DESPITE it being a year like no other, the town of Clifden, the capital of Connemara, is buzzing on Monday. As I make my way to the Station House Hotel, I pass the desolate Clifden Showgrounds, which would normally be a hub of activity the week before the annual Connemara Pony Show.

However, the year is not lost and it is all go at the Connemara Pony Sales as they prepare to celebrate 30 years of selling at the Clifden Mart next week. On the third Thursday of August, after the 1990 Clifden Show, the first Connemara Pony Sale was held.

Founded and co-owned by local businessman John Sweeney and Malachy King, the sale has seen huge highs, passed a European gold medal winner and Clifden champions through the ring, weathered the storm of a deep recession and was on track for a bumper 2020 before Covid-19 threatened to scupper their 30th birthday after a promising opener in February.

With 340 entries, they are ready to hit the ground running next Saturday, and the new online catalogue function, as well as live streaming and online bidding makes it easier than ever to preview and purchase ponies.

“Thirty years ago on the Thursday evening of the show, in 1990, the sale started at 6pm. It was the first sale ever over at the mart. Ponies were the first animals through the ring,” mart manager Padraic Heanue told The Irish Field.

“We had 70 or 80 entries in the first sale and high prices were achieved. The biggest buyer that time was a UK buyer called Michael Wall. The big talk of the night was that a local man refused £4,000 for a mare!” John Sweeney commented.

“The following year we went to Friday and as the show expanded through the years we went to Saturday and Sunday. For the first time ever, the sellers had a forum to show the pony and offer it for sale. Before that, all sale of Connemara ponies were done on the land, or at the Maam Cross fair or the Clifden November Fair. It was coming off the back of what Goresbridge were doing and Cavan had started around that time too.”

Co-owner Malachy King and auctioneer Darac O' Neill at the Connemara Pony Sales \ Rynes Walker

The following year, they introduced an October sale, which was traditionally foals, and gradually developed the February and May sale. All four sales dates remain to this day. “Over the 1990s, it really started to grow. The one-day in October went to a two-day, three-day, four-day, and for a number of years it ran as a five-day sale; from Thursday to Monday of the bank holiday weekend. One year we had nearly 1,400 entries; that was about 2007,” Sweeney continued.

“When we opened 30 years ago, the prices were fairly good. In the early 90s, they were slack enough and by the late 90s, they were increasing again. The foal sale (October) became a real event. Having the sale on the bank holiday weekend in October was really good, people availed of the social element, to come to Clifden for the bank holiday weekend. It filled the town and became a big weekend...It provided a big boost to the end of the traditional tourist season.”

Highs to lows

The years 2007 and 2008 were bumper for the sale, in the height of the so-called ‘Celtic Tiger’, until the value fell by 80% when the crash came in 2009.

“It kept evolving until 2009, until the market for Connemara ponies collapsed. We couldn’t give foals away. Ponies were making €500 and €600, there was no market for them. The value of our sales fell in excess of 80%. In monetary terms, our turnover fell by more than 80%,” Sweeney explained.

“This year, on all fronts, was heading to be a great year. April, in the hotel here was shaping up to be a great month, we were to have a big medical conference and with Easter, it would have been a bumper month. Then Covid happened.”

The best price achieved for a pony at the sale was €18,000 in 2007 and, during those years, multiple ponies were making well in advance of €10,000. Padraic Heanue, who has been in charge since the very first sale, reams off a long list of success stories. “I have a list here. I have €15,500 in August 2007 and then I four prices of €10,000, one €11,500, an €11,200 and €14,000, all in October 2007. All ponies were all sold during those times, there were no surprises,” Heanue said.

Famous faces

Some famous faces to pass through the ring include the two-time European gold medallist Cul Ban Mistress. By Silver Shadow and out of Cloneenagh Lass (by Dunlough Lad), the mare was sold as a foal in October 2008 by breeder Barry Connaire from Athenry. She was purchased by Jim Nally for €2,500.

Later sold to Clive Swindell, she has gone on to become one of the most renowned jumping ponies on the international circuit. Ridden to much success by Mikey Pender, Cul Ban Mistress was presented with the Connemara Pony Breeders Society (CPBS) Performance Pony of 2015 award. In 2017, under Athlone’s Kate Derwin, she won team gold and individual silver at the 2017 European Championships and last season, under Francis Derwin Jnr, she was once again a part of that gold medal-winning European team.

Multiple European medal winner Cul Ban Mistress, ridden by Kate Derwin, was sold as a foal at the Clifden sales for €2,500 \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net

Another story from the sales is that of Tomás and Fiona Grimes’ 2016 Clifden champion, Lackragh Beauty (Carra Cashel x Coral Prince). The couple sold the mare at the February sale in 2008 for a hefty €15,000. When they saw her listed in the catalogue some years later and during the hard years, they decided to buy her back and she cost just €400. In 2016, she was crowned the supreme champion at the Connemara Pony Show, the highest accolade for any breeder or owner of the native pony.

The Connemara Pony Sales sold their first pony to USA in February 2015 and hit the headlines in 2016 when making a very interesting breakthrough into the Asian market, with 30 ponies being sold to Korea through a private deal with the sales company. To date, 65 ponies have been shipped to Korea.

How did that come about? “A simple phone call from a fella who wanted to buy Connemara ponies,” Heanue explained. “They requested details about them and said they wanted to buy 30 breeding mares and a stallion. They came over to see them and had their own vet and jockey.

“They knew what they wanted; the mares had to be scanned in foal. They were quarantined in Germany and then flown to Seoul. We kept in contact with them, they all foaled and they came a second time. The purpose was to build a herd in the country, they were given out to different farmers.”

Plenty of improvements have been made to the sales through the years, not least the new website, which has been launched in time for next week’s sale, and, given the push by Covid-19, the introduction of online bidding which was trailed at the sheep sale last Friday.

Covid-19 means there will be strict regulations onsite. “We have limited it to 50 buyers around the ring. Buyers who are interested have to pre-register. There is €50 registration fee which gets deducted from their commissions. That is to dissuade onlookers from spending the whole day in the gallery and to make way for the serious buyers, just to comply with Covid-19,” Sweeney explained.

“But in addition this year, the mart will be erecting a marquee on the grounds, with heating, and a video link to the sales ring so they can view the ring on a big screen. We will have a Covid officer on site, to ensure social distancing is taking place and people are doing the right thing. We will have to,” the businessman added.

The website has the function to upload photos and videos to the online catalogue, something the team is encouraging the sellers to do. “It is slow to get going but they are trickling through, it will catch on after a while. We are hoping for a good sale and hope that the four-day sale over the October bank holiday weekend can go ahead to,” Heanue said.

And with that, they look forward to the next 30 years of selling ponies in the capital of Connemara.