IT is something of a break with tradition for The Irish Field to return to a pack for the second time in a season but with hunting frosted off we were given a dispensation to cover one of the last meets before the big freeze.

It was appropriate that the honour should fall to glorious Lattin as it is rightly regarded as one of the premier meets on the Irish hunting calendar.

While most packs are hunting with diminished fields since BC (before Covid!) there were little short of 50 well mounted in Lattin. Ryan’s provided a welcome for visitors and locals alike. The Ryan family have been hunting, farming and pulling pints for longer than anyone can remember and Richard Ryan, a committee member of Scarteen and an auctioneer with GVM, was out and known to be the man to follow when the chips are down if you are properly mounted.

Scarteen have never been ones to linger at the bar and Tuesday was no exception with huntsman and hounds ready for action as the clock struck 11am. Hughie Ryan is really settling in to his task and, in only a couple of weeks, has formed an unbreakable bond with his hounds. He has had a few cracking days since the opening meet and expectations were high for a real proper red letter day, but as all hunting people know, hunting by its nature is always unpredictable.

His brother Michael was having a well-earned rest in some sunny climate after a busy eventing season but Frisk Jones had returned from a very successful sales season with Ballyhimikin Stud. He had his daughter Hannah out with him but when hounds ran, this competent young rider needed no assistance. His 11 and a half couple of traditionally bred Scarteen Black and Tans looked a picture and raring to go

Visitors

There were visitors aplenty, mostly invitees of joint-master Shane Breen of Hickstead who usually brings an entourage with him. His wingman is Michael Condon, who looks after Shane’s hunters in Wexford, and visiting from the UK was Kate Brooks, a daughter of FEI veterinary surgeon Sue Sampier, Jane Milan, and Neil Millard MFH of the Crawley and Horsham.

First draw was right behind the village appropriately enough in Joe Breen’s immaculate dairy farm. The Breen name is no coincidence as he is Shane’s uncle and the family were further represented on foot by Shane’s father, John Breen, and uncle James Breen, who was looked on as one of the outstanding cross-country riders of his day.

Hounds drew along by the bottoms which were blank and they then met the first real Scarteen bank of the day which has only gotten bigger since the last time it was jumped having had a visit from a JCB, deepening and widening the trenches.

As always, field master Val O’Connell on his peerless grey led the field, followed by the joint masters with Jake Murphy, Oliver Ryan-Purcell, Mairead English, and John Hourigan who was out with his daughter Hazel, all of whom who have sportingly joined the mastership to see the hunt through choppy waters.

Not found wanting was the most recent addition to the mastership, Bill Hanly, on the ongoing Mossy. Rising star of the show jumping circuit, young Kian Dore from Stonehall showed he is just as well able to jump banks as Grand Prix fences. Young Harry Clohessy, a son of rugby legend Peter ‘The Claw’ Clohessy, shows all his father’s dash on his foot perfect cob.

Visiting from Louth was Rowena Boyd (Breen, Shane’s sister) who showed all the Breen style and dash over her uncle’s bank. They then drew across the road into Pat Ryan’s farm and, as they left the road to draw a spinney, hounds shot ahead led by first-season home-bred Danger and sure enough as hounds opened up, Reynard popped out the other side and they got a smashing dash over a bit of old country where wire is almost unknown, describing a big circle until the line was foiled by a herd of cattle near the tennis club.

Guided tour

With loads of draw ahead, the huntsman blew up his hounds and crossed the main Tipperary road to draw Liam Ryan’s farm where they had some smashing bank jumping. Hounds found and hunted across the road in to Charlie Moore’s ancestral estate of Mooresfort. They say it has an acre for every day of the year and a covert for every day of the week, plus banks to die for… paradise!

Here, Reynard gave the field a guided tour at speed but of course he knew where he was going and found a welcoming shore near the twig yard.

Giving the field a chance to regroup and gather their breaths, hounds crossed over to Finnan’s reed beds which, unusually, were blank but as they drew on towards Mairead English’s, hounds found in a big high bank which is almost a fox covert in itself. Third-season Lynett had a fox afoot and it was away over some of the biggest and most open bank country to be found.

With going close to top of the ground, horses were absolutely flying, jumping one puissance bank after another with the crack jockeys like Mairead English picking their own line. They ran right through Mairead’s farm yard, but so used are her cattle to the sound of hounds they barely raised their heads from their silage.

They ran for the road where they met some monumental jumping particularly into Richardson’s where Richard Trimble MFH, visiting from the Meath, takes up the story. “The highlight (or challenge) of the day came in the afternoon when I watched the huntsman taking the first part of a huge double, it was difficult to see what was at the other side, you just heard the splashes. When it was my turn to negotiate the first part there was nowhere to rest at the top, I watched Rowena Breen on her fabulous mare skilfully make her decent, gliding safely to the field on the other side. Unfortunately I wasn’t as lucky however not as unlucky as some.

“Niall O’Regan (from Meath) decided to take his own line picking an even worse spot than the rest of us but ended up swinging on a branch before going for a swim. Amazingly, Maisie (Niall’s 12-year-old daughter) on her 13.2hh pony Jet managed to stay in her saddle putting the rest of her travelling companions to shame.”

Empty saddles

The list of empty saddles was a virtual who’s who of the racing and hunting world but happily all came back smiling. The Meath visitors weren’t the only juniors to show up the leading riders as young Hannah Jones and Sarah Ryan made up a great team and really showed up the seniors as they made little of it.

Revelling in the super jumping was Shane on his chesnut Bart (“my life saver”) who never put a foot wrong all day and was never out of the first flight usually tracked closely by Michael Condon. Come January, Shane will have to suspend his hunting as he is taking 19 horses to Dubai but he is hardly likely to meet anything more challenging than Lattin.

Hounds ran on to Casey’s bog before marking in O’Halloran’s where the remaining riders (and there weren’t too many) were treated to a restorative drink and Christmas cake.

Meanwhile, back at Mairead’s as a bedraggled looking bunch of riders and foot followers drifted back, to greet them was a five-star hunt tea with all sorts of good fayre where the thrills and challenges of the day were relived.

It’s great to be back!