There was a great buzz on the main street in Coolgreany where the Wicklow Foxhounds met at the Top Shop Bar, owned by Alan Giles. The local volunteers Andy Kinsella, Ollie Gardner, Shauna Murphy, Laurence O’Neill, Tony Keelehan, Philip Redmond, and John Minogue were busy working on the Christmas lights.
When visiting the Wicklows I often think of that great horseman Florrie Webb, former Wicklow master and huntsman in the 1970s whom I interviewed some years ago for my book ‘Horse Tales & Hunt Talk’. Florrie, despite having only one hand as he lost the other in a farm accident, hunted the pack for 16 seasons. He managed to utilize a hunting horn and whip, while still handling the reins, to cross this very challenging double bank and wide drain hunt country with flair. And to make it even more remarkable, he also rode in point-to-point races, winning the Island Open Lightweight Race on his own horse Red Bar. He produced The Reserve Mare Champion at the Dublin Horse Show with Estrella. He said the secret was to make all his horses to ride in a plain snaffle bit by endless hours walking them on the road and through the streets of Gorey, stopping for chats and letting the young horses relax so they got used to all the sights and sounds. He also hunted the Gorey and District Foot Beagles for 21 seasons.
The Wicklows are set up as a farmers’ pack, and the followers are still steeped in farming and horse production to have a great following, as the country is so picturesque to hunt. With all the rain, the hunt staff sensibly plans the early meets in the high country and will keep the low country for later when the weather improves. This year the membership has increased, and they had nearly 50 mounted followers out on the day. At their recent point-to-point, 60 volunteers turned up for 40 jobs,
Wicklow huntsman Brendan Kavanagh was on home ground, and he was riding Tyson, a horse by Lansdowne and bred by John Roche. Whipping-in to him was Patrick Goland, and the field master was Peter Somers. The kennel huntsman was Larry Kavanagh, and the fencing was efficiently done by Joe Swaine and Brian Cushe.
The chairman Doran O’Toole has a good team around him and a great interest in Wexford hurling. His son Doran plays on the minor team as well as another young hunt follower Conor Fanning
Cooley Farm Horses
It was a pleasure to see Richard Sheane of Cooley Farm unload four smashing and immaculately turned-out young Irish Draught horses (bound for Lindsay Kelley Equestrian Yard in Marshall, Virginia hunt country in the USA) ridden by Cian McHugh, and Jessie, Sarah Anne, and Kevin Law. I remember back in 2008 when I took up a Research Fellowship at the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg to work on the manuscripts of Somerville & Ross. There I had grits for the first time when I had a hearty breakfast with Dr. Will Russell, originally from Tipperary and a former master of the Scarteen Hunt at Marshall Livestock Mart Cafe. Will said, ‘Don’t ask what’s in grits, you don’t want to know’, but they were tasty!
The Cooley brand is flying high all over the eventing, showjumping, and hunting world. Australian eventer Ryan Wood, who is based on his farm in Pennsylvania, was over here looking at horses the previous week. The Cooley brand has been endorsed by Olympic and international riders like Boyd Martin, Ryan Wood, Will Coleman, Oliver Townsend, Liz Halliday-Sharp, Kitty King, Tim Price, William Fox-Pitt, Laura Collett, and many more riders from all over the world. Richard sells over 100 horses a year, and he has a team of talented riders who can put the final polish on the young stock.
Lighting Cameraman Ken O’Mahoney
It was great to meet up with Lightning Cameraman Ken O’Mahoney whom I made several hunting documentaries over the last few years, all up on his Facebook site Horsin Around and YouTube. He is a well-known contributor of class photographs to The Irish Field. His film work is to be seen on all the major film and TV channels, and he has just returned from a contract filming 1,000km inside the Arctic Circle on a follow-up to Robert J Flaherty’s epic film ‘Nanook of the North’, an American 1922 silent film with O’Flaherty’s granddaughter Martha. She grew up traditionally in Grise Fiord on the southern part of Ellesmere Island. For Ken, it was a little different from fox hunting as the local quarry and diet is seal, walrus, caribou, bear, whale, and berries.
