THE brilliant Connemara Pony Cul Ban Mistress has been sold and will be seen in the future under British rider Sula von Bülow.

Under Athlone’s Kate Derwin, Cul Ban Mistress won team gold and individual silver at the 2017 FEI European Championships for Ponies. The pair’s phenomenal record included international Grand Prix wins in Fontainebleau and Opglabbeek, as well as multiple Nations Cup victories and wins of Irish soil.

The mare was then ridden by Kate’s younger brother Francis Derwin Jnr to another team gold at the 2019 European Championships where they finished 11th individually. The pair also won the Grand Prix in Hagen, Germany, in 2019.

Cul Ban Mistress did her third Europeans under young James Derwin, son of then owner Jim Derwin, in 2021 where they won on the opening day. They were part of the Irish team than won the FEI Nations Cup Final in Kronenberg in September on their last international outing together. Prior to the Derwin family, she was ridden to great international success as a youngster by Mikey Pender.

By Silver Shadow, the grey mare was bred by Barry Connaire out of the Dunloughan Lad mare Cloneenagh Lass. Owned for the majority of her stellar career by Clive Swindell, who bought her as a four-year-old from John Nagle, she was sold to Athlone dealer Jim Derwin in 2019.

In 2015, Cul Ban Mistress was presented with the Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society Performance Pony of the Year award. She has a number of progeny, born via embryo transfer, on the ground in Ireland.