"The Irish cob is a type of horse, without any set pattern to its breeding. Even so,
it is entirely distinctive, and in the UK and Ireland is regarded with great affection,
not only because of its appearance and ability, but also because of its intelligence and
character."
—E. H. Edwards, The Encyclopedia of the Horse
In 1997, a glorious Irish Cob mare
cantered into the Pour Horse lineup. Limerick was the fifth open edition mold from Pour
Horse and only the second mini. Kristina Lucas sculpted Limerick in a lovely canter on the
right lead, sporting the traditional roached (shaved) mane and banged tail. The detail on
this mini is quite extraordinary— facial veining, neck wrinkles, the works. But what
makes her stand out is her Cob personality— well mannered, but with a twinkle in her
eye and a smile on her face that hints of mischief.
Limerick set a new production record, with
194 chestnut models. Although Limerick also set the standard for finish consistency, there
are several documented variations.
 The original
production color was to be bay, and several tests were produced. However, painting the
black roached mane proved to be too exacting for large-scale production, so Joan chose a
shaded light gray instead.
A batch of eight original finish gray
Limericks was produced including several test pieces. The pottery retained two test pieces
and sold the rest. But when Joan painted a custom chestnut for a friend, she realized that
chestnut was pretty and producible, and it became the production color.
Within the chestnut run, there are three
major variations in finish. Unlike some previous models, however, all of Limerick's
variations were produced in reasonably large numbers, and the avid collector can obtain
all of them for reasonable prices.
All chestnut Limericks have dark hooves
and dark shading on the face, ears, knees, hocks, and genitals. They have a right front
sock, a pink muzzle snip, and gray leg chestnuts.
The first Limericks produced had solid
chestnut tails, and are called the dark tail tip variation. If your Limerick does not have
a light tail tip, she was made early in the run. This is the rarest variation,
incorporating less than a third of the run.
The next, and most common, variation is
the light tail tip Limerick. As the name implies, she sports a flaxen tail tip. These
models tend to have slightly more contrast in their shading than dark tail tip Limericks,
and were made in the middle of the run.
The final variation occurred when Joan
discovered that adding a dark dorsal stripe made painting easier— it alleviates the
difficulty of matching across the topline when painting one side at a time. The dorsal
stripe Limericks have a distinct dark brown dorsal stripe and darker coloring along the
whole topline, which increases shading and adds a wonderful depth to the paint job. These
Limericks were made at the end of the run.
 In addition to the glazed gray and chestnut, 128 Limericks were sold in
unpainted bisque. A number of claybody and glaze customs were also produced, and several
were donated to live shows.
With her wonderful conformation and
finish, Limerick shows quite well in live and photo shows, and has turned up in NAN top
tens more than once. For something a bit different, try a performance set up! Limerick is
a versatile and charming character in the show ring or the china cabinet.
Credits:
article written by Liz Holm
Kilkenny—Dressage, USDF Second
Level Test
photo by Liz Holm
Limerick, test grey—photo
courtesy of Pour Horse Pottery
Kokomo—Glaze CM palomino
"Limerick' by Joan Berkwitz,
owned by Liz Holm & shown as an American Warmblood
photo by Liz Holm
next article: Pour Horse photo show report
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