IAN Maleney was selected as the inaugural RDS Writer-in-Residence and wrote the 14-page creative literary piece ‘Going Clear’ inspired by his experience of the 2018 Dublin Horse Show. The Co Offaly writer has no background in horses. He presented his work to an audience at the RDS last week. Below are some short extracts.

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I came into this thinking I would write something about class, because the show seemed like a place where traditional class divisions might be both more pronounced and somewhat strained. The show is an unusual melting pot of people: there’s a strong farming element, as you’d expect, and a wealthy, international contingent, for which the show is arguably best known. It showcases an established elite – the politicians, the business people, the minor celebrities – alongside day-trippers who merely have an interest, financial or otherwise, in horseflesh. It is both a social event and a sporting event; a mongrel cross between an agricultural show and a gala dinner. Class, in a place like this, is not as simple as who has money and who doesn’t. It’s more about tradition, maybe even a sense of belonging. It’s about being on the inside.

After a couple of days watching people, getting a feel for the competitions and the pageantry that surrounds them, I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to write very much about class at all. Despite my privileged position as a guest of the RDS, I was not someone on the inside. In fact, I felt more like an outsider than usual. I felt this way, in part, because I was watching everything in the hope of finding something I could write about — some telling anecdote I could stow away, some material I could use. The main reason though, and this should have come as no surprise to me, was that I really knew nothing about horses.

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I’m standing in the middle of the main arena during the Puissance, the most old fashioned and yet entertaining event of the week. When I meet Brendan, shortly before the event is due to start, he seems nervous. Brendan is master of ceremonies for the evening, the man soon to be striding around the field with microphone in hand. He’s a short, compact man, well dressed in a sharp pinstripe suit. He reminds me immediately of a rural politician. He knows his role – greeting people as they pass, shaking hands, flashing a quick smile, making eye-contact.

We’re in the pocket, watching riders and owners and military officers mingling before the gates to the arena open. Brendan’s nervous because he knows that once those gates do open, he’ll have to step out and perform. Showjumping is repetitive, and there’s long stretches where nothing much is happening. This is especially true of the Puissance, because the tension is centred on that one critical moment when the horse approaches the wall. It’s Brendan’s job to keep the massive crowd onside the rest of the time, to keep the energy levels up. But that’s alright, because Brendan is a professional. Brendan is box office. Brendan is showbiz.

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It’s Thursday morning, and I am seeking out the warmer pockets of sunshine near the showing rings, to the rear of the Anglesea stand. People are clinging to the white railings which surround the rings, standing two or three deep to get a look at the Connemara ponies gathered in the centre. Unlike jumping, which has rules and structures which are easy to understand, these events are impenetrable to an outsider such as myself. They require a great deal of patience, or a natural interest, because nothing exciting ever happens. Nothing is meant to happen.

All the while, a commentator reads out each horse’s name and lineage, illuminating their sires and dams going back through the generations, noting their ancestors’ wins at competitions just like this, years or decades previous. Listening to this litany of historical information is quite soothing, because none of it means anything to me. It doesn’t place the horse in any context I could understand, and it doesn’t improve my ability to judge what I’m seeing; instead, it provides firm proof that what is happening now, in front of me, is something which has been happening for a long time and will likely continue to happen for many years to come.

ATTRACTING A WIDER AUDIENCE

THE Irish Field’s Brendan McArdle chaired a panel with writer Ian Maleney, equestrian journalist Louise Parkes and Declan Meade of The Stinging Fly magazine, with the discussion surrounding attracting a wider audience to the Dublin Horse Show extending to the floor. Maleney said his favourite thing about the show was “talking to the sheer diversity of people, all brought together for the same thing.

“People are spoiled for choice these days, there is an awful lot happening, particularly in the summer, and getting someone like me here (to the show) is pretty hard. But sometimes with events like this, you should focus on what you do best. Double down on ‘we are the best horse show in the world’ and that is why you should come,” Maleney said.

The addition of the Horseplay Hub in the concert hall is “something to build on in terms of making some of the more obscure aspects of the show very approachable,” he said, adding the young rider bursary with Rodrigo Pessoa was a clear window into what was happening for any spectator.

“Like any sport, when you see someone who really knows what they are talking about explaining something, you learn so much so quickly by hearing that voice.”

Author and hunting expert Noel Mullins, speaking from the audience, said his two American visitors last year were intrigued by many aspects of the show, including the fact that the President of Ireland graces the main arena and the Lord Mayor Coach arrives for the official opening.

“The Puissance is a winning formula. If you could replicate that in some way to the various other competitions in the main area and Simmonscourt … we want to make show jumping exciting again,” Mullins said, adding that the accessibility to the professionals and the ‘closeness’ to the horses is another huge advantage for visitors.

Louise Parkes commended the RDS for the initiative and encouraged them to be brave going forward. “If they want to build on this, the ethos of the organisation may need to up its game a little in terms of being brave, because people that come to the horse show can find a lot to criticise. If you are going to expand this, and allow people like poets and writers to give their view, quite honestly, you’re going to have to be brave.”

Maleney added: “I will echo that. It is plenty strong, it will stand you trying things out. Don’t be too precious with it!”