The Kerry Bog Pony, which was almost extinct 20 years ago, was yesterday given official status as an Irish rare breed.
The tough little ponies which are thought to date back to prehistoric times, have officially joined the other two recognised Irish breeds, the Irish Draught and the Connemara.
At a ceremony in Co Kildare yesterday, the president of the Kerry Bog Pony Co-operative, John Mulvihill, received the first passports to be issued by the Irish Horse Board for the breed.
Mr Mulvihill, a Kerry publican, first brought the plight of the breed to national attention when he told The Irish Times in 1989 that if nothing were done, the breed would die out.
The subsequent publicity got more people interested in the breed and he began to get support from across the country.
He had searched the country for ponies with the distinctive dished face to see if he could help save the breed which had been used mainly to draw turf from bogs in Kerry on wooden sleighs.
He found some of the animals, mainly in Munster, but still faced the difficulty of having the animals recognised as a distinct breed.
Confirmation of this came when DNA testing was carried out on the breed and it was found to have its own unique characteristics.
Yesterday, that distinct status was recognised and the first of the passports were issued to the 170 ponies which will now be officially registered as pedigree animals.
According to Mary McGrath, who has written a book on the Irish Draught horse, it has been a long and hard road to get the Kerry Bog Pony recognised.
"Ten years ago, and even now, some people think it's some kind of a joke when you mention the Kerry Bog Pony but now they will know it's not," she said. "This is a lovely distinctive breed of Irish pony which is docile and strong and it is a great tribute to Mr Mulvihill and his committee that this day has been reached," she said.
She said one of the important things about the Kerry Bog Pony is that there are more than enough stallions now registered so there should be no inbreeding which happens when the number of stallions fall to a low level in a breed.