FROM the Olympic Games to the Dublin Horse Show to the Connemara Pony Show. I have attended all three events in the last three weeks and, while the scale might have been getting smaller, the passion certainly wasn’t.

Being on the ground in Clifden this week, I have witnessed the sheer disappointment and anger from locals, visitors and most of all competitors, following the show committee of the Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society’s (CPBS) decision to postpone the ridden and performance classes with two days’ notice, and reschedule for a venue outside of Connemara at the end of September. The postponement was attributed to worsening weather conditions and fears the grass arenas would not hold up.