THE Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society hosted a Christmas weekend in Ballinasloe last weekend where the prolific winning Connemara mare Cul Bán Mistress was chosen as the CPBS Performance Pony of the Year.

Her owner Clive Swindell was presented with an award at the show where he paraded Cul Bán Mistress and her sire Silver Shadow was also on display.

Last Sunday an educational conference was held in Hayden’s Hotel where four key topics were discussed. UCD’s Dr Alan Fahey presented his findings on in-breeding in the Connemara pony population which has remained constant at 4.4%.

It is recommended that in-breeding should not go over 6%. Dr Jack Murphy spoke about a recent report on classification he prepared for the CPBS. (More details on www.cpbs.ie).

Paul Flynn from Weatherbys Ireland presented the findings of a recent study carried out on 230 randomly selected Connemara ponies to identify the prevalence of Hoof Wall Separation Disease within the population. The study revealed that 19.1% of the 230 ponies tested were identified as carriers of the HWSD gene while 1% of the population was affected. Áine O’Callaghan presented a report of performance ponies in Ireland and spoke about the different disciplines ponies are competing in and at what levels.

The over-riding message from Sunday’s seminar is that breeders must thoroughly research their breeding plans from now on. While the level of in-breeding and the prevalence of the HWSD issue are manageable, progress can only be made when all the relevant information is available.

Breeders must have information on both sire and dam in order to improve the health of the herd. Mare owners and stallion owners must know the status of their own animals and the only way to know this is by testing and sharing the results with the relevant parties.