Bcps Newsletter Summer 2020
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BCPS NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2020 LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN It seems a long time since I wrote to you in the last told that the market for Connemara ponies is newsletter. Nothing has happened, yet so much booming at the moment. We are determined to do has happened! As Chairman, I seem to have been all we can to support British breeders. I hope that ridiculously busy and the weeks have flown by. I you will all enjoy the planned Breeders Directory am only too aware that this has not been the case in next year's Connemara Chronicle and enjoy the for many people and I feel very lucky to live in the gorgeous foal pictures contained in this country and to have been fully occupied with newsletter. family, ponies and the BCPS! I very much hope that things continue to improve As you all know, Geth, our Secretary was and that we can all look forward to seeing one furloughed for two 3 week periods with a week another at the AGM in the autumn. In the back at work in the middle. In the main, this meantime, please stay safe and well. worked well and I hope that members were not too inconvenienced. The Society received over Anne Harries - [email protected] £2,200 from the Government's Job Retention Scheme which made it very worthwhile. I found taking the urgent telephone calls and Office emails THE BCPS 200 CLUB very interesting and did my best to give the right By joining the 200 Club you can help raise funds answers. I was greatly helped by some excellent for the Society while giving yourself a chance to and very comprehensive notes left for me by Geth win a cash prize. The BCPS 200 Club is open to and enjoyed having some contact with members members and non-members. old and new. The 200 Club year runs from January to December, or for 12 months from the Date of The Council have been holding meetings on Zoom joining. If the subscription is not renewed, the for the last four months and this has worked well number will be re-allocated. now we have all more or less found out how to Prizes 11 monthly draws make it work. The Council dogs enjoy the meetings too! I have also taken part in a telephone • 1st prize £25.00 conference call with the other members of the • 2nd prize £20.00 ICCPS Executive Board which was interesting. • 3rD prize £15.00 Sadly, with the cancellation of the Clifden Show and so many travel difficulties there will be no Every month all the 200 Club members’ numbers ICCPS AGM this year. The BCPS is Secretary to the are entered in the draw, where an independent Executive Board at the moment so I will be calling scrutineer will pick out the winning numbers. on Geth to help me assist Madeleine Beckman, the For more information and to download a Chairman, with getting information to other membership form, please member societies. visit http://www.britishconnemaras.co.uk/bcps/ memberships/200-club/. It is always good to end on a positive note. I am THE CONNEMARA PONY Having reached a biblically-significant birthday, it occurred GENETIC RESEARCH PROJECT to me that some of the remaining twigs on which we older The BCPS is delighted to assist Sheila Ramsay and her members are sitting were becoming increasingly brittle…….. and that there was no independent, accessible archive of all colleagues in New Zealand looking into the level of the historical literature relating to the UK Connemara Pony genetic variability in the Connemara pony breed. The for use in the future. Society has provided the details of DNA profiles held on our database which have been curated so as to Any books published about the ponies will have, by law, remove the names of the ponies and their owners. been issued with an ISBN (International Standard Book The information gained from the Project has the Number) which means that a copy is held at each of the potential to help limit loss of genetic diversity in the Legal Deposit Libraries; these are: The British Library, Breed. Whilst the results of the Project will not assist London; National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; Bodleian breeders in the short term, the knowledge gained Library, Oxford; Cambridge University Library; Trinity from this research has the potential to limit any College, Dublin and National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. further loss of diversity in the breed. So copies of such titles as Shrouded in Mist, Out of the Mist etc. are already legally deposited. The same protection does not automatically extend to privately published periodicals or serials, such as the REGISTERING YOUR FOAL IN 2020 Society stud books etc., which do not qualify for an ISBN; Please remember that DEFRA regulations still instead, these may, on application to the British Library, be currently apply and you should send in your allocated an on-going ISSN (International Standard Serial application to register your foal by whichever date is Number) which uniquely identifies the set of periodicals later: concerned… and the good news is that this service is free * 30th November of the year of birth (there – I told you I wasn’t asking for money!). If we can * within 6 months of birth put together full sets of ECPS and BCPS studbooks, a full set of Irish Stud Books (as far as these go), plus a full set of https://www.gov.uk/horse-passport/apply-for-a- Chronicles, these can all be allocated ISSNs, and lodged for horse-passport future use with the British Library; on-going copies of the various serials can be sent to the British Library annually when they are printed. This could also extend to any other relevant literature relating to Connemara ponies. This Private HWSD Test would mean that a potentially vital resource would be available to anyone wishing to research the history of the All foals have been tested for HWSD at the time of Connemara pony in the future. registration by the CPBS since 2016 and by the BCPS So…. I already have quite a lot of material kindly offered by since 2017. However, some older ponies are tested various Members, but I am still short of ECPS stud books, privately, usually when they change hands as part of and ANY copies of the Monthly Circular, which I, as a the pre-sale veterinary examination. The result of a relatively recent “blow-in”, have never set eyes on. test for HWSD carried out by a recognised laboratory I’m therefore asking that you search through your own and where the hair sample has been taken by a vet, archives, attics, outhouses, lofts and sheds (a tall order I may now be stamped in the pony's passport by the know, if you, like us, do not live in a minimalist BCPS provided that the vet has completed the household…) and contact me if you have ANYTHING of Society's Private Test form Please make sure that you interest that you feel you could bear to part with. My send a copy of the test result to the Office with the contact details are: [email protected] Tel: 01588 620314/ 07768 833614 and Facebook PM. I will passport.. To download the form go to:- acknowledge everyone who contacts me, and can arrange http://www.britishconnemaras.co.uk/breeding- for material to be collected. Any copies left over from the owning/hwsd/summary/ British Library sets would be offered for sale through the Newsletter to benefit Society funds or to complete a full set of Chronicles requested by the CPBS. AN APPEAL FROM ANDREW MORREY Thank you, Andrew Dear Members, IT COSTS THE SOCIETY £150 TO POST THIS NEWSLETTER I hope this finds you well, albeit somewhat frustrated at the OUT TO THOSE MEMBERS WHO HAVENT AGREED TO lack of shows and opportunities to meet. I’m afraid I’m on RECEIVE EMAILS FROM US. IF YOU RECEIVE A HARD COPY, the scrounge, but before there’s a sharp intake of breath, BUT COULD ACCEPT AN EMAIL VERSION, PLEASE LET US that’s not for money, but literature – specifically ECPS - or KNOW BCPS-related literature. BCPS SHOWS 2020-2021 NORTHERN SHOW 2021 BREED SHOW 2021 It was with great regret that the Council decided to The committee of the Northern Show have now cancel the 2020 Breed Show which would have finalised the date and venue for the show in 2021 it been held on 11th July. There was no doubt that it will take place on Sunday 8th August at Warren Farm was the correct decision but a very sad one all the Equestrian Centre , Southport Old Rd, Formby , Nr same. Liverpool L37 0AP Turning to 2021. Having listened to the PERFORMANCE DAY 2020 membership, most particularly those living in the South and South West, we have booked Moreton This event will now be held with the unaffiliated Morell for 16th and 17th July 2021. The Show ODE at Keysoe Equestrian Centre, Bedford MK44 Committee will be meeting shortly to make plans 2JP on Sunday 4th October, within the limitations and would very much like to receive suggestions allowed by the Government (although hopefully, from members. Some ideas that have been put by October things should be a bit easier) The forward already include a Dressage Championship schedule has 70cms, 80cms, 90cms and 100cms final after the conclusion of the In Hand Show on One Day Event classes which will also be qualifiers the Friday afternoon. We hope that this Dressage for the 2021 BCPS Eventers League finals.