How many on here have hunted in Ireland?
Was it worth it?
Where you experienced in fox hunting before going?
If not tell me what you thought?
If so tell me if you think it would be something that a very experienced rider would feel safe doing?
I have the chance to go and give it a try, it is on my bucket list and I want to do it so bad but not sure if it would be a good idea as I have never hunted before. I have evented, done hunter paces and rode out in large groups. Help me decide.
I went a few years back with Hunterâs Rest and one of her clients. We had very different levels of fitness and experience, and we all survived just fine. I had only hunted in VA a couple of times prior, and it had been years since I rode cross-country regularly or galloped for any length of time. I hardly ever jump nowadays, so I took a few lessons just to get my eye back before we went. Ages ago I used to event my TB, and I started babies for the track so I had dim memories on how to survive. I actually rode far better in Ireland than I had since college- the muscle memory definitely came through along with the survival instinct. Heh.
I will admit to swearing quite a bit under my breath at the bigger jumps though! :lol:
Go for it. The Irish horses know what theyâre doing- just sit back and kick on and enjoy the experience. Youâll be aghast at both the footing and the fences- but they go out hunting all the time and know how to handle it all. It is absolutely something you should do if you have the chance.
I will second above ^^ re the Irish horses.
Went 15ish years ago, in my 40âs with some friends. Iâd done lots of trail riding and jumping in the ring, but never hunted. Friends were experienced.
We rode w/ the Galway Blazers, horses provided by Willie Leahy. (Google him for info) Hunts were Tues/Thurs/Sat. On the off days, WL or his sons took on long cross country rides, and one day to an eventing course where we played with the jumps. They came to dinner with most nights.
I had a fabulous time, havenât hunted since because it can never be that goodâŠThere were some things that Iâm not sure I would jump now, but then I just grabbed mane and thought about the next flask that would get passed around.
Did another wonderful vacation in Ireland, an inn to inn ride in Connemara. It is a special place in a country that has great people who love their wonderful horses. They also like their Whiskey! The food on both trips was really good.
GO. Definitely. You will be fine given your riding experience. You will love it.
Also, if you are familiar with some of the âstuffinessâ of US hunt traditions, it all pretty much goes out the window over there. They had maybe 60 or so people hunting, you can ride near the front, or towards the back, there is lots of joking and passing the flask, the farmers can ride along in farm clothes; all we needed to wear was a dark coat and boots. The master and other important people do not act like important people. Those of us who needed to pee in the course of the long day handed over our horse and went behind a stone wall. Did I mention that they start at a pub, 10 am with a hot whiskey?
Seconded and thirded the above.
I started foxhunting in Ireland. Many of the hunting outfitters, including Willy, cater to introducing newbies to foxhunting.
I survived my first hunt with Sligo Hunt, then on the second hunt with North Galway, was awarded the brush for my first kill. Over the years I ended up hunting with a dozen and a half different Irish hunts. You occasionally fall, but the soft Irish turf saves you, unless you fall on a road like I did once when the horseâs shoes slipped. That smarted.
I tell people itâs like falling through the TV screen into a BBC production. Itâs that awesome. It actually came literally true for me back in 2005 when the Hunt ban happened in Britain, I was out hunting with Avon Vale hunt on the first day of the ban, part of the âAmericans showing support for the British huntersâ contingent, and got interviewed repeatedly by the BBC doing their Hunt Ban TV special.
The main thing is that the hired hunt horses know their business. I survived hunting ditch and bank several times because the horse knew what he was doing. I just grabbed mane, sat deep in two point, and enjoyed the spectacle of watching my life pass before my eyes several times an hourâŠ
There is a narrow intersection of having enough money to go (advanced age) and having enough gonads to go (younger age)!
I barely made it when Cammie and I went a few years ago.
Was it great?
Yes!
Would I do (that exact hunt/that exact thing) again?
Probably not.
I would definitely go back for the same (highest level of) instruction and hacking and fun and frolic; I might even hunt but would request to ride âin the backâ so I didnât get caught up in the âtrying to win the huntâ thrusters group again.
Then there is Castle Leslie (Lesley) to check out.
Yes!! Iâve done it 3 times now. Itâs an eye opener for sure - you will go through footing at a gallop you wouldnât walk through in the states, and jump things that we wouldnât even consider. But the horses know their jobs.
If you are near Galway, I would recommend Oliver Walsh and Flower Hill. The person I went with no longer runs his business but I have seen Oliver and his staff and horses and the clients all seem to have a good time and come home in one piece.
You do need to be brave (crazy?) and have some warm clothes. Itâs cold and wet a lot of the time. But it is a wonderful experience.
My first ever hunt was in Ireland, with Limerick. It was a blast, and Iâd do it again in a heartbeat. I did learn that sometimes it was a good idea to grab mane, close my eyes and trust my horse. OhâŠand watch for tree limbs on the other side of those banks. 
