THE year 1839 was when Moate Show was first held and also when Ireland was hit by the Night of the Big Wind which wreaked havoc in its path. Climate change is either a buzzword or reality, depending on different views, although 181 years later there is no avoiding the impact that weather and other important issues will have on agricultural shows.

Last year, Moate was hit by weather conditions that left the show field resembling the aftermath of an Electric Picnic. Last weekend, the weather forecast was not so great and a poor weather forecast will always impact attendance.

Diehard exhibitors will turn up regardless of weather forecasts, but the reality is agricultural shows depend on the general public for good gate receipts and to keep show accounts in the black.

Moate, like many agricultural shows, is widening its general appeal by providing a wider range of attractions, such as a carriage driving demonstration and last Sunday’s musical magnet in Cliona Hagan who had the crowds jiving away. Its other calling card is its reputation for being regarded as one of the friendliest shows on the circuit, another important trait in attracting footfall.

It’s survival of the fittest time amongst shows and one of the surefire ways to increase footfall is to provide musical entertainment. That begs the questions… are agricultural shows becoming community days out, and that in itself is a very laudable aim, but are livestock and horse classes becoming a fringe attraction at such events?

Into The West: Moate Connemara champion with show secretary Colin Doyle, Fia Guinan and judge Pat Traynor at the Moate Show \ Susan Finnerty

Filly foal final

There was nothing fringe about the feature event last Sunday, the A Browne All-Ireland filly foal final which attracted 17 out of a possible 22 fillies to the midlands show.

It was heartening to see the Browne family once again continue their sponsorship of this championship, part of Horse Sport Ireland’s Breeding Grant initiative, since its original move from Ballinasloe where it once ran under the Bord na gCapall banner.

The best performance graduate from this All-Ireland final is undoubtedly P.J. Hegarty’s Fenya’s Elegance, winner here 20 years ago and the Ricardo Z mare went on to represent Ireland at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy with Aoife Clark.

John McDonnell’s recent winning streak continued when his Vancouver filly Nice Queen completed a Dublin-All-reland double by winning the Moate final.

The midlands have been kind to her Killala owner, who qualified Nice Queen and her Baltic VDL dam CBI Ice Queen at nearby Athlone - and how great it was to see the solidarity between the neighbouring shows with Moate Show committee members helping out at Athlone, back in June and vice versa last Sunday - for the show jumping section of The Irish Field Breeders’ Championship.

Although a great supporter of local shows, 2024 was the first year that their owner stepped up his show ring appearances. Away during the past week in Indiana on business for his employer Fort Wayne Metals, it was up to his able deputies: brother Des and nephew Johnathon to produce the pair for Sunday.

“John is very easy going about showing horses but the aim for the past year was the Breeders’ Championship. The plan was to get Ice Queen in foal, get the foal safely on the ground and the aim then, all going well, was the Breeders’,” said Des, who last year showed neighbour Bridget Devaney’s Emme (bred by John) and her Hardrock VDL foal to both qualify at Athlone and to win the show jumping section of The Irish Field Breeders’ Championship in 2023.

This year’s plan paid off as the pair won at Dublin the previous week, where Nice Queen also won her filly foal class coming in for high praise from the Coote Cup class judges. Sunday’s judges - Liam Cotter and Olaf Kerr - had little hesitation in placing Nice Queen at the top of their preliminary line-up where she remained at the end of judging.

In fact, the top-three were recalled to their original positions with Pat Finn’s FSH Phoebe, a Tyson filly out of the Entertainer mare Oilily and Sinead Fenton’s All Road Z 2000 unnamed filly standing reserve champion and third in the final result. Fenton’s filly and her Mermus R dam Galwaybay Amele were reserve champions to the Mayo winners in the Breeders Championship show jumping section.

Fourth place went to a frequent All- Ireland champion winning owner in Tom Newell’s Kilcahill All Pleasure (Another Pleasure), which also scooped the best-turned-out prize, ahead of Yvonne Pearson’s Madame Trinity (Primary) out of Kief Queen B. In sixth place was Michael Farrell’s traditionally-bred Let The Lion Roar filly foal.

“The plan is to keep her on to be produced by Johnanthon and Sonja [Ochadlik, Johnathon’s wife] who also have the stallion Quattro Cruise, bred by John.”

Nice Queen is the fifth foal and first filly produced by CBI Ice Queen, bred by Aidan Carroll. Her eldest offspring is Daisy Trayson’s five-year-old Tyson gelding Industrial Action, a recent winner of the Millstreet Young Event Horse Discovery final and another promising youngster is the year younger Cassini Candy, owned by Vincent Howley.

