ELPHIN MOUNTAIN CONNEMARAS

Castlebar Dreams of Ireland

2006 Chestnut, 13.3 hh

Sire: Skyview's Triton

Dam: Starlight's Irish Dream

Lucy was bred in Ellensburg, Washington (east of Seattle) and is a mixture of classic west-coast North American Connemara breeding and our own Elphin breeding. She has had a couple of foals but other than that, Lucy hasn't done much and was being sold quickly by her owners so we thought we'd snap her up!    L: Lucy at Jolley Fir Line Farms in WA in preparation for her trip east. R: Lucy after arriving at Elphin Mountain Farm, Aug 2011. Her sire, Triton (ACPS inspected and approved) competes successfully in lower level dressage and was inspected by the American Warmblood Society, winning their National Gold Medal for the pony division in 2002. Triton is by the renowned Custusha's Cashel Rock, the first Connemara to become a Breyer Model. Rocky competed very successfully in hunter, jumper and dressage and won the 1983 American Connemara Pony Society Hall of Fame An Tostal Trophy for a performance stallion. He also won the Grand Champion In Hand at the Woodstock VT Region II show for 3 years in a row in the late 1970s and had an excellent temperament. Read an account of "Colt's" life here by his owner Helen King. Triton's maternal grandsire Gilnocky Drumcliffe was also a well-known athlete with such a good nature he was ridden by his owner's young daughter for years. In addition, Triton goes back to the Mountain Lad line through his maternal grand-dam RBR Georgia Lady, and his full brother Skyview's Orion is a good performer producing consistently athletic offspring.   L: Lucy's grandsire Custusha's Cashel Rock. R: Lucy's sire's full brother Skyview Orion. Lucy's dam sire, Avenn's Cairbre MacCarthy, has competed at Spruce Meadow's Battle of the Breeds for several years on Team Connemara. His sire was the famous Alberta stallion Lynfield's Cormac MacCarthy who won the An Tostal in 1990 and the ACPS Tooreen Laddie Trophy (for a foundation stallion) in 2002. Cormac excelled in driving and western competitions and produced many ponies in Canada with his athleticism and calm personality. Cairbre's dam was the indomitable Avenn's Golden Ruby. With her owner/rider Melanie Jacobi, Goldie was the 1977 gold medal winner in preliminary jumper at the Alberta Summer Games (the only one with 4 clear rounds, Melanie was 13 and the class included adults); 2nd in the 1977 Preliminary jumper mini prix at Spruce Meadows; part of the 2nd place eventing team at the 1979 NA Young Riders competition; and the 1979 Canadian Equestrian Federation reserve Alberta pony jumper champions amongst many other accomplishments. Goldie also won the 1983 ACPS Hall of Fame Camlin Trophy awarded to a purebred mare or gelding in recognition of a career of outstanding competitive performance. Goldie was a gand-daughter of the Irish mare Lus na bPog for whom the Canadian Connemara Pony Society's Lus na bPog/Sean MacLochlainn Foundation Broodmare Award is named. Lus na bPog's daughter Ciotóg was exported to Montana in 1966, and Doris Jacobi imported her daughter (Goldie) to Canada where she not only competed with Melanie, but made an impact on the breed in Canada and the US through her daughters Legacy, Reina and Raini.   L: Lynfield's Cormac MacCarthy and R: Avenn's Golden Ruby, Lucy's maternal great-grandparents. Our own Elphin Sweet Rosaleen (Maplehurst Michael MacDaire x Oak Hill's Gold Friday) is Lucy's maternal grand-dam. We sold Rosie to Alberta in 2004 as a weanling and she had several purebred foals for Starlight Stables before entering a career as a schoolmaster hunter pony.   L: Elphin Sweet Rosaleen, Lucy's grand-dam. Right: Starlight's Zara, a full sister to Lucy's dam. When we bought Lucy, she was kindly picked up by Kelsie Staeheli and spent several weeks at Kelsie's Jolley Fir Line Farms in Colville WA while preparations were made for the trek eastward. Lucy travelled the 4400 km from one side of the continent to the other with remarkable aplomb. The truck drivers loved her and when the truck finally pulled in at midnight she didn't bat an eyelid getting off in the dark or going into the barn. Lucy at Jolley Fir Line Farms, Aug 2011. Since arriving at Elphin Mountain Farm, Lucy's been a gem, made friends with new people and ponies and generally been very cooperative for a pony that spent the first five years of her life living in a paddock doing nothing. We're keen to breed Lucy to Henkka next year for a 2013 foal.