I went in 2014. Fabulous. Iâd been XC riding in Ireland two times before at 7 different facilities, so I knew the wonderful horses would cart me safely from start to finish, but 2014 was my first hunt. (I was 61). I went to Flower Hill with Oliver Walsh. He does this weekend blast idea with lots of people from Europe. Arrive Friday, ride out to prove you can keep a leg on each side, hunt Saturday on horse 1, and Sunday on horse 2, then depart Monday.
I had forgotten all about grabbing mane, so I did come off, but none the worse for wear and everyone was very kind.
If you think hunting might be a touch too much for this first trip, go XC jumping instead. You have to find slightly different places â riding schools rather than hunt outfitters â but they dot the countryside. I thought it was a good start.
But then you DO have to go back later to fulfill that actual bucket list!
Update - Our trip to Ireland is booked and I am going fox hunting while there. I am so looking forward to it and also a little queasy at the same time. I am sure I will come back with major stories. Now just need to find the right mix for my flask. :winkgrin:
We have gone each of the past 3 seasons to hunt in Ireland. We have been out with the Co. Meath, the Limerick, the Co. Clare, the Stonehall Harriers, and the Galway Blazers. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ireland, and the horses are superb!
That being said, if you are doing west coast stonewall country, it is best NOT to hunt there before mid/late Nov, and Dec/Jan are the best months. They do not have cubbing like we do here or in G.B., so Opening Meet is truly the horseâs first time out for the season, and most arenât as fit as they need to be.
(And if you need trustworthy hireling contacts for counties Galway, Clare, etc., feel free to PM me).
I personally prefer stonewalls to ditches, but certainly I know many who are the opposite. The walls/hedges can get very large â as can the drains â so you have to have a good bit of courage to hunt in the country (either natural or the liquid variety!).
[QUOTE=SidesaddleRider;8840992]
I personally prefer stonewalls to ditches, but certainly I know many who are the opposite. The walls/hedges can get very large â as can the drains â so you have to have a good bit of courage to hunt in the country (either natural or the liquid variety!).[/QUOTE]
Ha ha!! Last winter when I went out the first fence was a 3â6" stone wall. The second was a 3 '6" stone wall that was also WIDE. Weâd trotted down the road from the set off, and into the field - so really not much warm up. While waiting our turn, I overheard one of the members say âwell, nothing like starting off with the big stuff!â And I realized how huge the wall was. I had a moment as I galloped toward it where I hoped the hot port I had consumed earlier was going to give me courage without making me wobbly and fall off!
Trooper lived up to his name and carried me right over to the other side.
After those 2 walls though? The rest of the jumping was actually rather small.
Have a great time and report back!
Resurrecting this thread to askâŠany agencies recommended to book a trip for two horse crazy former eventer girls and their limited riding ability significant menfolk? Ideally a lovely accommodation with sporting pursuits for the boysâŠboth are able to hilltop but us girls want neither to be limited or excluding!
Iâm heading out tomorrow morning for a seven-day trip hunting with three fellow fox hunters (2 from Ky, 1 from VA). Weâre all 1st Field riders or Staff with our hunts mounted on nice athletic horses, so we feel up to whatever comes our way.
We are staying at the Dunraven Arms in Adare and Louis Murphy is arranging our horses with the hunts weâve selected (Golden Vale, Tipps, Scarteen, Blazers). Weâll hunt every other day and there are plenty of things to do on the âoffâ days. Weâre doing a falconry/hawk walk experience and plan to visit the Cliffs of Moher and a few other sites.
FlyHaff, you could easily do a similar trip and work with Louis to arrange everything. He makes it very turnkey. The Dunraven is a beautiful hotel with rates that include breakfast and dinner (after a day of hunting, dining at the hotel is ideal). Adare is a beautiful village in the southwest of Ireland with access to many great hunts.
@BigMick Itâs been my dream to go there with my family. We somewhat hunt together (My daughters actually) and Ireland is definitely in our top 3 places to go. I think weâll be planning for it this year or early next year. You must share your pics when you get back (Iâm assuming you are by now). Cheers and looking forward to some fun stories.
I just canât get over all those videos of a crowds watching rider after rider crash and burn through those ditches.
My hunting trip to Ireland was EPIC! I cannot say enough how much I loved it and cannot wait to get back.
As mentioned above, we stayed in Adare at the Dunraven Arms hotel which is just about as nice as you could hope for. My room was lovely and the rate (~165 euro/night) included breakfast and dinner. Louis Murphy and staff were so accommodating and made sure our trip was memorable.
While we had originally planned to go out with those hunts I listed in my previous post, Louis advised of some changes based on fixtures and availability of horses. Since he does this for a living, we trusted him and went with whatever he recommended. We were not disappointed.
