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The ACPS Awards Committee suggested to me in the spring that I should nominate Mick for the An Tostal Award, which I considered a great compliment to Mick. When I heard this summer that he had won the award I was incredibly proud of him as I have always thought the An Tostal was the pinnacle of achievement for a stallion. I am really delighted that Mick has won this award which epitomizes what we should be aiming for as breeders: performance ponies that can be shown and ridden by the whole family, whether they are geldings, mares or stallions.
Charlotte’s son, Stephen, a sculptor, carved the horse’s head that is the present An Tostal trophy. It is a huge trophy, and a huge honour to win it with Mick. I have always thought how lucky I was to find a pony of Mick’s quality and breeding when I was looking for a stallion. I don’t think at the time I realized quite how lucky I was. I knew I liked his dam’s breeding and his sire’s performance record but I certainly didn’t know what a wonderful combination they had produced. I didn’t realize just how highly thought of *Abbeyleix Bluebird was, not only in Ireland but internationally until a long while after I had Mick, when Henry O’Toole (CPBS International Inspector & breeder of the famous Castle Ponies) asked me if I owned her – she was the only mare he had ever wanted to buy to complement his own line of mares. To my good fortune she had already been sold to the States and ultimately she and Gilnocky Ard Righ MacDaire (himself the An Tostal award winner 20 years ago) produced Mick, her last foal.
For several years, I competed Mick in eventing alongside Kirsten riding SP Mils Braeban. We would trailer them together, and tie them side by side, sharing their hay. Mick and Millie were best buddies and we rode together, evented together, fox hunted, rode in poker runs and even competed in a pairs cross country course, keeping so close over the jumps we clinked stirrups. A dislocated shoulder finished my competitive career and when Kirsten turned 18, the minimum age to compete a stallion, she took over the ride. As a team, they quickly moved up the levels in eventing, always in the top three after dressage and usually at least maintaining their place. Mick was often the only pony competing at training level but after winning his first event at that level he and Kirsten were soon recognized as a pair to be reckoned with. Kirsten is now studying in Australia and New Zealand but I would like to share the message she sent me when she heard Mick had won the An Tostal. Although I'm in New Zealand right now, which is a rather long way from Elphin Mountain Connemaras, there's a gallant and handsome man who's often in my thoughts when I think of home. For the past 11 years it has just been me and mom on the farm. And Mick. He's been a great ride, a great friend, but most of all, he's been a member of our small family. I feel very privileged to have known him for 14 years and ridden him for the past five He was always impressive at competitions, both with his behaviour and results, and I'm glad he has been recognized for his efforts - as they were enormous for such a little guy - but it is a couple of my favourite memories of his personality that I'd like to share.
In the summer, on hot nights when my bedroom window was open in an attempt to catch a breeze, I could hear Mick munching his dinner and then snoring in his sleep, as his paddock is next to the house. When one stops to think about it, I suppose that's a bit weird, but like I said, he really is part of the family. When he was younger, Mick ate the screens off the windows and would then run his nose up and down the glass making loud squeaking noises just to amuse himself and attract our attention. Another fine example of his cheeky humour involved neatly nipping through the thread and eating the buttons off the front of mom's shirt before she noticed what he was doing while she was talking to me as I sat on him in the dressage ring one afternoon. Luckily she had a t-shirt on underneath!! He has also managed to eat the ends off numerous dressage whips without being caught, but yet has never bitten us. Mick knows his limits and respects us, just as we respect him. While I know we all love our ponies, extol their virtues and think they are the best in the world, Mick is really is a once-in-a-lifetime horse. However, like all males, he is by no means perfect! He has his infuriating little habits, like making of show of taking a leak before every dressage school (another guy thing!) and throwing the odd curve ball stop at me cross country when I fell asleep in the saddle and decided to take him for granted. But I think it's things like this that help make us better riders and horse people, so for those parts of his personality I am also grateful. Under saddle, Mick has always been generous on the flat, brave across country, and, now that I've been in Australia for nearly a year, I think I can say he also does a pretty good "Man from Snowy River" impression down the hills in the bush! I truly think he deserved this award because he shown not only us, as his family, but also the horse community in eastern Ontario, all of his wonderful characteristics and abilities. Kirsten also added that Mick had taught her a lot about horses and riding – he’s a great schoolmaster, doing exactly what he is told and expecting his rider to know how to tell him what to do. I’d also like to thank Kirsten for all the work she put into training and riding him. Without her, he would never have shown his full potential. |
The fact that Charlotte Read owned, trained, rode and showed the original An Tostal herself gives me added pleasure as that is what Kirsten and I have done with Mick. An Tostal was a small grey stallion bred by his owner and rider, Charlotte Read of Round Robin Farm in New Hampshire, who was one of the four founding members of the ACPS. Charlotte believed that Connemaras could do anything and set out to prove it, competing in eventing and fox hunting Toastie, as he was known. Perhaps his finest hour was competing in the Olympic try-outs at Gladstone in the late 60s where he put in the best performance of any horse not on the Olympic team. Charlotte not only competed and hunted Toastie, but she made sure that everyone knew he was a Connemara when the breed was virtually unknown in North America.
When I bought Mick as a yearling, he was the first Connemara stallion in Eastern Ontario and one of very few in Canada. Hardly anyone in our area knew what a Connemara was, unless they came from Ireland or the UK. Mick has helped to change all that. I knew that if I was to sell ponies and get breedings we had to get out there and get known as good performers with a good temperament – not the easiest thing with a young stallion and an old rider.
The first year I was away at university I left for school the night after finishing and winning a horse trial with Mick and wasn't able to return home for another three months. When I did get back in the middle of November after a five-hour drive, the first thing I did was jump out of the car and run over to hug Mick at midnight. He was about 50 pounds heavier and 3 inches hairier than when I had last seen him, but he just bent his neck around me and hugged back like all old friends do. In fact, I have often thought Mick is in his element in the winter, for he can be a portly, whiskery and jovial gentleman who plays and camouflages in the snow, enjoys peppermints, candy canes and the odd brisk gallop without any other demands.