara or the Design Platform. The runner-up will receive a Newbridge Rose Gold watch from the Celtic Shop. Dubarry are sponsoring the most appropriately dressed lady who will win a pair of Dubarry Galway boots. Hehirs of Clifden will present the most stylish gentleman with a Jack Murphy jacket worth €250.
Working hunter classes start on Friday morning with the High Performance final and Puissance competition taking place in the afternoon. The show will culminate with a Parade of Champions and BBQ and live music in the Station House Courtyard. Main sponsors of the show are Sweeney Oil, Galway Irish Crystal and Horse Sport Ireland.
A sale of Connemara ponies will take place in Clifden Mart on Saturday and Sunday commencing at 11am each day.
For more details and to download a brochure visit www.cpbs.ie