Our first hunt was with Co. Clare at Fanore, a beautiful village situated on the Galway Bay. Our hunt took place up the mountain side above Fanore, and then down below along the coast and through a patchwork of fields separated by stone walls. The day was unseasonably warm and sunny and quite honestly I thought Iâd die from sensory overload because it was just stunning. My horse, Jumble, was great. At first I thought his jumping style a bit unorthodox (he landed with his head way down, so I rode every wall like a drop fence) until I realize that smart boy was looking for stones that had fallen as preceding horses had knocked them loose. He was brave, sure-footed, and never missed beat even when we jumped a farm gate directly onto the road with a hard left turn then a hard right turn back up a stone bank into a field. We ended the day by swimming the horses out in the Galway Bay and then had hot whiskeys at the pub. At the end of the day, I pretty much proposed marriage to the horse and offered him a home in the US if he wanted it.
Our second hunt was with the Scarteen in Elton. Here was our first taste of ditch and bank country. I was nervous and popped a few Tums on the way. The pub wasnât open on a Tuesday morning, so I hit my flask a few times. Then, I met my horse - Rocky. He was a 16.2H gray Irish Draught, smartly turned out, and raring to go. This sensitive boy appreciated that I let him do the driving and tackled the ditches and banks like heâd done it forever (it was his second season hunting). He was probably the best-schooled and most finely tuned horse of the week. At one point my stirrup leather broke. I was able to pull him up easily and his owner, who was also riding, was right there to save the day. After a quick âpitâ I was back on and easily rejoined the field as they had reversed and came back our way. What luck! We also jumped a giant log (about Prelim height). On the way to it I prayed he knew how to jump actual things in addition to ditches and banks. Not to worry, he jumped great. It had a drop landing and some sticky footing on far side, but I stuck the landing and we went on for four hours. Never once did I feel like I couldnât handle what was in front of me. At the end of the day, I pretty much proposed marriage to the horse and offered him a home in the US if he wanted it.
Our third hunt was with the Tipps in Lismoylin. My horse for the day was Maxi Cob from Gowran Hunt Horses named Top Hat. Like Rocky, he was a pro and I learned later, quite the celebrity. He was fifth in the Maxi Cob division at the Dublin Show in â15 and one of their best horses (Thank you, Louis Murphy!) We got on famously as I employed my same strategy of letting him do the driving and I focused on staying out of his way and grabbing the Jaysus Strap as needed (his mane was hogged.) At one point, we had to jump onto a massive bank, push through thorny branches and off the other side (at least 6â drop). At the top of the bank, before the leap I saw the kid and pony before me had parted ways. Great. But I kicked on and hoped for the best. On the landing, I lost my stirrup, and was madly trying to recover it while Top Hat galloped on. I tried to pull him up to fix it, but he was like âdonât tell me how to live my life, lady.â So I quietly thanked No-Stirrup November for my ability to stay on while he galloped on. He stopped when we caught up to the field. This continued on for about four hours and then we were frozen and hacked in (the rest of the hunt went on for two more hours). At the end of the day, I pretty much proposed marriage to the horse and offered him a home in the US if he wanted it.
Our last day out was with Co. Limerick hunting at Athlacca. My horse for the day was Rambo. Like the others, he was a consummate professional who tackled all the double ditches, and drains like a rock star. Somewhere on the Tally Ho Facebook group page is a video from that hunt showing us jumping a crazy double ditch with one heck of a drop. We had every bit of weather that day from sun to rain and saw a beautiful rainbow as well. After five hours the hunt was over and we hacked in. We finished the day by swimming the horses in a creek. Honestly, that terrified me more than anything I jumped the whole week. What if Rambo decided to take a real swim? My phone! My boots! Ack. He was perfect of course. At the end, I asked the hireling how old Rambo was and he said âabout 9â. I checked his teeth. More like 19. I pretty much proposed marriage to the horse and offered him a home in the US if he wanted it.
As for the poster above (and many others) who express concerns about the crashes - I can tell you that I saw very, very little of that. But when a mishap does happen, everyone just gets up, gets on, and kicks on. Everyoneâs fine! Itâs part of it and youâre number is likely to come up. But if the horses were traumatized by it, they wouldnât do the job. And Iâm telling you, they do it with gusto. Same for the riders. Social media does NOT tell the entire story.
The biggest differences between hunting in the U.S. versus hunting in Ireland:
I highly recommend hunting in Ireland. Iâm not a super star rider by any means. The highest level Iâve evented is Training and I have some tools in my toolbox, so to speak. Iâm in my mid-40âs and fairly athletic. Never once did I feel like I couldnât do it. It was different, so kind of scary, but the horses gave me confidence. And the Irish are some of the most incredibly kind and wonderful people Iâve ever met in my life. Laid back, friendly, fun and exceptional horsemen.
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