340 THE PONIES OF CONNEMARA. 



5. — The Clifden Type 



The ponies included in this section, though but little larger than the 

 members of the Andalusian (old Connemara) type, are very different in 

 build. The head is beautifully moulded, and the face highly suggestive of 

 marked intelligence, the ribs are well arched, the shoulders good, and the 

 loins and hind quarters well developed, while the short legs are so con- 

 structed that they stand an enormous amount of wear, often looking as 

 perfect after a score of years' continuous work as in a three-year-old colt. 

 These short-legged, stout Connemara ponies, though differing from Spanish 

 ponies, undoubtedly belong to an old strain. 



Those best acquainted with Irish ponies would probably regard the mem- 

 bers of the Clifden section as representing the best kind of Connemara 

 ponies, as deserving to be regarded as the most typical Connemaras existing 

 at the present day. It is conceivable that these short-legged horses — for 

 though sometimes barely 13 hands, they are not true ponies, i.e., they are 

 not merely stunted horses, like the Iceland and Shetland ponies — owe their 

 characters to the blending of all the types already described ; but it is also 

 possible that while the Andalusian-like ponies sprang from a light, indi- 

 genous variety, the aboriginal ancestors of those under consideration 

 belonged to a larger and heavier variety. If heavy horses of the Clydesdale 

 type were only introduced some thirty or forty years ago, it is hardly likely 

 the Clifden ponies owe their great girth and stout short legs to the introduc- 

 tion of Clydesdales. That they are largely saturated with the blood of the 

 ordmary long-headed Irish horse is extremely unhkely, and it is as unlikely 

 that they have been much influenced by recent importations of Arab blood. 

 Hence, although their origin will probably remain a mystery, the evidence, 

 such as it is, points either to (i) their foreign ancestors differing from the 

 imported ancestors of the Andalusian section, or (2), to what is more likely, 

 that there existed in the West of Ireland, as in other parts of Europe, during 

 primeval times, a heavy as well as a light variety of the wild horse from 

 which the indigenous ancestors of the " real Connemaras," as they are often 

 called, originally sprang. 



A typical member of this section measures 54 inches (13.2 hands) at the 

 withers and an inch more at the croup. The head from the occipital ridge 

 to the level of the upper margin of the nostrils measures 20^ inches, the 

 distance between the inner canthus and the margin of the nostril ioj4 

 inches. The ears, Arab-like in form, are 6j4 inches along the inner surface. 

 The girth is from 66 to 68 inches — the ribs being well arched. The fore-leg 

 from the point of the elbow to the ground measures 31 inches, while from 

 the point of the hock to the ground the length is 20 inches. Below the 

 knee the circumference varies from 7^ to 8 inches. Judging from the 

 ponies I saw during my visit to Connemara there is considerable variation in 

 size amongst the members of this group. One of the most typical specimens, 

 an old grey mare, with a remarkably intelligent face, was only 12.3 hands at 

 the withers, while another was nearly 14 hands. It is more than likely 

 some of the larger ponies, though conforming on the whole to the Clifden 

 type, are related to the old Cashel horse. 



