I IGNORED all the weather warnings of Orange and Red, as I left North County Dublin at 7am en route to the West Coast, to the North Galway and Grallagh Harriers joint meet near Tuam, along the N17 made famous by the Saw Doctors. Was it worth it, yes it was. As a West of Ireland immigrant, when I visit, I still wonder at who built the latticework of walls that define the area that gives hunt followers a reason to breed the unique Traditional Irish Hunter who carries them safely on a day’s hunting. The landscape is magnificent, with great viewing of hounds at work with the imposing Castle Hackett in nearby Belclare, with the tower at the base of Knockma Hill and Aille Hill in the background. I remember hunting with the Bermingham and North Galway Foxhounds, when Lady Molly Cusack Smith, described by the artist Augustus John as ‘The Tulip of Tuam and Other Flowers’, and John Pickering were hunting the pack. The late Galway Blazers field master Willie Leahy, before he acquired a truck, hacked his hirelings the 50km from Aille Cross near Loughrea to the meets. It was usually the night before, returning back that evening after the hunt, depending on the weather.

The meet was at hunt chairman Ger O’Brien’s farm and, although they had a bereavement in the family, they very kindly left everything ready and insisted that the hunt went ahead. The horseboxes arrived early, as they were starting an hour before the usual time, so that they could finish earlier to powder and perfume themselves for the hunt ball later at the Raheen Woods Hotel in Athenry.

Field master and show jumper producer Jackie Lee and his 20-year-old hunter Simpson, and Ray Lee were there early, as was joint-master Tom McNamara of Horses in Ireland, who had two trucks of hirelings for Norwegian, English and German visitors, so there was no available hunter for his daughter, Maria, or son, Joseph. They are widely known for their Shanbally prefix and one of their most recent wins was a horse they produced, Shanbally Legacy, a winner at the Horse of the Year Show. We missed Maura Morrin, photographer and artist, who exhibits her work at nearby Ashford Castle.

Jumping country

This is show jumper country, with past stars like Raphael Lee now in the Army Equitation School, Jessica Burke, Gabriel Slattery and up and coming young rising stars of the future like Tadhg Lynch, who won at Cavan recently, Priya (meaning ‘Beloved’ in Hindu mythology) Masterson, the huntsman’s daughter, who has campaigned her pony Zeus to win at Castle Irvine and Headford, winning the Connaught League and even competing at Cavan International Show. Her five-year-old brother, Noah, has also been a winner on his pony Buttons but his favourite sport is rugby and his party piece is doing a rendition of the All Blacks ‘Haka’. Their mother and David’s partner, Paula Cosgrove from Skehana Stables and Livery, was also hunting. But hats off to Kayleigh Dolan, who not alone won at the East Galway Pony Club, but even took her trophy and red rosette to the meet, which delighted the followers.

This was a real traditional Irish lawn meet in Ger’s barn, with straw scattered on the ground, which gave it the feel of a carpet and chairs and tables set up, which relaxed the many visitors that were joining the packs not alone to hunt, but to attend the joint hunt ball later that evening. Local farmers John and Mary Morris, over whose land the hunt were crossing for much of the day, were dispensing hot whiskeys and other savouries.

The North Galway huntsman David Masterson, whose enthusiasm is infectious, welcomed the 60-plus riders and all the foot-followers and thanked the chairman, Ger O’Brien, for allowing the hunt to go ahead without him. David also thanked the farmers in the area and joint-master Tom McNamara, Joe McEvoy and Tom McDonagh and the committee, as he said he could not arrange the great hunting they were having without them. The wall builders, David O’Brien and Luke McManus, who was playing rugby for Tuam against Monivea the following day, were kept busy. He also thanked the Meath Hunt staff, Kenny and John Henry, for their support in giving him hounds from the time he was whipping in to the Ormond and started hunting the North Galway.

Paula Cosgrove crossing country at The North Galway Foxhounds and Grallagh Harriers joint meet at Corrundulla \ Noel Mullins

Followers

The Grallagh Harriers master and huntsman, David Burke, and his joint-masters, Lorraine Burke and John Cantillon, were hunting, as well as Denise Murphy, Brian Ryan and Will Jones, while Frankie Burke was looking very tanned, as he was on a flying visit from Dubai to hunt, while his cousin Declan Burke also whipped-in. The local followers were joint-masters, Michael Lennon and David Myers, who resides in South Carolina and hunts with Epp Wilson of the Belle Meade in Georgia. William Donnellan, based in Vancouver, was unable to be there. Other followers were Brian Flaherty, Chris Corcoran, Mary Murphy, Caitriona O’Shea, Aidan Dolan, Denise Murphy, Martin Kinneavy, Mary Reddington, John Glynn, Ashling McGrath, Alan McNulty, Charlotte Thompson, Celia Lamb (daughter of former The Irish Field editor Valentine Lamb), Joe Clarke, former whipper-in of the Galway Blazers and Bernie Rush, former joint-master of the Roscommon Harriers. Heinrich Jong from Norway, who is an expert on logging with horses using Clydesdales and Swedish Draught Horses, was visiting, as was Siri Martine-Bakken, Antie Coroles and Ulrike Youn from Lower Saxony in Germany. Other visitors were a group from the South Shropshire, David Adams, Fiona Rowlands, Claire Sparrow, Andy Wheals, who makes saddles under the name Spalding International Saddlery, Charlotte Adams, Sam Evans and Sive Dixon.

Hunting

The first draw entailed the 60 followers crossing a nice double stone wall in Morris’ to get to the covert, where the pack had a fox up almost immediately in the hazels. This was a long cover and there was terrific woodland hunting with the pack in fine voice. Meanwhile, field master Jackie Lee took the followers over a series of stone walls by the covert. When the pack marked him to ground, they almost immediately found another that gave them a similar circular rung, so when the pack checked, David lifted them and moved on to Ivan Morris’. As the pack went on to draw in the distance, field master Jackie Lee avoided any gates and took followers on over a series of smashing stone walls, as the pack were hunting hard in the furze. Another draw further on in hunt chairman Ger O’Brien’s farm produced another strong-running customer, with the followers having to cross over some stiff walls running parallel to the covert, as this fellow was also content to run in a circle. Having done enough after an enjoyable day and the hunt ball on later, the huntsman blew for home.

With horses and hounds bedded down in the kennels, the huntsman had organised a bus, which collected followers in Portumna, Ballinasloe and Laurencetown bound for the hunt ball, which wrapped up at 5am, with Tom McNamara still in fine voice entertaining his overseas clients, while former joint-master, Lar Sheeran, and current master, Tony Gannon, lasted the pace also. Joe McEvoy remarked that he can’t dance, or as he puts it; ‘I have the beat, but I don’t have the feet’! The combining of two hunts to maximise the attendance on the night of a hunt ball could be something we will see more of in the future.