 Clifden,Ireland: Karen Vicencio has written about the Stallion Weekend that took place in Clifden several weeks ago. The weekend was a stallion inspection, "fun" night with a table quiz, "fun" drive that included a
clinic put on by Charles Powell (current president of the Equestrian
Federation of Ireland), clinics by Judy Wardrope and Mark Higgins, and
then the stallion parade itself. This weekend is rapidly becoming another "must go to" if you are into Connemara ponies.
Friday was the stallion inspection. 48 stallions showed up, and 18
were passed. Karen said, “I thought this was one of the most organized well
thought out inspections I've been to in Ireland. There was even a book
that had all the stallions to be inspected and their breeding in it
available, so you actually knew who you were seeing in the arena. No
announcer or public announcement of scores(not yet but looks like a
distinct possibility in the future!), but all the book keeping was
done right there, so people were getting back their score sheets right
away, and having their books stamped right away.
The weather was nice, cloudy and slightly cold, but no rain. MUCH
nicer than we'd been having! There were a number of stallions who were within two or three points of passing(most were fairly immature looking), so my guess is the fall
inspections will be busy, and some of the same ponies will be back.” In the evening, there was a table quiz. Karen thought she’d be bored, but
since it was all Connemara pony related questions, and it was a pretty
international group, they had great fun.
Karen also describes the rest of the weekend…”Saturday morning we met at 9am for the Charles Powell clinic. Charles
is the current president of EFI, and is a well known course designer
for combined driving events. We didn't get as lucky on the weather,
had a steady drizzle, but no wind and it wasn't particularly cold. It
was a clinic geared to more beginner drivers, mainly focusing on
proper harnessing, hooking to various different vehicles, and general
safety. As many of the drivers are either beginners, or have never
had instruction, it was really useful. But for some reason, the person we were following decided to lead us up a little bog road, which was only paved with stone. And was narrow, with drop offs on either side. Some people decided not to go on, and I
think they were wise! It was beautiful there, but a little hairy.
Particularly when we discovered someone had left a big trailer of turf
in the middle of the road, which we couldn't get around, and there
wasn't really anywhere to turn around.... We found a narrow area that
was less narrow than where we'd been, and most of use got out of our
vehicles to turn them around, just in case. Fortunately all ponies
were quite well behaved, everyone got turned around without incident,
and we went back. After the drive, the rain stopped, and there was nice weather(even
some sun!), and there was a show jumping demonstration by a number of
stallions. It was set up as a simulated competition, complete with
announcer. It was really exciting to see a full course of fences set
up out in the Clifden arena, with beautiful ponies jumping around!
This is something that many people NEVER thought would happen.
”After the show jumping was a conformation clinic by Judy Waldrope. I know some of you went to her clinic at the US 50th celebration. Judy
is FANTASTIC, and I HIGHLY recommend that everyone go to one of her clinics.
She has devised a way to judge conformation and performance and
soundness potential that pretty much takes the subjectiveness out of
it. It is a wonderful method, and it's going to completely change the
way I personally judge conformation. It's going to take several
clinics for me to absorb all the information she gave though. I'm
hoping she will write a book soon, she does say she plans to, but
doesn't know when she'll get time to do it. By looking at ponies and
using her method, she was able to pretty much determine what each pony
was best at, whether it would be sound, how it was to ride...and she
was dead on every time. It takes a lot to impress me, but I tell you
what, I'M IMPRESSED, and I really think her methods are going to
revolutionize inspections(not
just Connemara inspections), and make EVERYONE a lot happier.
”After the clinics there was a book launch. The new book is "The
Connemara Pony Handbook" by Niamh O Dochartaigh. The new book is a
wonderful little book. Anyone into Connemaras is going to like it,
there is lots of history in there, and LOTS AND LOTS of pictures! And
this is one of those books that will make a great Christmas present
for ANY kid who likes horses, be they into Connemaras or not.
”Sunday morning started with the second half of Judy's clinic. This one
was hands on with a number of ponies. We got to feel and see all the
things she was talking about. It's amazing how accurate her method
seems to be. Lots of people at the clinic were joking about how at
the next sales people who didn't go to the clinic are going to be
wondering what the heck is going on when they see a bunch of people
poking at backs and drawing lines on pictures.
After that was the stallion parade. Roughly 50 stallions were there.
It's wonderful to be able to see so many of the "best" in a short time
all in one place. During the stallion parade was a dressage
demonstration put on by 5 different stallions. It was really good, and
the crowd loved it. All the stallions performed well, but I think
that Janus (imported from Sweden) really stole the show. All were well behaved, well trained, did their jobs well, and looked good, but I really think it
was Janus' day.” |
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