Discrimination must end

To all Connemara lovers in America:

The last time I spoke out against Connemara inspections in 2005, I received two reactions:

Those in favor of inspections criticized me outright or ostracized me. Some people, in trying to be less militant, invited me to be an inspector, to get involved, saying that “anyone could be an inspector,” and I was welcome. I appreciated the gesture. It was from a kind person of whom I once thought highly.

But, I am no expert on conformation. I know what I like. I would feel like a fraud telling other people what they should be doing with their Connemara herd, and I question why even people who were pro-inspection would put a horse up for inspection under the concept that anyone can be an inspector, leaving their horses’ fates in the hands of amateurs with a lot of time on their hands.

I had let all my concerns over the inspections slide for four years as larger distractions took my attention. But, with the election of Barack Obama as president and the rehashing of all that is discrimination in this country, I was reminded again of why I hate the inspection process so much.

If you are a person of reason, please read through this and see, at the end, if you don’t feel the same as I do.

Evolution vs. bigotry

Obama’s election brought with it a hope in America that the country finally had opened up its heart to all its citizens, not just those with lighter pigmented skin.

Not that anyone believes racism is dead, but the election certainly is a sign that the country is evolving and moving in the right direction.

Skin color and discrimination are such an interesting topic to dissect in a vacuum. White, or light skin, traditionally has been looked upon more favorably than black in humans, but look how many white people continually risk deadly skin cancer to darken their skin. Within the black community, many news reports have documented that lighter skin is looked upon more favorably than dark skin. I can’t fathom how all this came to be. Who decided what color got priority? Why didn’t dark skin wind up being the premiere color?

The good news is that the world has come a long way, especially with Mr. Obama’s win.

Unfortunately, against this backround, the American Connemara Pony Society has been moving in the opposite direction. Rather than taking a leading role in the world for being more evolved and independent as a promoter of this wonderful breed, the American group has chosen to follow in the footsteps of the Irish breed society and is limiting what horses are welcome as Connemaras in America. One criteria for passing the relatively new inspection process is whether a horse is the right “type.” The quintessential Connemara is now a sturdy looking animal, something more coarse, although everyone bristles at that term. Refined is bad. No one can say why refined is bad. The more refined horses are not more likely to break down. Not harder to ride. Not less athletic. Not more inclined to die early or develop melanoma. They have just been labeled as unwanted, and coarse Connemaras now are the desirable ones. Why? Because the Irish said so. This decade, anyway. Next decade, who knows?

Defining a true Connemara type might not seem so extraordinary when one considers that other breeds set standards. It might be acceptable if the Connemara breed was one pure breed that had survived through the ages in one form with one purpose. But the Connemara is a mutt, as documented by many historians, much like our self-described president. No one can say exactly what breeds made up the Connemara because there always has been a large influx of other breeds in the mix. These included horses swimming to the shores of Ireland from ships or other countries and Irish farmers breeding a Connemara to their donkey from time to time. Basically, anything and everything was added to the melting pot.

The Irish themselves let in thoroughbred bloodlines in the 1940s. That has been the biggest source of contention. While Connemaras with thoroughbred blood have been showered with honors and praise for all they’ve accomplished, the Irish society, and now the American society, has decided that the thoroughbred bloodlines have ruined the breed and it needs to get back to its roots. The error in this thinking is pretending the Connemara roots are something they are not. Those roots are mutts. Connemaras all look different because they are as genetically diverse historically as the dogs found in any pound around this country. We cannot remove the thoroughbred bloodlines, nor should be want to, anymore than we can remove the Andalusian, Arabian or donkey genes that slipped in. They are collectively the Connemara.

In fact, former Edinburgh Professor James Cossar Ewart did a study of Connemaras in the early 1900s, a study constantly cited by Connemara people, and defined five distinct types of Connemara at that time. Yet, The Irish breed society decided recently that it would promote only one type as the prototype of the breed, and that type has turned out to be a pony sized animal with lots of bone. How this decision was allowed to be made is beyond me. Surely, owners of all other types were not paying attention in Ireland, and now owners the world over are paying for the mistake.

