IRELAND’s iconic donkeys always prove a crowd-pleaser when showcased at the Dublin Horse Show and once again a spectacular display of donkeys and carriages is set to take centre stage at the RDS showgrounds on Sunday, August 13th.

The first chance to see the donkey display will be in the Main Arena just after 2.30pm with a parade of donkeys, big and small, as well as horse drawn carriages before the grandstands.

A large crowd also traditionally gathers around Ring 1 on the Sunday afternoon of the show, this year starting at 4.45pm, to see the colourful IDS display which often features a relevant theme.

On a mission

Last year, the Irish Donkey Society, chaired by Alistair Graham, celebrated its golden jubilee, having been formed in 1972 by a group of donkey owners, brought together by the late Lady Averil Swinfen of The Donkey Stud Farm at Spanish Point, Clare.

The mission of the Society, which is a registered charity, is to preserve and protect these wonderful passive equines, improve their status and show people what donkeys can do with some training for leisure and enjoyment purposes. Always open to new members, you can join and support their work for as little as a €25 annual family membership fee.

Due to mechanisation, the number of donkeys in Ireland has fallen dramatically over the last 150 years.

In the 1880s, there were 250,000 working donkeys on Irish farms nationwide but by the end of WWII in 1945, that number had fallen to below 130,000.

Today, there is an estimated 7,000 donkeys and mules with fewer than 5,000 breeding females left in Ireland today.

Good day out

Based in Liscarroll, Co Cork, the Irish Donkey Sanctuary and The Donkey Sanctuary, located in Belfast, are two of Ireland’s best known and respected donkey sanctuaries.

It’s always a very pleasant day out to visit either sanctuary and learn about the care and welfare of a gentle animal that played such a pivotal role in daily Irish farm life, history and forklore over centuries past.