A small native pony, threatened with extinction just 20 years ago, is to be introduced to the United States.
Five of the ponies, known as the Kerry Bog pony, are on their way to Ohio later this week, where they will become the centre of attention on a farm devoted to Irish breeds.
Mr John Mulvihill, the honorary president of the Kerry Bog Pony Society of Ireland, said numbers now stood at under 200. At one time, however, he knew of only a handful in the country.
Mostly chestnut in colour, the Kerry Bog pony is slightly bigger than a Shetland, but is more graceful and does not have the stocky legs of the Shetland breed.
Dr John Flynn and Mr Teddy Clifford, a veterinary surgeon, helped preserve the pony by having them registered as a rare breed.
Gentle with children and with adults, the ponies were hardy and good workers. They wintered out, and required "none of this grooming and shampooing", said Mr Mulvihill.
The pony is believed to date from neolithic times and was agile through the forests and over bogs, which may explain why it survived in areas such as Glencar and Glenbeigh in Co Kerry, according to Mr Mulvihill.
Ohio judge Michael Asher and his wife, Lynda, had become interested in the breed on a visit to Kerry two years ago. They had since established a farm on which they wished to breed animals indigenous to Ireland, including the Kerry Bog pony.