Registration rules

Horses that don’t meet the type criteria of being more coarse are not going to pass inspections or be allowed into the new “stud books” that are being instituted in Connemara societies around the world in order for those societies to be part of the international Connemara society, run by, not surprisingly, the Irish.

If societies wanted to create barriers within the breed like this, then the appropriate response would have been to create two (or, maybe five) categories of Connemaras and judge them respectively. It’s not OK in the United States of America to simply rule one type as undesirable and to try to get rid of it.

In America, currently, the undesirable types still can be registered. That is not the case in Ireland and other countries, and I suspect it will not continue in America.

I will mention briefly that the American inspections are based solely on a brief judgment of looks. No one rides these horses for the inspectors. The animal’s showing history counts for nothing. The animal is not judged on whether it ties well, stands for the farrier, clips and loads quietly, can perform under adverse conditions or lives a long life, all of which are considered normal qualities of a good Connemara. While conformation flaws are part of the assessment, those flaws could be discouraged with educational seminars rather than these subjective inspections, which are really just a witchhunt to exclude refined animals with thoroughbred bloodlines. And I suspect if you track down all the promoters of this new movement, you will find that they were the ones whose clutzy, coarse horses were beaten by the thoroughbred-infused ones in the late-1900s when all this inspection nonsense all took off. I’m sure their ultimate goal is to limit U.S. registration to horses who have passed inspection and then close the stud books so only the coarse horses (their horses) can be bred.

This is all akin to America returning to the 1950s, or even the 1850s, as far as discrimination, yet no one seems to care because it’s just a small breed of horses and under the radar of the world.

The desirable Connemara being promoted by Ireland also for the most part is gray or white. Dark-colored horses now are associated with the thoroughbred lines introduced in the 1940s, because the main thoroughbred introduced was a dark bay thoroughbred named Little Heaven and his most famous Connemara offspring, Texas Hope, was black, producing hundreds of black and dark brown children and grandchildren, including my family’s own longtime stallion. The darker colors most certainly have become tainted in the eyes of the Irish and American societies. Many people contacted me in 2005, after my initial public objection to inspections, to tell me they were sure their horses had been discriminated against in a regional Connemara show because they were dark colored; the white horses won. There were too many similar comments for it to be a coincidence.

I first brought up this type and color discrimination in 2005, after receiving an e-mail and then a follow-up letter from a Connemara inspector and board member of the American society saying that: 1) She had failed a pony that was nice by anyone’s standards and that was black and sleek, reminding her of my stallion, but the inspected pony was not the right type and therefore not approved; she thought it was a grandson or great-grandson of my stallion; 2) All black, sleek, fancy-looking ponies remind her of my stallion; and 3) My stallion (a Little Heaven grandson) does not “fit the standard.”

Interestingly, the owner of my stallion’s full sister wrote in an obit for the mare recently that the mare had passed her inspection and an Irish inspector had lavishly praised her as being the perfect Connemara type. My stallion and that mare, one year apart, were practically twins as far as looks. So, this brings up the issue of consistency, which I think I’ll leave to another day, other than to say that inspection judges come to each inspection with subjective opinions and agendas that can’t be quality-controlled.

After that e-mail incident, when I raised the issue publicly, a few people said it was a private matter, not a political one, and I should have kept it private (the same message I received from the ACPS president at the time). I beg to differ. Even if I were willing to give the inspector the benefit of the doubt that her comments weren’t meant to insult, this is still an ACPS inspector who passes or fails a lot of horses, and all of her opinions regarding what is acceptable type and what “fits the standard” are not only relevant for discussion but should be of interest to every member. The same is true of every other inspector and his or her feelings about type.

