Breeding thoroughbreds involves human intervention; far closer to ordinary equine experience is that of the Connemara pony. Galway man Willie Leahy is Ireland's largest breeder of this versatile native.
He has total faith in the breed, "so beautiful, intelligent, versatile, hardy and the ultimate riding, jumping horse". Leahy also believes in breeding in the field. "As natural as possible, I let the stallion out there with the mares and it all happens. I don't interfere." Connemara mares foal in the field, there is no fuss, no pampering.
Joe McNamara, based outside Clifden, Co Galway, owns Cascade, a stallion that has already covered about 30 mares this year. There is none of the thoroughbred swagger about Cascade. A gentleman caller of the old school, his attitude to the mares is kindly, almost, as McNamara puts it, "apologetic". Last year, at the height of the foot-and-mouth crisis, when transporting animals was banned, one of McNamara' s daughters rode Cascade over the mountains to service a mare. Light years removed from the impersonal thoroughbred industry, McNamara mentions that he knows most of the people whose mares his stallion covers. It may seem far more relaxed, but Connemara breeders are very concerned about sustaining quality. "You always on the look out to improve the breed, if I see one I like, I try to buy it." He talks about the various Connemara ponies as if he knows them socially.
Long before they were bred for riding and particularly show-jumping, the Connemara was a worker. For McNamara, the ponies are part of Irish, and particularly, west of Ireland, social history. The Connemara Pony Society was established in 1923.
"If a family had a Connemara, it was the lifeline, involved in everything - from hauling the seaweed, bringing in the turf, the wood, the hay from the meadows, bits of road work. It pulled the cart to bring the family to church on Sunday and produced a foal as well."
The worker pony, who remains a tough, resilient character, has long attracted the attentions of serious breeders.
It's true that the registered Connemara ( (up to 14.2 hands) is kind and gentle enough for children, while also tough and strong enough for the adult rider. But there is another Irish breed possessing huge appeal as well as a fine reputation as a sport horse - the Irish draught.
This is a special animal, a horse that was once a type and is now a recognised native breed. It was also the horse of the Irish farmer and has become - when crossed with a thoroughbred - the Irish sport horse. For me, the dream horse is the Irish draught crossed with a thoroughbred.
Fintan Flannelly, owner of Kill International Equestrian Centre, Co Kildare, has a great appreciation of the Irish draught and bought his stallion Silver Granite as a four year old.
NOW 19, this son of Glenvara is a majestic animal, currently at work with Dutchwoman Daphne Scholts at her yard a few miles away across the Curragh.
We are standing outside in the sunshine, she holds his headcollar, Joe O'Toole holds the mare's - the deed is done. Simple, uncomplicated, no fuss and very natural, the draught mare is led off, leaving Silver Granite to gaze thoughtfully after her before being walked back into his stall.
The stallion works a four-month breeding season and then returns home to be ridden. To date, he has sired 180 foals in Ireland, and is a foundation stallion in the US where he also competed for two years. Artificial insemination is permitted for Irish draught breeding. Silver Granite is represented in semen banks at the University of Arizona and in California.
The Old Rectory Stud, Tynagh, Co Galway, is beautiful, even in the rain. Here French woman, Chantal Deon has created a formidable Irish draught line based on a mother and daughter, Brehan Lass II (by Legaun Prince out of Brehan Lass) and Brehan's Pride (by Pride of Toames). Both horses have performed well in the show ring and as brood mares. Brehan Lass II produced 14 foals, including the stallion Cradilo.
Yet, Nicholas O'Hare, an authority on the breed, whose book The Modern Irish Draught has just been published, fears for its future. "The Irish sport horse is now under pressure from European Warmblood showjumpers, particularly the German and the Dutch." The Irish Horse Board has recently announced grants for pure-bred Irish draught foals. It is not the first such incentive scheme. In 1887, an annual Government grant of £5,000 for improving livestock was introduced, £3,200 of which was allocated for horsebreeding.
Until 1907, only thoroughbred sires were available, but in that year more attention was placed on improving the native stock. Eighty-eight half-bred stallions and Irish draught type were entered into the Department of Agriculture's register.
Attempts to establish an Irish draught studbook were made in 1911 when a scheme for the registration of mares was implemented. By then, the British army was well aware of the breed's qualities. From 1917 onwards, Irish draught horses were open to Department inspection for entry into a Department book of the breed; of 1,180 mares and 270 stallions, 375 mares and 44 stallions were passed. The Irish Draught Horse Studbook was established in 1918. It marked a beginning. In 1976, The Irish Draught Society was formed.
Some 80 years earlier, official efforts at improving horse breeding in general in Ireland had been made. The agricultural depression of the 1880s had affected the Irish horse, still centred on the farm. A royal Commission on Horse Breeding in Ireland was appointed in 1896, which examined 119 witnesses. The minutes of evidence, published in 1897, run to almost 500 pages. It is fascinating reading; a tribunal crossed with inquisition directed at improving the Irish horse. Many of the exchanges are exasperated, there is bewilderment and some humour. Above all, there is passion and despite the money and international success now associated with the Irish horse, it is this element, passion, that still dominates.
The concluding part in the horse series - racing and jumping - runs on June 22nd