Connemara stallions in North America

[goodpony]

I think you will have a better estimate of your young ponies height at the end of the season–as in late fall. IME they tend to have growth spurts both in spring and fall till the end of their 3yo season. After that its mainly wither height/body depth/muscling that changes—most often the front tends to catch the hind end.

I just measured my two year old purebred with a regulation stick and at 2y 3m he stands 14HH at the wither. I expect him to most likely remain Pony Height (14.1-14.2). His mother was a maiden and he was a smaller foal at birth. He is roughly just between the heights of both sire and dam at the same age—I raised all three of them and tracked the growth on all three from weanlings on up–so I have a very good idea on how each grew. Mom is 7 and 14.2 1/2 and dad is 9 and 14.1 (possibly slightly more but we are talking very small increments-cm maybe).

I string tested my youngster this morning–by the Ergot to Elbow method he will finish @ 14.3+HH. By the center of the knee to coronary band he will finish closer to 14.1 which is closer to what Im predicting based on more practical observation–though Im guessing closer to 14.2HH when his wither comes up. This colt happened to have a prominent wither as a foal–so I do expect him to finish more ‘uphill’ than is typical for the breed. I personally would be delighted if he made 14.3±–but Im not going to hold my breath either.

[rthonor]

The horses came from Oklahoma. The sire is Balius Malachi and the dam is Lasrachai’s Blue Oak Dunlaith. I think there were 6 offspring between them in all , and they were all in the 14.2 range or over. I personally have dealt with 3 of them, and the one that I have now seems to be the smallest, as I stated before. However, they also seem very slow to mature mentally and physically. My friend owns one (that I origianally purchased and sold to him) and she is just starting to look mature and act mature at the age of 6. The gelding is a little shorter than his older sister. However, as stated at age 2, on their papers, the recorded height is 14.1/2. And now my Serafina is barely hitting 13.2. lol. Hopefully, she is just a late bloomer and will get over the 14. hand mark. Thats just my personal taste, I dont want an extremely tall horse anymore, but 14- 14.2 would be perfect for me.

[rthonor]

Well, I may not be doing this string test correctly. I measured from her elbow to her ergot and got 26 inches, and then wasn’t sure what that meant. I measured from the center of her knee down to her coronet band and it was 15…

[goodpony]

heres a link with a diagram on the string test:http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/info/stringtesting.html

by the elbow to ergot method my guy ends up @15HH. by the knee to coronary band–was about 14 1/2" or 14.2HH.

[Small_Change]

goodpony - Here’s a link to Darla’s breeding. I have to laugh at the mare named Napalm in there, as it would be a totally appropriate name for my girlie! Perhaps she takes after her great granny?

Here’s a link to a conformation picture of Darla herself.

[rthonor]

Small Change- that mare if beautiful!

Goodpony- according to the knee to hoof - she will be a smidge of 14 hands:)

[goodpony]

[QUOTE=Small Change;6381672]
goodpony - Here’s a link to Darla’s breeding. I have to laugh at the mare named Napalm in there, as it would be a totally appropriate name for my girlie! Perhaps she takes after her great granny?

Here’s a link to a conformation picture of Darla herself.[/QUOTE]

Stunning lady–and I really like both stallions and have heard very good reports on both. Definitely think that could potentially be a really special match–I really really like the Partbreds (especially when you get a good one). This is our Five year old:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150880393383870&set=a.390333498869.175218.368265648869&type=1&theater who is currently in first at his second Training Level Event–he won the first one a couple of weeks ago. My husband has high hopes for him.

We’ve been trying to breed our TB mare to our stallion but she isnt cooperating:mad:. She is not at home and we are not using our regular vet–which I think is the main problem. The only reason I mention is she also has Stage Door Johnny who Im told is found in a lot of HJ pedigrees. This is Taps breeding:http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/apt+to+please And her Pic:http://goodpony.net/News/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/IMG_38572.jpg. All the other mares we bred are settled—except the one I wanted to see most–figures!

