IT was evening time as the final supreme champion was decided at Louisburgh Show but one judge was still full of running. “Do you know if you told Michael Casey now that there was a horse at the top of Croagh Patrick,” said show chairman Tommy Bennett, pointing to both the Leitrim horseman and famous Clew Bay landmark “he’d say ‘come on, lets go look’.”

That lifelong interest in horses began growing up in Springfield, near Mohill. “I can go back as far as the 1930s. My father was a ploughman, nowadays you’d say he was an agricultural contractor because he did ploughing and mowing throughout the parish. The land in south Leitrim was not suitable for oats or barley, so you would have a different type horse around here; they were great dual-purpose workers and what we’d call good ‘road horses’ for going to town and the creamery. And every horse was 99% Irish Draught or Draught type,” says Michael, recalling the pre-tractor era.

Michael was the only one amongst his three brothers, including his late twin Tommy, interested in horses and while horse-mad youngsters today often gather facts from the internet, he learned from another source. “There was a stallion yard across Main Street from school and I’d steal out of the gate at lunchtime and into the stallion yard to listen to all the old men. I was very, very interested in learning about pedigrees.

“Mohill was the best market town around and three fairs were held each year, on the 25th of February, the 8th of May and the 19th of October. The February fair was known as the Manchán fair, after the patron saint of Mohill, when people came from all over Ireland to buy cattle and horses.

Stallions on the move

“All the stallions would parade along the street, nine or 10 Draughts during the May fair and they would be in Mohill every Thursday during the covering season.” Another horseman with crystal-clear recall, he lists the Leitrim schedules, “and then Ballinamore on Tuesday” adhered to in an era when stallions travelled to towns. “There was no trouble then getting mares in foal, they were fit from working,” points out Michael.

The old narrow gauge railway, which then ran “from Mohill on to Belturbet” was another mode of transport. “Sometimes Faughnans would put the stallions on the train and travel them as far as Strokestown,” he recalls, mentioning the local family, who stood what Michael regards as his favourite Draught stallion, Lahinch.

Otherwise, before cars, jeeps and lorries, it was ‘Shanks pony’ to reach local shows. Michael accompanied his father, a keen exhibitor, to Carrick-on-Shannon and Ballinamore where the family frequently won prizes and RDS premiums. There was a practical reason too. “We sold a lot of animals by going to shows,” says Michael, who also rode in the Farmers Race at his local show. Working the land provided ideal preparation for the annual event; “When I finished one field, I’d jump my horse across the drain, then pull the plough across, otherwise you’d have to go a mile around the road!”

Lovely Leitrim breeders

He first attended Mohill Show in 1934 and has only missed one year since when his mother passed away before the show date. He is equally proud of its flagship event, the Leitrim Breeders championship. “This is the show’s 90th anniversary this August and our 26th year of the Leitrim Breeders. It’s been a great success from day one when we had 18 mares the first year. It brings a great crowd and we hope to keep it going as long as we can.”

Michael also paid tribute to the show’s longtime secretaries Lourda McGowan and Aideen Houston and the entire committee of volunteers behind the event, once held on Tuesday. “But people were working on Tuesdays so we moved to Sunday about 15 years ago, which has helped.” Speaking of community spirit, brings us to the recent fund-raising drive for local exhibitor Colm Costello, hospitalised since last August. “We’re all hoping and praying for him, he’s a lovely young man. His father Paul comes from Mohill,” he explains.

A familiar sight at shows, often accompanied by his wife Madge and family friend Jennifer Harte Lavin, Michael recalls how his judging career began. “I’ll tell you how I got into judging, we were at every show in the country showing Draught mares and foals,” he says, listing the family’s All Ireland and national prizewinners, including the Glengarriff mare Springfield Daisy and her Achill daughter Springfield Dawn, that bred the stallion The Galway Boy.

“My next mare Springfield Star was bred in Cork by Dan Buckley. By Ben Purple, she was a lovely quality mare. She won the champion mare at Mohill, qualified for Millstreet on two occasions and when I brought her to Oughterard for the western final, she was champion mare of the show and her foal Duleek Hero won the final. She was a very valuable mare that bred four stallions, two here and two in England. Duleek Hero was the first, then Cummer Hero, then she bred Springfield Prince, he went to England and another by Lahinch, Laughton’s Legend.”

Which explains why Michael has always rated Lahinch, who stood at the Faughan family’s Faulties Stud, so highly. “He was a very good horse, with four good limbs. I always like a stallion to stamp his stock and I don’t think there was a stallion like him for improving limbs. You could go to a fair and pick the Lahinch horses out by the great set of limbs, great flat bone, forearms and movement. He would float when he’d cover the ground.”

Ring career

Having served his apprenticeship, Michael started his new career in the centre of the ring. “I spent two days judging at Claremorris, ponies all day Saturday, horses all day Sunday with Josie Kerins, from Clare. A great character and very helpful man, so I paid full attention to him during the two days. The following week, I got a letter from Galway County Show, went there, got another letter from Mountbellew and it just took off from there.”

He has since judged All Ireland finals and in all 32 counties, including one weekend when he and the late Brian Wall judged at Finn Valley on Saturday, then drove the length of the country that night to judge at Cork Summer Show the following day. “And then Brian says, we’ll go home now and we did. We got here at 1.30am and he had another 40 miles to go. We were great friends.”

Another great friend is Padraig Fitzpatrick. “Fifty years ago exactly at Mohill Show, he looked down the field and saw this big chesnut mare. That was Springfield Dawn. He was always interested in Draughts, his father always kept good Draughts so he came over to talk. We’ve been friends ever since. I brought him to Castlewellan and that was the start of him judging too.”

Michael was also invited on Irish Draught inspection tours in England and America. “We were flying from one state to another in a private plane. It was a great honour.” As was judging both native breeds at Dublin on three occasions. “I judged Irish Draught stallions, mares and Connemaras there. The Connemara is a small edition of the Irish Draught and that’s what they are.”

Dublin brings us to a familiar name: the late Department stallion inspector Dick Jennings. “He inspected mares in Mohill and invited my mare [Springfield Dawn] to Dublin in 1967. Back then you couldn’t go unless by invitation. “In my time, we may thank Dick Jennings, he was a perfect gentleman and had a great way with people. It was him that picked out Lahinch and knew a horse from his ear to the ground. I think he put the horse industry on the right footing.

“There’s plenty of great knowledgeable people out there. If you don’t know, just ask, people will tell you,” is his parting shot. This keeps Michael Casey busy.

“I’m off tomorrow with someone who’s looking at a foal by Sligo Candy Boy.”

His generation just don’t slow down.