THE elements were determined to keep the crowds guessing at yesterday's Connemara Pony Show at Clifden in Co Galway with a solid carpet of cloud holding its cards close to its chest from the beginning. Horse boxes lined approach roads, spaced in between lengths of garda "tow area" tape. It was going to be a tough task to find a place to park.

Last year's event saw fine weather, but a light drizzle came down during the early hours yesterday, with umbrella holders blessing themselves and the weight of their wisdom for having brought them along.

The crowds are not going to be deterred by the early Clifden gloom, though there is already a large turnout at the showgrounds by 10 a.m.

There's no waiting around at this show. A disembodied voice on the PA commandingly warns competitors to keep it moving in between competition classes what with 22 of them to be completed before the evening's out. Marshalling a mill of children backwards walking photographers and everybody else, the stewards also score well in the authority stakes.

The class 16 geldings competition for the Graham Tulloch trophy, and a first prize of £35, takes place before noon in the second ring. These are, of course, a quieter kind of animal, eschewing the forceful communications of the ponies competing in ring number one.

No 336 - son of sire Ardravinna Andy and dam Aran Melissa nibbles longingly on a few blades of grass plucked by his minder while awaiting the outcome. No 338, down from Donegal and owned by Norman Wright, bursts his banks while on display for his lady judges. There are smiles all round.

A judge comes over to stroke him. Surely a winner, the crowd murmurs, with his humorous touch and white marble coat. But it's not to be. The Shane Hawkins owned No 324 takes the red rosette, followed by the lightly lunching 336 on the blue rosette for second place and 329 belonging to Deirdre Geoghegan of Oughterard, Co Galway, on the yellow for third.

The ambience of the show is a curious one the huddled heads of pony owners conferring quietly on results, good or bad the neigh saying ponies the battery powered whirr of a hundred tourists' cameras, and the stewards telling all to "watch your back there".

The crowd itself, however, is quite subdued. Polite rounds of applause accompany announcements of winners and the pinning on of rosettes. It's a genteel sort of feeling coming out of respect for the excitable nature of the animals the people have come to admire, or to buy.

By lunch time the crowd has swollen to several thousand, with the Minister for Agriculture, Ivan Yates, performing the opening honours. He reminds the throng that the show has happened on the third Thursday in August of every year since 1924.

Paying tributes to the Connemara Pony Society for its role in preserving the area's distinctive indigenous breed, he remarks that the breeders have "a great deal to celebrate".

They have kept with the tradition of breeding quality ponies because of their "agility, stamina and versatility, and because for many people the Connemara bony is their first", he continues. He also promises extra assistance from the Government in marketing the industry, which is worth £18 million a year.

Indeed"There are plenty of politicians here today," adds the voice over the PA, but they're not that prominent that you'd see them without a search.

There are not only ponies on show. A "domestic arts" competition also takes place, including tarts and porter cakes, hand knit socks and carrots and onions (how to judge between identical looking fresh vegetables? It's a mystery.)

"I'll have to enter this next year, says one keen onlooker. Then there's the dog show, with a "dog I would like to take home" category.

LUNCH TIME sees the town all a bustle. A lone garda chaperones traffic jams up towards the Square, accompanied by pre teen security men toting water guns as if there was a need for cooling down.

Market Street is lined with stalls Declan Martin, the poultry dealer, being the first of them. How is business going?

"We won't know till they come out from the show," offers his assistant.

A little further up the hill, outside the Connemara Kitchen Delicatessen, the staff of Connemara Community Radio are readying themselves for the evening onslaught. Connie Menezes, of the delicatessen, says brightly "You know it's the Pony Show because it's raining", perhaps ignoring the fact that the occasion saw the sun last year.

It's easy to understand her point of view. However, let's be fair the sun has started to make a real effort by three o'clock. But the white carpet seems set to stick until the bitter end.