This inspector’s behavior was boorish by any standards. Yet, she was not censured or punished for her hateful behavior toward my stallion or her lack of discretion regarding the inspection to which she referred. This board member has been praised many times publicly and also re-elected and promoted on the board. Meanwhile, I have been treated very poorly by many in the American society for having the gall to raise the issue, and I have been effectively muzzled by breeders of related horses to stop saying color and type mattered, because they didn’t want their own horses to be judged differently by buyers or judges.

Well, I’m sick of it.

If President Obama’s election has meant anything to me, it’s that the handcuffs are off, and I’m going to talk about discrimination.

Dictatorial thinking

Color and refinement should not matter in the Connemara breed. This breed has not come to be one thing. It is many things and how dare anyone stand up with dictatorial arrogance and say, “Now, it’s just going to be one thing. The rest of you can disappear.” In the human world, this type of discrimination has produced world wars and genocide. In the horse world, breed officials so far have not been held accountable.

With their blinders on, these officials are overlooking the fact that the thoroughbred lines have boosted several very important qualities in the Connemara breed: grace, athleticism and drive are at the top of my list. There are many Connemaras in this country who lack all of the above, and, boy, are they the undesirables ones, in my opinion (I’ve tried to train many and come to the conclusion, “Why bother?”). But, I’m not urging exclusion for those animals. I’m a full believer in Darwinism, and I think the marketplace will eliminate undesirable horses. Certainly, in a down economy like this, there are fewer places for blockheaded horses with no interest in being ridden and even less athletic ability, and my experience has shown me that more coarse horses fall into this category than ones with the thoroughbred influence. I wouldn’t consider buying a Connemara that didn’t have Little Heaven in his or her background somewhere.

I want the thoroughbred infusion in my horse. I want it to be able to compete in open competitions, to gallop around a cross country course in the time allowed and not fall at the jumps. The Little Heaven lines always have these qualities, and I want to be certain of what I’m getting. I want my horse to have spirit and competitiveness. And I certainly am not going to turn up my nose if that horse takes my breath away with his beauty.

Let me pause here and say that I don’t want to come off as being anti-coarse. There are some GREAT coarse-looking Connemaras out there. But coarseness does not equal greatness. A horse that passes a coarseness test does not mean anything other than it’s coarse. That does not signify a great Connemara. Greatness has to be earned.

I also want my animals to have the brains, toughness and pet qualities of a Connemara, a horse that’s kid safe, one smart enough to whinny to tell me when I’m late or slow and one that stands on my porch looking for me when I’ve been inside too long. I have a paddock full of Connemaras with thoroughbred genes who all think they are pets and would live in my house if they could. You don’t have to have a coarse animal to get those qualities, either.

A Connemara also should able to be a horse as far as size. As mentioned earlier, the Irish are limiting it to a pony-sized animal. Well, people are getting taller. My grandfather was 5-11 and considered a freak in the 1930s, especially standing next to my 4-11 grandmother. But, in 2008, two or three generations later, he wouldn’t be able to make a sports team because he’d be called short. People are getting taller quickly. Will they be 7-11 in another three generations? Are the Connemaras in the 22nd century going to be the new miniatures, because it sure seems like they’ll be unrideable by future, taller generations?

Walls need to come down

All these walls need to be coming down, not being built up now.

In a day when a half-Kenyan, half-Kansan man can ascend to be leader of not just America but the world, horses should not be voted, or rather inspected, out of their breed based on bone, beauty or height. They should be judged by the quality of their character, much as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hoped everyone would.

My hope is that the entire inspection process, not just for Connemaras but for all breeds, will be ruled unacceptable by the U.S. Equestrian Federation. Why? Because I believe inspections encourage people to breed, often indiscriminately as far as numbers, just so their horses can pass inspection and have that label. Nothing like putting the word PREMIUM STALLION in 100 point type in a magazine ad. There are owners right now who have had their horses inspected and are heavily involved in the process but are doing nothing with their horses at home. These are just more unwanted horses. This is the last thing we need now, as more than 100,000 horses in 2008 were sent to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered. How about breeding a horse because there’s a person waiting for it with a job? How about breeding a horse that has a family history of doing that job rather than just getting something with the right amount of bone? How many Connemaras are finding good homes because they have passed an American inspection? How many Connemaras have passed inspections but have absolutely no training and are not finding good homes?

