West Springfield, MA: The 9th annual Equine Affaire in the Northeast was held at the Eastern States Exposition November 9-12, 2006, and had something to offer to horse enthusiasts of all ages, breed persuasions, levels of expertise, and equine disciplines. Leading coaches, competitors, and trainers from throughout the United States presented a full schedule of in-depth clinics on a wide array of equestrian sports and training techniques at the 2006 event. Attendees also enjoyed four full days of seminars and hands-on demonstrations as industry experts presented non-stop sessions on a wide variety of horse management, health, and training topics relevant to horse enthusiasts from amateurs to professionals. Equine Affaire also hosted the largest trade show of any horse expo in the East. It featured hundreds of the nation's leading equine-related retailers and manufacturers. Attendees browsed through acres of equine products and services ranging from tack, riding apparel, and grooming supplies to farm equipment, gifts, and books.

Connemaras were not left out of this huge event! A veritable parade of ponies and proud owners from Region 1 and Region 2 combined efforts to pull off another smashing success of a Connemara booth and Breed Demo. The booth and demo were beautifully organized this year by Dianne Crane and Amy Plavin. Performing in the breed demo were Greystone’s Adirondack Ahearne (driving) owned and driven by Cindy Fletcher, Bantry Bay’s Kenny (jumping) owned and ridden by Lauren Ochs , Seven Spring’s Hidden Rush (western) owned and ridden by Wendy Warner, and Ballywhim Ardon Mor (dressage) . Ardan Mor is owned by Lendon Grey and he and his rider Micaela Mabranga perfomed their award winning Musical Kur. Also participating in the petting booth were Clove Nanoe, owned and shown off by Mary and Kathleen Bordewiek and Good Earth’s Erin Waterfall owned by Janet Chayes, and Greystone’s Irish Wind owned by Amy Plavin. The booth was also staffed with dozens of volunteers from both Regions, and we held a business meeting and lunch on Saturday. We had many comments from shoppers who stopped by the booth that they were impressed at the breed demo to see the Connemara pony really can do it all!! Many thanks to the owners and riders who brought their ponies for all to admire and enjoy and to all the volunteers who put up and took down the booth and talked pony for 4 days.

Leeds, NY: Region II (NY, NJ, PA and Ontario, Canada) recently set up its very own Yahoo!NewsGroup. Members in the region have been busy discussing ponies, nutrition, riding and other pony related topics, but most importantly are getting to know one another better than ever. Email is great, but the NewsGroup offers members a chance to have various discussions on topics of their choice. The group was started on November 12, 2006 and already has 24 new members! The NewsGroup is the work of Region II Secretary, Judy Sheil. Judy came up with the idea, set up the group and the region has been thrilled with its immediate success! When asked about the NewsGroup Judy said, " I was a little nervous with this, I was afraid the newsgroup would just sit there and no one would use it. In fact, I had been going to post some more questions to try to get discussions started, but it looks like it's taken off on its own. Whew! It should help people connect and realize all they have in common." Judy seems to take the name of the Region II Newsletter she puts together to heart. She is helping take the "Connemara Connection" a step further!

Grass Valley, CA: At the annual Northern Mines Pony Club Halloween meeting, Midsummer Knight (*Village Prince x MGRM Caliope) was "the Black Pearl" to his rider Erin Smith's "Capt. Jack Sparrow".

The duo "sailed" through the Club's costume parade in style.