North Galway huntsman David Masterman and hounds / Noel Mullins photo
The history of foxhunting in North Galway goes back to the Galway Blazers, who hunted the county of Galway before lending the northern portion to the Bermingham & North Galway Foxhounds. That hunt was founded by Sir Dermott and Lady Molly Cusack Smith in 1946. Lady Molly was the principal huntsman and Master. In 1985, her active participation in the field having waned, the hunt was renamed the North Galway Foxhounds. Lady Molly, who also had the distinction of being the only lady to hunt the Galway Blazers pack, continued as a Master of the North Galway until her death in 1998. Her daughter Oonagh Mary was also a Joint-Master with her, and her grand-daughter Joanna Hyland follows in her footsteps as a Joint-Master of the North Galway and, currently, the Galway Blazers.
The Meet
The North Galway Foxhounds meet this day was at Frank Canavan’s Bar in Belclare. I wondered if he was the same Frank who I played with on a county selection rugby team in the Sports Grounds in Galway some sixty years ago, and to my great surprise, he was! It was during the era of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Rule 27, otherwise known as ‘The Ban,’ designed to penalise players that the GAA regarded as playing ‘foreign games,’ such as rugby union, soccer, and cricket. It is difficult to believe in these enlightened days that I was banned with some other team members for a year by the GAA. Frank told me that he escaped the ban and went on to represent Galway Gaelic Football at the highest level, gracing Croke Park with his football talents on numerous occasions. Frank’s mother’s family owned Ryan’s Bar in Gurtymadden, a favourite meet of the Blazers, East Galway, and Grallagh Harriers, and he is proud of sponsoring the races that eventual Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Minella Times and Best Mate won at the annual North Galway Point-to-Point when they were novices.
North Galway Field Master Jackie Lee keeps the day lively for his field. / Noel Mullins photo
Horses and Horsemanship
As long as North Galway Field Master Jackie Lee is riding up front, there will never be a day that the followers won’t be thoroughly tested. He always takes them over the most difficult line of country.
Who says Irish Draught Horses don’t have scope? The Irish Draught horse has a brain and only needs to be shown once as they are quick learners. In North Galway, you can admire the sheer brilliance of Jackie Lee hunting Simpson, his pure Irish Draught by All the Diamonds, or showjumper Gabriel Slattery hunting Boots, his Cob and Irish Draught cross, often jumping puissance height walls topped with briars standing over six feet and more all day long, and never moving a stone. They not only know how to produce these horses but also impressive is how well they ride them. Jackie also produces showjumpers like Kishino, a 1.40m and consistent Grand Prix winner now in foal, and he is also somewhat of a specialist in the 3-Year-Old Loose Jumping events with many successes at the Dublin Horse Show. Another brave rider is Ray Lee, whose son Raphael is joining the officer ranks of the Irish Army Equitation School. His success is assured, having Jackie Lee for most of his youth!
Master and Hunt Staff
Michael Lennon, MFH, was the sole Master out on the day. He is general manager of the Westport Woods Hotel in a stunningly scenic area of County Mayo, just that morning having catered for two hundred guests at breakfast. The hotel has a Go Trekking Club, where they arrange cross country, mountain, and beach rides.
Huntsman David Masterson is as enthusiastic and popular a huntsman as one could find. He just lives for his hounds and his hunting. He is thoroughly experienced, having whipped-in to the Ormond Foxhounds in County Offaly for twenty seasons, then serving as kennel huntsman of the United Foxhounds in Cork before taking on the North Galways three seasons ago. Joint-huntsmen of the Meath Foxhounds John and Kenny Henry and whipper-in Barry Finnegan have been very generous in providing him some fine Modern hound drafts. Showjumper, stallion owner, and horse producer Gabriel Slattery whips in, as does show ring specialist Tom McNamara, MFH, and Pat Mellett.
Tom McDonagh assists on a walkie-talkie from the road, and he had Joe McEvoy and Pat Ward helping out. There is no walkie-talkie for Field Master Jackie Lee, however. He has forgotten on too many occasions to turn it off when not in use, and people can hear a running commentary often unrelated to hunting for the entire day as a result! Maura Morrin is a keen photographer whose work is often featured in The Irish Field and keeps the hunt Facebook site up to date. Her husband Scotty is joint-treasurer, and her son Michael works with British international showjumper William Funnell.
Finn Reynolds flies a solid stone fence on a young Connemara pony out for its first hunting day. / Noel Mullins photo
Hunting
The followers had settled in so well at Canavan’s Bar that the huntsman stood at the door and blew a call normally used to call hounds out of covert, but this time it was for the followers to leave the bar!
Huntsman David Masterson drew Cunningham’s Bog on foot, but it was blank. He moved on to Johnstown Quarry, which features long slag heaps from the reclamation of the River Clare. It is always a sure find, and hounds had a customer up and running, but he had plenty of cover and went to ground eventually in a rock pile.
Jackie Lee, never a man to stand around too long, took the followers around the most difficult line. Ben Keane, Finn Reynolds, and Meg Price from Southampton were in their element and demonstrated impressive riding skills.
In Killower, many of the walls are built of reclaimed boulders, which took an excavation machine to lift into position. These walls are not for the faint-hearted rider. But Jackie chose a spot for take-off, and the followers stepped up to the challenge. Gabriel Slattery, not alone, took on the highest part of this almost solid wall, but there was a hole in the ground on take-off, and a less talented rider than Gabriel would surely have wound up on the ground. Hounds hunted hard in this huge covert and eventually marked their fox to ground in one of the many earths beside a wire fence.
Ballindiver has two coverts running parallel to one another, and there was at least a brace of foxes at home to challenge hounds even further. There was plenty of jumping as both foxes and hounds repeatedly ran between coverts. As the two foxes were similar in colour, it was difficult to tell which was which. But road-whip Tom McDonagh kept the huntsman up to date on the walkie-talkie as the pack, which had split, amazingly marked both foxes to ground.
There was cracking woodland hunting in The Rocks and the valley, which runs parallel to the road. The evening was closing in, however, and huntsman Masterson decided to stop the pack, which was close to a large flock of sheep due to lamb, and blew for home. It had been an action-packed day. While hounds hacked back to the meet, Field Master Jackie Lee was at it again, larking over this beautiful stone wall country, leading the followers back to Belclare.
Posted June 4, 2022
Noel Mullins is a photojournalist, lifelong foxhunter, and author of The Dublin Horse Show, The Irish Hunter, In Search of the Kerry Beagle, and other books on Irish horse sport. Visit Noel at his website.