Connemara inspections teach kids the wrong lesson: bigotry

Horses have long provided a sanctuary for children at a fragile stage in life.

Children bullied at school and full of self-doubt often turn to their four-legged friend for comfort and confidence. Their horse never judges them on their appearance or “coolness.” Their horse doesn’t find another friend and cast them aside. Their horse is their lifeline when everything else seems to go against them.

The horse scene is a sanctuary for these kids, as well. It gives them positive energy and a healthy focus, whether they are trail riding, competing in organized events or just brushing their horse at the barn.

So it would seem counterproductive for the American Connemara Pony Society to make negative-oriented breed inspections its top priority for the last decade.

Breed inspections are designed to nitpick flaws. They make a horse and its breeder feel diminished based on appearance.

While these inspections are voluntary, the names of horses that pass inspection are printed over and over in the breed magazine. The society praises horses that pass inspection as if they are a class above everybody else.

Imagine the child who has turned to horses for confidence having her horse fail an inspection because of something that inspectors have decided to call a flaw, even if it’s not actually a flaw. Imagine her seeing the magazine without her horse’s name in it.

One could argue that this is life. Kids need to learn harsh lessons.

Yes, horses can teach many life lessons. If kids choose to compete on their horses, they learn many lessons related to winning and losing.

As horse owners, kids learn responsibility in taking care of a horse. They even learn to grieve when they lose a horse.

However, Connemara inspections essentially are three people giving a horse a glance-over and then giving the horse a thumbs up or down on whether it is “Connemara enough.” And inspectors openly admit that they will fail horses that are too refined because someone arbitrarily decided Connemaras should be coarse.

The horse is a Connemara. It doesn’t need to justify whether it’s enough of a Connemara to pass inspection.

That’s like making humans of Irish descent be inspected to decide if they are Irish enough.

What exactly are these inspections teaching a child?

Bigotry is not the lesson that kids should take home from joining the Connemara society.

Connemaras are a breed destined to draw children by the very nature of Connemaras being ponies.

Oddly, the breed society in the United States continues to be dominated by adults. Last time I attended an ACPS meeting, officials (mostly older than 50) were discussing trying to incorporate theme park attractions into the annual meeting to try to draw more members, particularly kids.

Why would this breed society have so much trouble drawing children?

Maybe because its No. 1 activity is bullying.

Maybe because the officials who run the breed society have been gearing everything toward negative inspections and keeping horses out instead of gearing it toward drawing new members and giving them a positive, inclusive atmosphere for their horse.

It’s time to get rid of the negative and embrace the positive. It’s time to embrace all Connemaras and teach kids the right lessons.