Allison Springer and No May Moon. Photo by Sally Spickard.
The Connemara is a breed often featured on an eventing entry list, and for good reason. Connemaras carry a well-earned reputation for their hardiness, temperaments and athleticism. In fact, many a Connemara has been crossed through the years with a Thoroughbred or a warmblood to add additional movement and athletic ability, and we’ve even seen some of these horses compete up to the top levels of eventing. Pure Connemaras, too, have found success in the sport. Horses such as Donna Miller’s Coud’Poker Tartifume and Kendal Fansler’s Delilah’s Boy have shot to the top of the USEA leaderboards, earning accolades like SmartPak Pony of the Year.
So it’s safe to say the Connemara is here to stay. We caught up with a few riders competing Connemaras at last month’s USEA American Eventing Championships at Kentucky Horse Park and one common thread ran throughout each conversation: the Connemara is a top choice for eventers at every level.
By the way, if you currently ride or own a Connemara, there’s a good chance that horse is eligible for membership to the American Connemara Pony Society, which is an organization dedicated to the support and promotion of the breed all throughout the U.S., in any discipline. Half- and quarter-Connemaras are even eligible for their own membership, which can make them eligible to earn year-end awards, scholarships and much more. If you aren’t already a member, you can find more information here.
Elliott Timmons and Illaunurra Duster at #AEC2026. Photo by Sally Spickard.
For Elliott Timmons, the Connemara has become a whole career path. After competing through the Preliminary level and earning her USDF Bronze and Gold medal with Connemaras, Elliott set up shop with a boutique breeding farm, where she stands two of her own stallions, WH Top Gun and Foothills Field Marshal, intentionally making matches to produce sport- and amateur-friendly progeny.
“[These stallions] are great ambassadors for the breed,” Elliott, who bases her operations out of Ocala after relocating a few years back from Indiana, told me. “They’ve shown all over the country, have babies of their their own all over the country, and since I’ve been able to buy them, I’ve picked up a couple Thoroughbred mares that I’ve competed, done RRP with, and things like that. I competed them in eventing, and then now they’ve had our cross babies. They’re perfect. They’re the best. [The Thoroughbred influence] gives them some height and some gallop, and then they’re just amazing.”
And her own background goes much deeper, in fact. “I grew up on a Connemara,” she laughed. “My mom also had Connemaras, and it was always like, ‘if we’re going to do this, we’re doing it with Connemaras.’”
It’s the Connemara work ethic, Elliott says, that continues to draw her in. Here, she references the Connemara history, all the way back to their originating status in Ireland as cart horses. “They’ve always had jobs, and enjoyed having them. I think that their work ethic is what has drew drew me to them in the first place, and what has brought me back, because I’ve gone off and ridden other horses and I’m like ‘wait a second, it’s not the same! I don’t want to work that hard!’ They’re sure footed and they’re smart and they’re usually made of iron, and I just adore them.”
Heather Wu and HSH Gunpowder and Lead compete at #AEC2026. Photo by Sally Spickard.
“My husband jokes around and always tells me there’s like other horse breeds of horses — no there’s only one,” laughs Heather Wu, another competitor who brought her Connemara mare, HSH Gunpowder and Lead, to compete at Starter level at AEC. This AEC marked the first time she’d qualified with this horse, and she was eager to put the ultimate test in front of her game mare. In fact, her mare was sired by Elliott’s WH Top Gun. “I mean, they’re fancy, they could do well on the flat. They jump around. They’re so brave. They’re so sound. They’re compact little things, and they just cruise around. Some people don’t really like the attitude — I like the pony attitude. I think it kind of gives them a little bit of an edge. I don’t really like big horses, so anything like 15.3 and below is perfect. I think they’re a great size, especially for a lot of adult amateurs.”
Heather acts as the Region 5 American Connemara Pony Society governor, a position that’s allowed her to really build a community within the sport. “I love this Society. It’s a wonderful group of women. Everybody’s so supportive. We all show up with our Connemara pads, and at away shows we all have our banners, and we say hi to each other. It’s just like a great organization where they really celebrate everybody’s successes, which is really cool. I don’t really know of any other breed organization other than Thoroughbreds, honestly, that really kind of headline what they’re doing out in the world.”
Megan Lichty and TBS Declan Pondi. Photo by Sally Spickard.
And one incredible selling point for a Connemara? Their sense of when to be gentle.
This has been one of the best things for Megan Lichty, who also competed at AEC with her Connemara stallion, TBS Declan Pondi. Based out of Georgia, Megan’s life isn’t just about the horses — she’s got a family at home, too, and even as a stallion, TBS Declan Pondi is the gentlest of souls around her young daughter.
“He’s a people person,” Megan describes. As I’m interviewing her, her daughter is helping to untack Declan after his dressage ride at AEC, gently brushing his legs (the most she can reach at her age!) while he looks on steadily. “When I was pregnant, he was the only one I would ride, so I was still doing his fitness and gallops until I was six months pregnant.”
Megan herself also does some breeding with this horse out of her farm — TBS Declan Pondi is the sire of Young Rider competitor James Power’s Brambleridge Ponder the Truth — and this stallion was purchased to be the cornerstone of that program. “My mom and I decided to import a stallion from Ireland, and she sent me over to pick him out, and I picked him out when he was three months old, and he shipped to the states when he was five months old. My mom bought him for me, and I’ve done all of his training myself. All of his showing, he’s shown in hand. He events. He fox hunts. He show jumped. He’s done dressage. Their temperaments are so super — the bulk of the stallions here in the states are are owned by amateurs, and most people compete their own pony. That’s just part of the beauty of the breed.”
And as I said earlier, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that these sporty Connemaras can even reach the top of the sport. Allison Springer knows this firsthand — it was longtime supporter Nancy Winter who first turned her on to the Connemara breed, and through her breeding program Allison’s taken several of these ponies up to the upper levels of the sport. No May Moon, a Connemara/Thoroughbred cross is one such success story, winning the 2024 MARS Bromont CCI4*-L and handing Allison her first four-star Long win to boot.
“I rode many of [Nancy’s] homebred, purebred Connemaras for years and years, and then it was in her mind that she wanted to breed a modern day Connemara sport horse cross,” Allison said. “Nancy always said she wanted the sure-footedness and quickness, and the brains of the Connemara. Then she wanted to get some of the Thoroughbred blood in there, and that’s what they are. They’re like my little dirt bikes. They are so fun.”
Behind it all, the American Connemara Pony Society offers support and camradarie around this special breed. “The American Connemara Pony Society is so fabulous because they really do a great job of recognizing these super athletes in so many different categories,” Allison said. “And I’ve been the recipient [of awards] with some of Nancy’s ponies in the past, which is really fun. But it’s just such a super breed, and I’m really honored to represent them.”
This article is brought to you in partnership with the American Connemara Pony Society. Interested in learning more? Visit acps.org to start your own journey.