Anyhow good luck–I would love to hear back if you are able to get the semen/and how you found the fertility-in such a small breed–access to new bloodlines is always good news.

Goodpony- according to the knee to hoof - she will be a smidge of 14 hands
She might surprise you and go 15HH-

-I like my guy very much and pony size is just fine by me. Like I mentioned my own pony is 14.2 1/2" but very stout–its the stout as much as the height that makes the pony a good match for most petite lady riders.

[keepingitonthedownlo]

May I hijack this thread for a moment?

Has anyone who breeds Connemaras crossed them with an Arabian? Can you provide photos or information on how the cross turned out?

I have a 13.3 hand pure Arab mare currently and someday hope to breed her for another all arounder like she is. I used to breed Irish draughts and always thought the Connemara was a “mini” version. My mare is too small to put to an ID but the Connemara in theory should produce the cobby type I’m hoping for…

Thanks in advance!

[WindyIsles]

[QUOTE=keepingitonthedownlow;6382023]
May I hijack this thread for a moment?

Has anyone who breeds Connemaras crossed them with an Arabian? Can you provide photos or information on how the cross turned out?

I have a 13.3 hand pure Arab mare currently and someday hope to breed her for another all arounder like she is. I used to breed Irish draughts and always thought the Connemara was a “mini” version. My mare is too small to put to an ID but the Connemara in theory should produce the cobby type I’m hoping for…

Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]

Goodpony has done a cross and the resulting filly is crazy fancy.

Blue Oak Connemaras in California did plenty of them and they all looked like nice solid all around prospects :yes:

[goodpony]

Yes! Like WI said we have a 3 yo ConnemaraxArabian and was inspired by several others we’d seen.

Ours is very much a modern riding pony type(and not what I think of as Cobby), very elegant but deeper bodied and with significantly more bone than the Arabian mother–great feet too!. She is one of the fanciest ponies Ive bred–very beautiful and athletic with impressive gaits. I do think the Arab mares tend to breed more true than some of the other crosses–so you do have to take that into consideration when choosing a stallion–that being said I had seen several of my fillies mothers offspring and they were all quite spectacular regardless of how she’d been bred. We showed our filly as a yearling in hand USDF Sport Horse and she won her class for fillies three and under beating several 2&3 yo Warmblood Fillies–which was great fun!

this is probably the best side on picture I have of her (was very early this spring and she was hairy/sweaty):Flora

and another after she was mostly shed out:Flora

she has a very cute pony face: Flora

[Small_Change]

goodpony - Flora is adorable! She reminds me very much of my Connie/TB that I adored so much. Small Change

[mbm]

i love small change!

[goodpony]

I thought maybe I recgonized your user name–now I know why. Is this the one you bred by Mick? I think Ive seen other photos of your guy–maybe shared by Heather or her daughter :). Neat pony! Like I mentioned I really love the temperament on my Mick Daughter–her trainability/rideability has been just super. She is on loan to a Vet Student who has been showing her in dressage and has won a number of High Score awards at the lower levels–her latest was a 69.9 at first level–and only her second time showing at first! Very good looking/moving ponies from that line. My mare is out of Eastlands Glendearg owned by the Donners at Century Hill Farm in Beaverton, Ontario. You breed good ponies up there in Canada!

[Lorelei_Farm]

[QUOTE=goodpony;6382379]
Yes! Like WI said we have a 3 yo ConnemaraxArabian and was inspired by several others we’d seen.

Ours is very much a modern riding pony type(and not what I think of as Cobby), very elegant but deeper bodied and with significantly more bone than the Arabian mother–great feet too!. She is one of the fanciest ponies Ive bred–very beautiful and athletic with impressive gaits. I do think the Arab mares tend to breed more true than some of the other crosses–so you do have to take that into consideration when choosing a stallion–that being said I had seen several of my fillies mothers offspring and they were all quite spectacular regardless of how she’d been bred. We showed our filly as a yearling in hand USDF Sport Horse and she won her class for fillies three and under beating several 2&3 yo Warmblood Fillies–which was great fun!

this is probably the best side on picture I have of her (was very early this spring and she was hairy/sweaty):Flora

and another after she was mostly shed out:Flora

she has a very cute pony face: Flora[/QUOTE]

She is beautiful.

