grallagh harriers
Willie Leahy: Horseman, Entrepreneur, Field Master
Willie Leahy, while Field Master of the Galway Blazers / Noel Mullins photo
Ireland and the horse world lost one of their best-known horsemen, Willie Leahy. He provided outstanding field hunters for visitors to Galway, served as Field Master of the Galway Blazers, was the first to offer pony trekking tours to Ireland, and developed the Connemara Trail. Willie was an uncle to Tony Leahy, MFH, past president of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America.
His home was Aille Cross in Loughrea, County Galway. In the nearly seventy years I have known Willie, he remained true to the Traditional Irish Horse, Connemara Pony, and the countryside where he was most content. He started from modest means on a small family farm with one horse, leaving school early, but his boundless imagination and vision saw Willie develop one of the largest equestrian enterprises in Ireland, with farms in Loughrea and Connemara.
Frank Burke: Man and Horseman
The Irish possess a mystical, possibly genetic relationship with the horse. The late Frank Burke is a splendid example of the horseman all horse-lovers aspire to be.
Frank Burke with Siscero, winner of the 2016 Dublin Horse Show Puissance at 7-feet, 3-inches and ridden by Shane Breen / Noel Mullins photo
A constant outpouring of messages of sympathy flew at the sad news of the passing of Frank Burke―West of Ireland horseman and lifetime follower of the Galway Blazers Foxhounds. The messages expressed what so many were thinking: a great warrior, kind and caring, inspiring, a joy to meet, smiling and good-humoured, hospitable, strong, a passion for life, steely determination, brave, tough and positive. Some said they admired his deep faith, a gentleman who suffered in silence from a dreadful illness over the last twenty years, yet remained pleasant and uncomplaining.
Frank knew he was not fighting his battle alone. He has his family in his corner and particularly his beloved wife Bernie, a trained nurse who was his ‘rock,’ sharing both his good days and bad days. And he had sons and daughters, all living as a close family unit. His son David said that his father gave a whole new meaning to the word, tough, recalling when the Hospice Nurse called to the house to attend to Frank only to be told he was out on the farm painting a gate!
Grallagh Harriers at Meadow Court Hotel, Galway
The Grallagh Harriers Master and huntsman David Burke and field move off from the meet at the Meadow Court Hotel near Loughrea. / Noel Mullins photo
The Grallagh Harriers hunt much the same country as the Galway Blazers. The meet was at Meadow Court Hotel in Co. Galway, near my hometown of Loughrea. It brought back many happy memories so close as it is to St. Clerins, the former home of film director John Huston who wrote the screen play and/or directed such classic films as The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Asphalt Jungle, African Queen, and Moby Dick. The list goes on. He won the Oscar twice and directed his father Walter and his daughter Anjelica to Oscar-winning roles as well.
John Huston was MFH of the Galway Blazers in the 1960s. It was nothing unusual to see his house guests following the hunt by car―Hollywood film stars like Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Orson Wells, playwright Jean Paul Sartre, or Paul Newman who bought a Connemara Pony from Lady Anne Hemphill.
Old English Hounds Thriving at Irish National Hound Show
Pair of Old English hounds. County Louth hound (foreground) shown by huntsman Alan Reilly / Noel Mullins photo
The Irish National Hound Show at Stradbally Hall, County Laois, Ireland keeps growing in both entries and spectators. This year the weather also played a positive role as hound enthusiasts were often three deep along the ringside, and a large number lingered and socialised long after the show was over.
Competition was keen in the foxhound ring where judge Nigel Peel, a well-known hunting correspondent himself (and a member of Foxhunting Life’s Panel of Experts), commented that the Old English hounds were some of the finest he has judged either in Ireland or in the UK, and the Modern English Hounds had real quality as well.
The Old English (or Traditionally-Bred) hounds and the Modern English hounds are judged separately in their own classes, but the winners of those classes come up against each other in the final championship classes for dogs and bi*ches.* On occasion the Old English hounds being bred today will prevail.
The Grallagh Harriers at Moyvilla
The morning’s heavy showers abated, affording my visitors a promising start at the Moyvilla meet, County Galway. I am still forming opinions on which hunt on our card is best, but Moyvilla would be among my favourites. It regularly brings out the best in Master and huntsman David Burke!
Skies were clearing nicely as we drove to the meet, air temperature considerably cooler than previous days. Martin McNamara, who just started riding in September and is a recent convert to the stone walls, was on Darcy, a fifteen-two-hand Irish Cob gelding. Andrea Ypma, visiting from Canada, was excited to be part of the foot followers. She had arrived in Ireland two days earlier for a three-week immersion into the Irish Hunting culture with us at Coopers Hill Livery. The wall builder was tasked with the important job of escorting Andrea to all the finest places to watch the fox bolt and view some of the horses jumping the walls.
The Drag Hunt that Brightened My Season
James Tonery on Starlight, 17-h Irish Sport Horse
The Grallagh Harrier hounds that I follow in County Galway, Ireland had more than enough sport last season, but for us riders, hunting was hampered with the deluge of rain that fell from the heavens. No God would send such volumes of rain on any huntsman; there must be other forces at work here.
Because of the rain, I was able to hunt on open ground only three times. The rest of the hunting was done in forestry, where the hounds could have plenty of sport. To say I was frustrated is an understatement, but to be fair you could not expect to enter a farmer's land when it was under all that water.
Regardless, I have a lot to be joyous about. My hunt nominated me for being the best subscriber, having brought many newcomers to the sport from the U.S. and other parts. And, with all the water in the ground, I learned that the drag hunt has advantages to offer!
Irish Foxhunter Sets Side Saddle High Jump Records
Susan Oakes establishes new side saddle record for jumping triple bar at six feet, four-and-a-half inches from ground level. / Noel Mullins photo
Susan Oakes—Joint-Master of the Grallagh Harriers and the organizer of last year’s international ladies’ side saddle hunt with the Meath Foxhounds—set two side saddle high jump world records at the Irish National Sports Center on October 24, 2013.
Oakes jumped six feet, eight inches over a puissance wall, breaking her own record of five feet which she established just this summer at the RDS Dublin Horse Show. Then she established a world record of six feet, four-and-a-half inches for jumping a triple bar from ground level.
A world record of six feet, six inches for the triple bar set in Australia in 1915 still stands unbroken, but that record was established by jumping off a ramp. Foxhunting Life reported on Oakes’s attempt to break that record last year and also reported on the international ladies’ side saddle hunt that Oakes organized at the Meath last year. Fifty ladies from nine countries including the U.S. participated in that elegant affair.