Followers
There were three generations of the Coade family hunting, Kevin, Mary, Elaine, Parish, and Kayla. Also hunting were Ravi Daly O’Toole, a good young rider who won the junior section of the Ward Union Antler Challenge, Paddy Finnegan, and Kitty and Elsa Byrne. The Healer, a mystery character like The Stig in Top Gear whose identity is known only to Wicklow followers, made an appearance. Others mounted were Casey McDonald, Lorcan D’Arcy, Austin Fanning with his son Conor, Vicki Marshall, Peter Somers, Layla O’Brien, Lorcan Darcy, Siun Goland, Annette Cushe, Heidi Hamilton, and Barbara O’Reilly who had an Irish Draught out ridden by Aubrey Chapman. Aubrey won the Middleweight Championship at the Dublin Horse Show on Casey’s Express in 2023. Other regulars were David Grandy,
Sheep farmer Mervyn Sunderland, Liam Owley whose granddaughter Ceile was hunting, Samanta Cushe, Seamus Killoran, and Cathy Carton. Mick Goland is carrying a foot injury, so he was babysitting. Always to the fore was Stephen McDonald, who is a top producer of Connemara Ponies, winning this year in Ballinasloe loose jumping and at The Dublin Horse Show. He has a couple of ponies jumping in Denmark with Olivia Dressler.
Hunting
The great thing about the Wicklow Hunt is that there are often as many people following by car as mounted, and that has to do with what a huge family-orientated group they are. It was a difficult day for hounds, but they never gave up and worked well with the huntsman who did not fuss them and allowed them to keep their heads down. There was a great view of Arklow Hill and Tara Hill in the distance, and I learned that a lot of this country had not been hunted in many years. Field Master Peter Somers gave a great lead to the followers on the first two draws at Michael Kavanaghs and Jimmy Hills. Passing through Sherscheen a gate awaited the followers on the huntsman’s farm, and they all took it in style. Granted a couple had two tries! A double bank later held up half the followers, but they eventually caught up. The pack was spoiled for choice as there was a plethora of foxes congregating down at Larry Byrnes. Two left and headed for Coolgreany before hounds entered the covert, and there was at least a brace and a half still in the covert as the pack settled on one who ran towards the hills and to ground. The huntsman brought the pack back, and they found again. But this time he went left-handed up the valley towards Celia Redmonds and to ground. They found another in the long ditch to hunt and mark him also. With so many foxes in one spot, the huntsman decided to move on to the Askinch Road to John Joe McCarthy’s and Ted Fanning’s Farm, but there was nobody at home as they had moved on to Fords. They had some wonderful woodland hunting eventually marking him in a wide ditch. Drawing Terence Clare’s farm and on through the crossroads at Ballyfad Post Office in the direction of the highest points at Croaken and the Wicklow Gap. With the mist coming down and near darkness, the huntsman was not giving up drawing on foot with his whipper-in Patrick Goland. This proved their fitness, but Brendan has an All-Ireland GAA medal. We could hardly see him or the pack, but the car lights gave some reassurance as he found in the second covert in Noel O’Toole’s, and they had a lovely hunt for about 45 minutes. We could see nothing, but we could hear two of the top hound voices in Bouncer and Torment that kept us in touch. It was a good job the fox did not straighten up as the valley they ran went all the way to Inch!
At the end of the day at 5.30 pm in darkness, there were 15 followers there to help box horses and hounds, amongst them Brian Cushe, John Kavanagh, Joe Swaine, Larry Kavanagh, and David Grandy. The debrief took place back to The Top Shop Bar accompanied by very welcome soup and sandwiches.
History of the Hunt
The Wicklow Hunt was founded in 1901 as the Wicklow Harriers and changed to a foxhound pack in 1936. In 1957 the name was changed again to the Wicklow Hunt, hunting South County Wicklow and North Wexford.
Find more from Noel at www.noelmullins.com.