THE South Tyrone Foxhounds meet at Brockagh on the shores of Lough Neagh in County Tyrone could be described as, ‘A Splashing Good Day’, due to the many water-filled trappy drains and rivers in the low-lying areas near the lake in the morning. Indeed, I saw a sign for Washing Bay Wetlands Park early in the day and how appropriate it was.

The South Tyrone is some of the most challenging hunt country, with strong hedges - many imbedded with wire, ditches, drains, gates or rivers, that are all taken as a matter of course in a day’s hunting. But the followers are good riders, some have hunted hounds, others are former jockeys, graduates of the Golden Button and the Ward Antler Challenge and also those that fancy their chances! It is not a hunt country for children, nervous riders or those not mounted on a top hunter. But it’s the way they ride it that makes the difference.

You have small fields, almost no visitors and the country takes some riding when hounds are running. It is easier to mention the riders that stayed in the saddle than to do a roll call of fallers on the day. The survivors were two ladies, Amy Kinane and Saffron Oliver, and the riders of three grey horses, Mark McElroy, Austin Weir and Shane Crabbe. Neil Currie caused the highest splash and came up smiling.

But Joey Moore, all the way from North County Dublin, was in disguise, as he wore a brown hacking jacket to absorb the rich Tyrone brown turf! Joey hosts the Ward Antler Challenge on his farm near Ashbourne that is going ahead next year again.

I travelled with former jockey Paul Kinane, who was field master on the day and his wife Amy. Paul sadly lost his father, Tommy, last month, who many remember winning the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle on Monksfield (1978).

Tommy’s favourite pastime was dancing, and I was a member of a Racing Club of which Tommy was chairman and we travelled all over the world to race meetings. I remember Tommy dancing the Tango so gracefully on the streets of La Bocca in Buenos Aires, Argentina, astonishing the locals with his light steps.

He captivated the Brazilians as he cruised through the Samba in Rio, and we all were impressed as he attempted a belly dance at Sheik Mohammed’s party in the desert, when we went to the Dubai World Cup Racing Festival.

Before we travelled to the racetrack that day, he judged the best hat competition in the Rattlesnake Club, and his comments on every entry were influenced by judging a racehorse on conformation and movement. I leave it to your imaginations! We were racing in Longchamp after his son, Michael, won the Prix de l’Arc on Sea The Stars and Tommy was the toast of the jockey room. I took photos of him on the weighing scales, the photo-finish tower and with his friend, Kieran Fallon, who was riding on the day. The group posed with French trainer Thierry Douman, but my camera was unfortunately stolen from the hotel we were staying in, so I sadly lost everything.

Tommy had contacts everywhere; we were racing in Kempton Park and the following day we had planned to go to Plumpton Races, but it was cancelled because of snow. A quick call by Tommy to Nicky Henderson and very shortly afterwards we were on his gallops and drinking tea and telling tall stories. I was with him on the gallops in Newmarket when Frankel was exercising. Sir Henry Cecil, Sir Mark Prescott and Frankie Dettori all gave Tommy a big wave. He is a huge loss to all his family and friends…

Hunt Staff

Ryan Carvill, the huntsman of the South Tyrone, is at the top of his game. A brave horseman, he has also bred a well-tuned pack of hounds that never disappoint. During the summer, he had a string of successes at The National Hound Show at Stradbally and The Hunting Association of Northern Ireland, winning Champion Doghound, Best Two Couple, Best Entered Couple of Doghounds, and The Unentered Doghound Class. He has bred a litter by Heytrop Ransack ’17 that are already out on walk that he thinks will be the business. He has experienced hunt horses, Nelson, Andy and Pippa, and a three-year-old for visiting other packs.

It is always a pleasure to see how the South Tyrone followers ride this challenging country. The ability to see a stride is important as you meet some of those imposing hedges. Shane Crabbe has two cracking hunters with a huge jump that never take a step back. Paul Kinane was another to observe and approached a single strand of wire sitting a couple of feet off the ground and barely visible.

Other strong cross-country riders were former huntsman Mark McIlroy; Cheltenham winning jockey and fourth in the Golden Button, Jason McKeown; Ian Moore and Austin Weir all made it look easy. The ladies, also known as the ‘Vixens’, Amy Kinane and Saffron Oliver are always to the fore, and Joey Moore, Jordan Parr on Shane Crabbe’s four-year-old, Mark English and Neil Currie also had their moments. But we missed joint masters Andy Oliver and Tony Weir.

Callum Crabbe told me that his father, Shane, had five winners at Dingle Pony Races and over 20 winners for the season. Adam Ferris, a well-known horse producer, had three four-year-olds out the previous week, but you need good riders to make a young horse in this hunt country. His brother, Oliver, is just back for a short holiday from Australia. Others following were Ginge Currie, Charlotte Eaton, Declan Curtis and Rachel Conn.

Huntsman Ryan Carvill with Amy Kinane, Mark McIlroy, Neil Currie and Paul Kinane at the South Tyrone Foxhounds meet at Brockagh \ Noel Mullins

Hunting

The huntsman moved off from Brockagh with 16 and a half couple of bitches along the shores of Lough Neagh to the first draw in Laurence O’Neill’s, which was blank, as was Paddy Donnelly’s. But there was better luck in Tommy Sheppard’s, as hounds screamed away through Coolstones and headed right-handed for Nigel Canavan’s. The pack checked and this was where hunting instinct kicks in, as the huntsman decided to cross the Coalisland Road and cast them on what he felt was the true line, and he was right and hounds accelerated away over the grass.

A trappy single strand of wire, barely two feet off the ground and hardly visible, was judged to perfection by the frontrunners to be then faced by an imposing hedge with wire running through it, so it had to be cleared. One comedian shouted, ‘That will be a good photo on Done Deal’, and another comment, ‘Well you got over most of it’!

When this fox got to Arnold Richardson’s he lay tight as we watched from John Hughes’ yard, where he stables his trotters. His winning French trotter Tyson stood rigid and never moved a muscle by the yard gate, with his eyes fully trained on the hounds in the distance and you just knew he would like to join them. John told me that he was delighted to be featured recently in The Irish Field by Dan Carlin.

Meanwhile, in Richardson’s, they had him moving again and he ran the whole way back to familiar ground in Coolstones yard, where they marked after a cracking run. The field were strung out, some lost their way and others struggled to get out of drains, while more were emptying the water out of their boots. Paul Kinane’s hunter made an uncharacteristic error over a gate and, as Paul was holding his arm recovering, Jason McKeown said he would see him at the hunt the following Thursday - which just shows they don’t do sympathy in South Tyrone!

Neil Currie had a couple of duckings, with one splash going six feet into the air, but he always came up smiling. The going was heavy and, after the followers recovered their breath, the huntsman drew Nigel Canavan’s Valley for Clonoe and they struck a line at The Devil’s Corner behind the Western Group buildings. The pack were away again, but when they checked, the huntsman decided to lift them and blow ‘Going Home’ after an action-packed day.

There were plenty of dirty, wet jackets hacking back to the meet. But these South Tyrone followers are a hardy lot and love their hunting so much that they will spend a few days scraping the mud off, dry them out and be ready for more action the following week.

History

The South Tyrone Foxhounds were reformed in 1960 and hunt South Tyrone, North Monaghan and North Armagh twice a week.

Officers

Chairman - Creighton Boyd

Masters - Andy Oliver and Tony Weir

Huntsman - Ryan Carvill

Whipper-in - Paul Kinane and Shane Crabbe

Countryman - Stan Jones