TRAVELLING to the lawn meet of the East Down Foxhounds at joint-master Donna Quail’s at Ballee, I first visited joint-master Pat Turley at his farm on Downpatrick Racecourse.

His son David is a vet and Andrew will qualify shortly. There he produces Kingsfield Haylage and breeds flat horses. It was time to catch up with his son Patrick who I have known since he was a child hunting with the pack, to see his stable of four-year-old point-to-pointers. He was a useful rider before he started training.

Since I was last on the Turley farm, they have built some excellent facilities, an American barn, a 2 ½ furlong Wexford sand gallop, horse walkers, sand manage and a carpet fibre jumping strip to attract new owners. Everything is so well thought out, and no expense is spared and Patrick is having one of his best years so far.

His riders Declan Lavery, Phillipa Baird and Molly Evans were just returning from riding out the last lots and were on their way to Craig Bryson’s gallops with another lot. Molly is also an event rider and will campaign her four-star eventer Wellyn Graffiti this season.

The meet

Joint-master Donna Quail and her husband Brian and Donna’s sister Gail entertained the followers, but I was fascinated at the number of photos, by racing photographer Pat Healy, on the walls of Donna’s house as some of her horses in training have had their share of success. Horses like John Adams, and Arakhan - as Donna’s daughter Toni is attached to Sam Curling’s stable - and is on the winning lady riders table on the point-to-point circuit. Toni, who is also an event rider, brought down a horse named Patrickswell by Mount Nelson to campaign as well as the other rides she gets.

Mounted and ready to hunt were joint-masters Pat Turley and Donna Quail, Francis Turley who flew in from London, John Rafferty and his daughter Emma Byrne and Judith Evans. I missed farmer Willie McDowell as he was in the middle of lambing and former master Craig Cavan who was out with a cold.

Huntsman Declan Feeney is one of the best handlers of hounds that I have seen as he can hunt the pack more often without a whipper-in. On leaving the kennels, hounds are trained to wait at the open gate before he gives them the command to load onto the truck. He managed 17 ½ couple with no panic and hounds trust him completely.

Approaching a covert, he walks down the field and they hold up around his horse waiting for the command to go in and draw, and when he calls them out to move on, they leave the covert.

Declan is the consummate professional. His hunter is a former three-star 17.2hh eventer named Harley, previously owned by event rider Declan Cullen. Declan said of him: “He would throw his toys out of the pram when it came to dressage.” He had to give up bringing Harley to steward at their two point-to-points in Tyrella as when Harley discovered it was a point-to-point and that he was not going hunting, he kicked up a fuss! In the summer, Declan likes to show his donkeys Camilla and Maud, and he has a range of donkey farm implements and carriages that he uses in displays.

Whipping-in is Brian Toner who knows the country like the back of his hand. He spends much of the year away, training his horses who appear in the horse scenes and stunts in films like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, House of Aragon, and he may be doing a new Gladiator film to be filmed shortly. Brian also likes to produce ponies for competition.

Hunting

Hounds moved off from Donna Quail’s to the first draw in Hugh Porter’s. As the huntsman walked down to the bog, he stopped and hounds stood still beside his horse, waiting for the command to go into the covert. Casting themselves to the huntsman’s voice, they soon found the first fox of the day. They hunted back and forward around the covert but he eventually decided to leave, disappearing through the trees and way over the hill out of sight. A huge ditch, the first of the day, caused a few problems, but the huntsman and followers found hounds marking to ground on the side of a bank further on.

Moving on to Ryan Carr’s, they found again and they swung left-handed crossing the Downpatrick to Ardglass road and on through Jimmy Porter’s and crossed the bog at the back. However as they were heading into unplanned country, to avoid any problems, the huntsman stopped the pack.

They re-crossed the main Ardglass road back into Porter’s and on through Carr’s across Dillon road where they jumped a series of drains. Shrule Mountains was next which is a huge hill covert in Jim McEvoy of Ballyward, who produces showjumpers. He had a number of young stock in the fields who were fascinated by the hounds and followers.

Impressive sight

There is a series of stone buildings beside the hill which are an impressive sight. They are popular with visitors as well-known stone built wells and bathhouses that date to Pre-Christian times. I asked Declan who used these old bathhouses and with the intelligent look of a history scholar, he replied, ‘Clean people’! There is a men’s bathhouse, a women’s bathhouse and other wells that are said to have cures for eye, ears and other problems.

Saint Patrick’s Hill, also known as Saul, can be seen in the distance with a statue of the saint carved from Ballymagreekan granite, and interestingly, the East Down hunt collar is Saint Patrick’s blue. Boyd Taggard of the Department of Communities was painting the gates and railings and whipper-in Brian Toner, who is a stone mason, informed me that he did most of the repair stonework on the crumbling buildings.

As the huntsman was drawing, one hound skirted and the huntsman shouted out to him, ‘You behave yourself or you will go back to West Wicklow where you came from’, and the hound obviously not wanting to go back south, immediately did what he was told!

Hounds found nearby in the thick gorse and we got a great view of a smashing healthy and well fed fox as he passed us. He then decided to run the length of the huge covert and back onto the hill as locals Sarah, Aoife and Gail Gilchrist took a break from farming duties and followed on their Gator.

This fox took the pack over the hill but then decided he wasn’t heading into open country and was content to do increasing circles of the hill and to ground.

Paul Turley’s was blank but the fodder beet in Noel Porter’s held and the pack had a short spin on him and to ground. Toss Bohill’s Bog, George Hamilton’s Cheany Bank and the Strands Bog were blank so at Ballina Cross, after a very pleasant day in the most scenic and historic places in Co Down, the huntsman blew for home.

Back at Ballee, joint-master Donna Quail and her husband Brian made sure everybody went home suitably fortified.