THE Connemara pony always played a part in the life of Countess April Merveldt who was a long-time supporter and member of the Connemara Pony Breeders Society.

She was a selective breeder under her Donode prefix and a highly-respected judge, attending the national show in Clifden every year until unable to do so last August. Some months earlier, shortly before her 90th birthday, April was inducted into the CPBS hall of fame and was presented with her certificate at home in Ballymore Eustace by her good friend Denise Norton of the Edenmist Stud in Kilcullen.