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Royal Winter Fair 2009

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Kippure Cara Wins Sportpony Cup

Kippure Cara -  Photo: Lynn Cassels Caldwell

When Richard (Rick) Doner and his wife Dale visited Ireland to attend the year-end Connemara show in August, 2006, they'd been searching for a stallion for their Century Hills Farm for about six years. But there's something about the luck of the Irish – while they were there, they saw a picture of Frederiksminde Hazy Merlin (Cara's sire) and right away, Dale knew that this was exactly the type of pony she wanted as a herd-sire.

The Doners found themselves making a visit to the Kippure Stud, owned by Michael and Orla Igoe, about a half-hour south of Dublin in the Kippure mountains. It's one of the biggest breeding farms in Ireland – at the time of the Doner's visit, the farm was host to 23 stallions and a total of about 150 Connemara ponies.

"They walked us out into a field with about 20 yearling colts running around," said Rick. "We were surrounded by all these colts, and then one of them came over and stuck his nose out to my wife and she said, that's the one. So we made arrangements to purchase him, and he came to Canada in November 2007. He had no handling at the time! But he has a good mind, even though he's mischievous, like all Irish critters. We got him going in hand quite well(with the help of a retired Toronto Mounted Police Seargent, and close friend, Howie Peers) and decided to start him in harness. Mary Lee Quinn (Cara's handler at the Royal) helped us get him started in harness, and later under saddle."

Mary Lee fell in love with Cara when she was working with him. She's the one who advised Rick and Dale to try Cara in the Sport Pony line classes. "We actually didn't know much about the Sport Pony division at the time," says Rick. "We called Darlene Morton and found out a bit more about it, and ended up entering Cara in the qualifier at the Sutton Fair in August."

Kippure Cara, as the only stallion entered, won his class by default and thus was qualified for the Royal. "Then we thought, if we were going to take him to the Royal, it would be nice if he was familiar with the Horse Palace, so we double-qualified him at a show there. But he was the only stallion in that class as well."

Kippure Cara -  Photo: Rick Doner

Cara had spent two months in harness with combined driver Randy Bird of Harwood, Ontario, prior to the Royal. "We got him from Randy's place, took him home and body clipped him, and in seven days we had him at the Royal," says Rick. "Our only idea when we arrived was to show up and be a good ambassador for the Connemara breed. But we had a lot of fun when we got there, and he won his stallion class – that was the first shock. Then he got in the ring with all the champions and reserves from the other classes – and he won that as well! We're still riding on a high around the farm here."

"Dale is the reason for us having these ponies," says Rick. "It's her passion. We started the farm in '97 and imported our first two mares from Scotland and England. We've had a number of ponies sell to the US and they've done very well in dressage, driving, and under saddle. One of our colts is Century Hills Aedan Zodiac, owned by Elsie Priddy in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He was one of the first stallions to be inspected and approved with the newly-formed Canadian Connemara Society."

Right: Kippure Cara -  Photo: Lynn Cassels Caldwell

Century Hills farm currently has three purebred mares; one produced Cara's first foal (born this year in May) and Cara's next two foals are due in the spring of 2010. We're sure we'll be hearing more from this exciting young stallion, Kippure Cara, in the future.

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"Kippure Stud: In the Moment," PDF article sent courtesy
Michael Igoe, Kippure Stud, Blessington, Co.Wicklow, Ireland

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