county galway
The Galway Blazers at Cawley’s Bar in Craughwell
John Denis became the first huntsman of the County Galway Hunt (the Blazers) when it was organised in 1839 / Courtesy of Noel Mullins
The Castleboy Hunt Club, established in 1803, hunted the Galway foxes until 1839. At that time a new hunt committee founded the County Galway Hunt, better known today as the Galway Blazers. John Denis, a direct ancestor of the only lady huntsman of the Blazers, Molly O’Rourke, was appointed the first huntsman.
In years past, top Hollywood stars were often seen in Galway visiting the late film director and actor John Huston, a Joint-Master of the Blazers at the time. I have great personal memories of hunting with the Blazers over the years, starting as a child over sixty years ago. In later years I had the pleasure also of serving on the Blazers hunt committee. Few had transport in those early days, so we hacked to meets sometime five and often up to twenty miles from our hometown Loughrea, especially if the meet was Athenry or Turloughmore.
Sure, And the Going Was Soft!
As the owner of a multi-media production studio, Steve Toepp knows what he wants to convey in his foxhunting videos but he finds it to be a challenging task. “Filming while mounted is the most difficult type of videography I have ever encountered,” Toepp says. “I am trying to develop riding techniques that keep the camera flowing smoothly. GoPros have good optics but bad sound if kept in the housing, so I usually use a hand-held and a helmet cam. It helps to grow eyes in the side of your head so that when you are shooting the person running beside you, you don’t run into a tree or ravine.” Toepp is a member of the Battle Creek Hunt Club in Augusta, Michigan, where he was awarded his colors. He learned to ride in the hunting field at the age of forty-seven. The advice he got from his sister, whipper-in Kathleen Neuhoff, and his fellow field members was, hold on tight and don’t interfere with the horse; the horse knows what to do and will take care of you. “They were right,” says Toepp, “and I fell in love with foxhunting.” This video features hunts with the County Roscommon, North Tipperary, County Galway (The Blazers), and the Flowerhill Equestrian Center. Posted May 31, 2014
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