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Foreward – by Pam Clingan

I have the honour of writing the foreward for this extraordinary bumper podcast of our host, Lucinda Kelly, in conversation with Kingstown Connemara’s Malachy Gorham.

Mal and Joe, like their father Joe Gorham snr before them, have vast knowledge of the Connemara Pony, as judges, inspectors, CPBS councillors and breeders.  Throughout the trends they have staunchly maintained their preferences on the type of traditional Connemara pony that they wish and believe should be bred.

Mal has asked me to extend his thanks to his and brother Joe’s endlessly patient wives, Jane and Monica.  Anyone acquainted with showing ponies knows about the infamous condition, ‘Showitis’! But Jane and Mon find themselves scrambling every summer to stock up on enough ‘tablets’ for the ailment Mal’s daughter, Maria and brother Joe seem to suffer from the most. They endure marathon sessions of pony talk, nodding through the polite and perpetually reserved debates over last year’s (and the previous 30+ years’) Clifden Show placings…until inevitably a sip of the black stuff sends the conversation spiralling into a linguistic quagmire better suited to a blue movie set.

For 41 years, since my mother fell in love with Ocean Gipsy at Clifden 1983, my family have had the honour of participating in a fair few in-depth discussions with the Gorham’s. Thank you Malachy for your invaluable contribution to the podcast series.  Despite its length, I know that we have only scratched the surface of your knowledge and memories. But this is a great start to adding your families’ invaluable input into the ongoing efforts to safeguard the health and heritage of the Connemara for generations to come.

Thank you, Lucinda, for the amazing historic audio archive you are creating and to the listeners across the world who continue their support by listening, ‘for the love of the Connemara Pony’.

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