[keepingitonthedownlo]

Thanks goodpony! My goal with my mare is to produce one as nice as your Flora.
The added depth of body, bone, and substance she has on her dam is perfect. I would imagine the passing of those traits it pretty standard among the breed but do some lines throw “heavier” then others?

Did the loin connection and length of back improve from the dam? Its hard to tell from the angles of Flora’s photos…these are also my mares weaknesses (and common to Arabians ).

Thanks again!

[goodpony]

Yes, we definitely got an improvement in the angle, length of hip and the depth of hip over the mother. This filly is strong over the topline and has very good loin connection which was also an improvement over the mother. Her Canter is quite good–and I think this was also an improvement over the mother. I would have liked a little bit more ‘wither’ on this pony but she is still quite young and I do think she has some maturing left to do. Its a very lovely cross–no doubt about that. Different lines will add different things–trick is finding the right combination to complement your mare. In cross breeding there is always going to be an element of surprise even with crossing two pure breeding lines. But that is part of the fun!

[Small_Change]

Good eye, goodpony! Yes, Small Change (aka Peanut) was indeed our Mick baby, out of a Spirit Rock TB mare. I believe there’s a number of pictures of him on Mick’s page under the halfbred section, and Kirsten posted a few on FB as well. He was really, really neat!

[fermecinqsens]

@Small Change;6370071

I was hoping to cross my mare with a Connemara stallion to just level out a bit of the “hot,” and to keep that same round, compact shape that she has.

So, apparently your Conne/TB was very different from my experience of the cross. Because the Connemaras I know are HOT.

My sister bred a TB mare to a Connemara stallion about 10 years ago. She wanted to create a competitive eventer. The mare was a proven broodmare - used to foaling big WB babies. She was 16.1h so my sister thought she’d get something about 15.2hish. I forget who the stallion was but he had the special eventing bloodlines (Erin Go Bragh, etc).

The product of the breeding is 15h, very compact, very narrow, feels like a 13h pony. She is also very, very, very sensitive. She is a good jumper but hot and, like I said, very sensitive. This horse will never, in a million years, be an ami-friendly horse and she needs a very particular pro rider to get anything out of her too.

There is a Conn/TB mare for sale in our area. She looks EXACTLY like my sister’s mare. Also 15h, also plain bay, also very narrow and compact. Also very sensitive and a difficult ride.

If you’re looking to make an ami-friendly horse, honestly I wouldn’t breed a Connemara. Connemaras are awesome - I love them. They’re so athletic and you’re right, the super ponies in Europe are all Connemaras. But those ponies are DIFFICULT. They’ll jump the moon but nearly kill the kid in the process.

I’ve known of some bloodlines in N.Am that are more calmer but the ponies are less athletic too.

[mbm]

i will agree that Connemaras can be very sensitive. I have one that is so.

But i disagree that they are all hot and complicated! and i dont think hot + complicated means athletic ability…

research bloodlines and find the ones that are athletic + good tempered = those will be the ones that really excel…

[Perfect_Pony]

While I am now a hard core Connemara and part bred fan, I will say that before I owned my pony I had a very negative general opinion of Connemaras because of the very hot, difficult and quirky ConnXTB crosses I knew when I was younger. Recently I have also known some very difficult ones. So even though I can’t imagine buying anything except a pure or part-bred, I definitely look at the temperament and performance record of the bloodlines. Some are known to be quite sensitive and difficult.

That said, I don’t know that there is a much better jumper and all around uber cool horse/pony than a Connemara cross when you get it right.