Noel Mullins

ALL hunting countries have dividing lines on their hunt maps. For example, there is a lane between the Orange County Hunt and the Piedmont Hunt in Virginia in the USA called Segregation Lane, which is the dividing line between the hunting country of the two packs. It got its name when a former American master of the Westmeath Foxhounds, Harry Worcester-Smith (1911-12), was master of the Orange County Hunt.

And one could say that there are similarities with the road from Killreekle to Tynagh beside Ryan’s Pub in Gurtymadden which is the dividing line between the Galway Blazers and the East Galway Foxhounds. The Blazers hunt westwards, and the East Galways hunt eastwards of Gurtymadden, and the two packs try not to encroach on each other’s hunt country. However, on either side, there is some fine stone wall country.

I have happy memories growing up in nearby Loughrea, unhooking the pony from the milk dray after deliveries were completed, and putting a saddle on him and hacking the 10 miles to meets at Gurtymadden and also Dartfield, now the location of Willie Leahy’s Horse Museum, back before anybody owned a horse trailer. Other memories are of William St George Burke hunting his two Aintree Grand National runners, Uncle Whiskers and Irish Coffee. He was the oldest jockey at the time when, about 65 years of age, to ride his own Irish Coffee in the 1960 Aintree Grand National, while Cathal Finnegan rode Uncle Whiskers. They were both trained on the steep hill on Burke’s estate nearby in Ballydugan and hunted regularly with the Galway Blazers and the East Galway’s.

That tradition of horses and horsemanship goes on to this day with the East Galway’s new joint-master Olive Broderick and her husband Ivor running the busy Kylemore Stud in nearby Kylebrack. They stand a number of jumping stallions including the thoroughbred Watermill Swatch, and the most recent addition Tyson, who was a regular on the Dutch international team and Grand Prix circuit. Olive is a qualified AI technician and they also have semen from the great Irish Draught stallions Huntingfield Rebel and Crosstown Dancer.

Ralph Conroy, who hunted the East Clare Farmers Hounds and whipped into the East Galway’s, was also at the meet. He has coached many young talented riders that have represented Ireland and also 14 riders at European level including Rio hopeful Cathal Daniels, Jessica Burke, Kate, Tim and Paddy MacDonagh from his Milchem Equestrian Centre in Tynagh.

At the meet were Brian Siggons, a former master who is now based in Cork, and Shirley North who whipped into the East Galway’s, and was a former master of the Galway Blazers. An aunt of Galway international show jumper Andrew Bourns, she and her husband John, who live in East Galway, own the Kelly Millar Circus, based in Oklahoma in the USA. It starts touring in the spring through Texas and all the way during the summer through to New Jersey, New York and to the Canadian border. Their daughter Sorcha, better known as having evented many of Lady Anne Hemphill’s Connemara ponies, features with their team of elephants and Shirley herself stars in a mixed animals act of dogs, goats, ponies and even a duck that can do backward somersaults!

Extended break

There was a smaller than usual field as previous cancellations due to flooding, which did not affect the meet at Gurtymadden, caused some followers to take an extended break. However those that turned out were rewarded with a smashing day, no rain, blue skies and some solid stone wall country.

Honorary secretary Kathleen Ward was hunting her new hunter, together with field-master Cathal Gibbons, Cathal Mannion, Dorothy, Rachel and Daniel McAlinden, Marie Dunne and her son Godfrey, Imelda Hobbins, who played camogie for Galway, and Regina Power. Hunt chairman Tom Fahy’s son Thomas was on horseback as was his grandsons Ronan and Thomas, the latter show jumped in the RDS last year.

The first draw was on publican Frank Ryan’s farm on the Killimor road. Local farmer and lifelong supporter of the hunt, Larry Gohery, whose family were all well-known hurlers in the area, was following by car. Hounds found almost immediately in thick briars, where they battled hard to get through, hunting in cover in a few circles before marking to ground. Only 50 yards away was another small clump and there was another customer waiting there but not for long as Dorothy McAlinden tried to mark the fox away by raising her hunting cap. But it had an altercation with her hairnet, so a holler had to satisfy.

The fox did not hang about as he left at speed with Hall’s Wood in the distance. However, he first had to get through Padraic Donoghue’s, Jody Mitchell’s, Frank Donoghue’s and Burns’s before he got there. But he was planning to stay as he circled the wood on a number of occasions, but Malvern, a homebred blue mottle hound, had other plans and there was great music with superb symphonies of woodland hunting before they marked him to ground.

Burns’s Corner was next on the list which is just at a junction in the road. This brought the followers into probably the only double bank country in East Galway. The seasoned hunters made it look easy, but some of the novices took a shortcut getting onto the bank near a boundary without actually jumping onto it, but still had to face what was an unusual obstacle for them. With the huntsman and whipper-in Neville Horsman gone on, field-master Cathal Gibbon’s horse had a cautious few looks at it, but then having worked it out, did the business. Dorothy McAlinden skipped across it as did her daughter Rachel who hopes to qualify her Connemara pony, by Garryhinch Finn, for Dublin. Her brother Daniel, an experienced show jumper who competed on his horse Knockash Gallanta in Dublin, was called to the rescue - like the cavalry - to ride a few across.

With the excitement over, the huntsman drew McGuire’s Furze, and hounds were quick to find again, with the fox leaving left-handed in a circle for Dervans and across Mitchell’s and Hobbin’s and back to the furze and to ground.

With hounds on the move all day up to this, they tried Hobbin’s again and the Dipping Pond which were blank. Next on the list was Combe’s over the hill on the sandbank but surprising it was also blank. But hounds had done enough, and the followers had already crossed some smashing country, so they were ready to finish off proceedings back in Frank Ryan’s which is one of the friendliest hunting pubs in Ireland.

HISTORY

East Galway was originally hunted by Giles Eyre of Eyrecourt from 1791 to 1829, and following that, hunted by the Galway Blazers who loaned that part of the country to the East Galway Hunt in 1891. The flat jockey Walter Swinburn was a former master, as was Charlie Bishop, while Michael Higgens and Galway Blazers master Michael Dempsey hunted the pack, and horse dealer Mylie Cash was honorary whipper-in for many years.

FACTFILE

Chairman: Tom Fahy

Masters: Joseph Cavanagh, Pascal Conroy, Olive Broderick and Michael Brassil

Huntsman: Liam McAlinden

Whipper-in: Alan Briscoe and Neville Horsman

Field-master: Cathal Gibbons