Inspiring tale of the Kerry bog pony

IT’S a story that’s rooted in remote places, almost lost in the heather-clad hillsides of the south-west.

It’s also an uplifting narrative of survival from the brink of extinction, with international significance for rare breeds.

John Mulvihill, whose family hailed from Listowel, Co Kerry, was among the first people in relatively recent times to realise that the remnants of an old breed of ponies might still exist. Back in the 1980s, he came upon historical references to native Kerry ponies.