Who saved the Connemara pony and what did he want to save?

Connemara Ponies, a booklet
compiled by Michael J. O’Malley.

Irish horseman Michael J. O’Malley is credited with saving the Connemara pony as a distinct breed in the early 1900s and founding the Connemara Pony Breeders Society in Ireland in 1923.

In a little more than a century, his story has been falsely rewritten from a Connemara lover fighting for what was on the inside of the pony (unmatched hardiness, stamina, and drive) to someone fighting for what was on the outside (coarse features).

The coarse features story is a lie — one perpetuated by the American Connemara Pony Society for decades, with one longtime influential inspector in particular trying to alter the definition of the breed to match her own coarse herd.

Far from O’Malley hating pretty, refined, black Connemaras, his father owned one, Blackeen, a tireless older mare with a heart of gold. O’Malley pointed to Blackeen, whom he described as having “a small fine head,” as an example of the best of the old type Connemara.

It is completely hypocritical and a disservice to O’Malley, whose name graces a lofty annual Connemara award, to credit him with saving the Connemara and then define the Connemara as something else, something in fact that O’Malley did not want.

O’Malley chronicled in print what he wanted to save.

He wrote a string of letters to the editor of the Irish Farming World, starting with one titled “A Plea for the Connemara Pony” in 1912. It created a back-and-forth letter-writing dialog between O’Malley and other Connemara enthusiasts that continued into 1913.

O’Malley republished his own letters, along with those of others, in a booklet titled “Connemara Ponies.”

And that booklet was republished in 1986 and available in the US when current officials of the American Connemara Pony Society were in place.

I wrote this article from a print copy of the booklet obtained by my late mother between 1986 and 1990. More than likely, she picked it up in 1986 at the West Coast Connemara Show, a show put on by ACPS officials who became huge proponents of Connemara inspections and served as inspectors themselves. I would argue that ACPS officials had this booklet 20 years before they created inspections.

Anyone who has read this short booklet (assuming that anyone took the time to do historical research and read this book) knows that the main feature O’Malley wanted to hold onto was the Connemara spirit, a spirit not unlike that of a Thoroughbred or Arabian, according to many Connemara owners who also wrote letters to the editor at the time.

O’Malley specifically called for an animal durable and willing enough to engage in extended use and hardy enough to survive in Ireland’s mountains.

But he also was specific on looks and said a refined Connemara type was just as valid as a coarse type.

In a letter to the editor dated Nov. 29, 1912, O’Malley said he believed a Connemara breed standard should say: “The head may be large and coarse or small and fine.” He added, “I consider that either a large and coarse head or a small and fine head is quite characteristic of the pure Connemara.”

On Connemara legs, O’Malley said the breed standard should say the Connemara should be “mounted on short, stout or fine legs.” He said he considered “that fine legs are characteristic of the old type.”

On height, he said that liberal feeding of a pure Connemara pony that was accustomed to living in a harsh mountain environment tended to result in the pony overgrowing 14 hands, which at the time was being suggested as a maximum height for Connemaras. He didn’t elaborate on his seeming suggestion that such a height limit would be problematic.

So why did the Connemara pony need O’Malley to save it?

O’Malley said in his letters that Ireland’s Department of Agriculture was in charge of horse breeding in the country, a concept hard to imagine now in the US, and department officials had spent thousands of pounds on purchasing Hackney stallions that mare owners could use to improve the Connemara breed.

This was producing what O’Malley described as inferior ponies that were sleepy, unfit for harsh winters, and unable to withstand extended use.

He asked that the Department of Agriculture start a scheme on behalf of the Connemara in the same way it did for the Irish Draught in 1911.

From 1912-1913, Irish Farming World again and again published replies to O’Malley’s letters in an editorial openness completely at odds with the ACPS’ current policy of refusing to discuss anything related to type.

Some letters asked for more information on the history of the Connemara pony.

Irishman Hugh Deady, on Dec. 31, 1912, submitted a letter to the editor that offered his perspective.

A longtime resident of Connemara, Deady said he was familiar with three types of Connemara ponies, all with great stamina. He said his interactions with a Connemara pony of the third type showcased the best pony type in his view. That pony lived in Clifden; was bay in color; had a small head and ear, a bright eye, a fairly long neck, good bunchy quarters, and a croup well up; and she was standing on a medium set of steely legs, the muscles of which stood out like whipcord. He said she seemed to say, “I’m game for anything.” Then he gave two examples of her carrying a lot of weight over a long distance and being fresh at the end of the journey and ready to go again. “These give the best impression I can give of what was bred from 41 to 54 years ago in Connemara,” Deady said.

O’Malley jumped back into the discussion with another letter, also providing some historical context.

He said he remembered his father buying a small Connemara pony that was jet black, 13-3 hands, with a small refined head, around 1892.

Blackeen, as she was called, was 16 years old and a tireless cart horse, he said. He described how cheerful and game she was to work hard and how disappointed she was when a long journey was over.

While the letters referenced physical looks of ponies here and there, the focus remained on the eagerness of old type Connemaras to put everything they had into their work day after day.

The ACPS is one of the biggest promoters of the theory that O’Malley wanted to save the coarseness.

The society’s widespread inspections program has promoted thick-boned, or coarse, ponies and thus allowed the Connemara breed in the US to be filled with “premium” and “approved” coarse Connemaras that also are dead-sided. Not only are many approved horses useless, but some are rank (I have ridden several approved Connemaras that were too rank to trot, much less canter; some bucked me off when they were asked to go forward). They have been used many times for breeding, and their DNA is dispersed far and wide in the US now.

Such dead-sided stubbornness is exactly the opposite of what O’Malley was trying to preserve.

Make no mistake: Michael J. O’Malley would be appalled at the current focus of the ACPS in the US.

O’Malley himself suggested in one of his letters that Ireland find a suitable Arabian or Thoroughbred with proven hardiness and speed qualities and breed it to the best Connemara mares to rebuild the breed.

In support of that idea, W.M. Lyons, Esq., submitted a letter to the editor July 4, 1913, describing himself as the most extensive breeder living in Connemara. He agreed with the idea of getting an Arab stallion or two and placing them strategically for breeding to mares.

And, as we now know, the Connemara Pony Breeders Society was formed in 1923.

Outside stallions, including Thoroughbred stallions Little Heaven and Winter and Arabian stallion Naseel, were added to the Connemara breed with the goal of returning the breed to its former willing and eager glory.

For anyone who thinks O’Malley would approve of US inspections — which judge a Connemara for 10 to 12 minutes based on appearance, particularly bone size, and a short jog (plus a liberty phase for stallions) — watch an inspection and decide for yourself whether this is fostering the big heart and spirit that O’Malley sought to save in the old type Connemara. The white stallion that was inspected first in the video and chased by judges for the jog phase was approved at the inspection.