Don’t tell me too much money has been put into inspections to shut them down now. I spent 17 years as a figure skater, with more than two thirds of that time dedicated to learning school figures. Not so long ago, school figures were eliminated, because it was in the best interest of the sport to do so. A whole discipline that was crucially important to winning the Olympics for maybe a century just disappeared in a day with one vote. Inspections can be eliminated if the will is there to do it and it’s in the best interest of horses and horse breeding.

Is this helping American owners?

I believe the inspections have been a pathway for board members of the American society to attend the international societies’ meetings and play with the “big boys.” In fact, without inspections and a stud book, America wasn’t going to be allowed to join. Now. we get to party with all the Irish honchos.

How does this help Americans? How does one board member taking a vacation to Ireland once or twice a year to hang out with his or her Irish counterparts help any other Connemara owner in this country? In fact, it’s made other board members and breeders feel like they have to go to Ireland, too. So instead of people concentrating on activities and breeding in this country, all I hear about now is people taking trips to Ireland, attending Irish shows, supporting their decisions and buying their horses. How much money has been poured into inspections in the past year, if you count all of the travel expenses, magazine space and time devoted to this one topic? Where has it gotten this breed in America? Are the Connemaras selling like hot cakes? I’m not getting that impression from the e-mails I receive of people asking for others to take their horses because they can’t afford to go on, and I’ve had several of those in the past year.

And while all this attention has been paid to this one topic of inspections, the showing skill and horsemanship knowledge by owners in this country sometimes seems abysmal. How much money has gone into boosting horsemanship in this country compared to inspections? I was embarrassed by the last Region 7 show held in Illinois based on my observations for two hours: Horses were unprepared to show, and riders appeared not to understand what was being asked of them in simple classes such as halter classes. No one was holding a horse properly. No one seemed to know how to trot a horse in hand. The judges did a little instructing afterward, to their credit. In a flat class, at the canter, not everyone was cantering and more than one horse was on the wrong lead. What does it say about the level of education of society members when they show up unprepared at regional Connemara shows? How will they fare in open shows? Do we care? Are we just happy to win ribbons at our closed Connemara competitions because it’s easy, and who cares if the rest of the show world thinks we’re backward and uneducated? Are we merely content to inspect our horses and say they got the society’s seal of approval? No need to show. Is this where we want to invest the money?

When I showed my stallion in Phoenix in open eventing and dressage shows in the late 1980s, no one would be believe he was a Connemara. People there had come to believe Connemaras were ugly and couldn’t compete, and they weren’t shy about blurting that out. Is that the face we’re putting on this breed?

I can’t get away from coming back to the question: Why is all this attention going to Ireland?

The answer seems obvious to me. Being a part of the international society benefits the few, not the many, and the few have been controlling the American society for a long time because they have the time and money to attend the meetings. If you want to be on the board and control the rules of the society, you have to attend both meetings every year. If you add up plane fare, hotel room, time off from work (yes, some of us work), it’s over $500, maybe even $1,000. Not everyone can afford that. But every member deserves a say in this. And DO NOT TELL ME that every member had a chance to vote inspections into or out of existence. No one knew what he or she was voting for when this was put to a ballot vote through the mail. No one indicated on the ballot a type criteria was going to eliminate one whole line of horses. And anything on the inspections topic placed in the magazine was filtered through an editorial board made up of pro-inspection members.

I cannot afford to attend two American society meetings every year to be a board member, because I spend what little money I have on my horses. I’m going to have to use the Internet as my vehicle. I am willing to try to make small strides from my little farm, just as other discriminated groups have been forced to inch forward in small ways.

If you feel the inspection process is unfair in the Connemara society, make your opinions known to officials at acps.org.

Let me close with more wise words from Dr. King: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Thanks so much

Joanie McKenna