One of the ways to find beauty in this challenging and changing world is to look to those places where our past is preserved. These are places where they keep old values of hard work, tenacity and patience. Sometimes survival is the greatest teacher, and when you add a bit of passion for making things beautiful in spite of it all, you get Ireland. One of the finest testaments to the spirit of Ireland are her Connemara ponies.

There is a legend that says the Connemara Pony descended from Andalusians that swam ashore from the sinking Spanish Armada and bred with the native ponies on the rocky coast of western Ireland in 1568. The truth is the Connemara’s ancestors lived in Ireland for thousands of years and though some of the Armada's horses may have bred to the local stock, it is a fact that this gentle working breed was well established. Their characteristic intelligence, strength and beauty were enhanced by the generations of Irish talent when it comes to equine stock. By the 1920's though, the breed was under threat of disappearance by random breeding, and the Connemara Pony Breeders Society was formed to preserve the purity of the breed. A key to the excellence and versatility of the Connemara Pony is the hardy environment in which it lives. The centuries of surviving the harsh weather on the cold wet rocky terrain ensured that only the strongest bloodlines survived. Just as the Irish rain brightens the green fields, so it also invigorates the native Irish ponies of Connemara.

"Leo" is a son of world reknown champion and Breyer horse Custusha's Cashel Rock or "Rocky", and he is fast following in his sire's footsteps. He is currently ridden by Young Rider Emily Tears and trained by Karen Ball in Irvine California.