Well-placed in last year’s Dublin loose performance final, “He went on well and that’s the reason she [Ice Queen] is back in foal to Sligo Candy Boy this time,” said Des, who previously won All-Ireland finals at Bonniconlon and Roscommon with his own stock.

Clean sweep

The McConnell judging team of Michelle and Megan with Claire Maher and ridden hunter champion Gransha Midnight Magic at the Moate Show \ Susan Finnerty

More champions included a memorable weekend for the father-and-daughter team of Marcus and Emma Donnellan, whose Miss Suileen Bounce (Moylough Bouncer) repeated last year’s Moate championship clean sweep, again winning the Irish Draught mare, broodmare and overall broodmare titles.

“That follows on from our success at Mountbellew Show yesterday where we won champion Irish Draught and champion horse of the show,” said secondary schoolteacher Emma, at her final pre-return-to-classroom show.

That ‘end of term’ feeling is approaching too for judges, including Granard Show secretary Hazel McVeigh, who doubles up as a judge and had Julianne Corrigan’s Harkaway Lionhawk mare Fair Holly, as her reserve Irish Draught champion.

Another Pleasure had four filly foals qualified for this year’s All-Ireland final and the Tullaghansleek Stud sire also produced the champion foal in Moate stalwart Pat Carty’s entry.

Peter King and Louise Cusack judged the youngstock section too, selecting Aidan Daly’s Lambscross Spirit Master as their champion.

By the Hand In Glove thoroughbred sire Templar Spirit, (bred on pure eventing lines being out of a Primitive Rising dam), Daly’s three-year-old is out of the Laughtons Flight- Master Imp mare Lambscross Grá.

“He attended three shows this year, taking two championships at Ossory and Moate and we’re looking forward to next year with him under saddle,” said his Rochfortbridge owner.

Standing reserve was Charles Woollard’s Blue Rose (Cloughill Carlone Blues), also winner of the filly championship as the young horse section, like so many other shows now, is condensed to three age classes for yearlings, two-year-olds and three-year-olds.

She took home the Ennel Bloodstock Cup, provided by the O’Hara family and incidentally, Cyril O’Hara and co-judge Aoife Keogh had a busy day judging the popular working hunter pony classes.

Ridden classes

Smiling In The Rain: IPS judge Shauna Finneran continuing on her grandfather Sean’s legacy at the Moate Show \ Susan Finnerty

The All-Ireland foal final had a supersized ring for the 34 mares and foals, once the completed youngstock and ridden horse classes were completed. Taking the ridden hunter title was Michelle and Megan Connell’s champion choice: Claire Maher’s Gransha Midnight Magic.

“She’s a seven-year-old by the now-deceased Irish Draught stallion Lionswood Kinsale Lad. We only started showing in July this year and won the small hunter and Irish Draught class. We also stood champion hunter in Tullow last weekend,” said Claire, from Mountmellick.

Another championship decided in the adjoining ring was the Connemara championship, judged by Pat Traynor. His winner was Michelle Guinan’s Into The West, or ‘Tayto’, his stable name and nod to Noel Sheridan’s iconic movie.

“He was bred by Parkmore Stables’ Fiona Donohue and Peter O’Connor and is a five-year-old by Western Boy. We were given Tayto to bring on and produce in late July and we just knew he was a little bit special.

“His first ever show was only a fortnight ago in Roscommon where he took overall champion ridden pony. Without hesitation, he then puts his jumping boots on and showed his style over the poles at the National Pony Championships in Mullingar, so today was just the icing on the cake for this super pony.

“We’re from Athlone and Fia, his rider, is 14. She has been riding ponies pretty much before she could walk. She is thrilled to be producing some of Parkmore Stables’ ponies, alongside her own, with the help of her longtime coach and mentor Myles Cash,” said her delighted mother. And not only did they win the Connemara championship but to then take first, second and third in the Connie workers later in the day.”

There was one other Moate championship to be decided and that was the working hunter title, judged by Kevin McGuinness, who had a quick turnaround from judging at Iverk the previous day and co-judge Ciaran Rossiter.

Their champion was Halston Stud’s Bettyspark Shadow, by the prolific Connemara performance stallion Silver Shadow.

No championship to be decided in the pony rings, only rosettes, cups and encouraging words for the next generation by Shauna Finneran, who continues her late grandfather Sean Hardiman’s work in being such a wonderful judge of these classes.

Another of her generation is Ireland’s youngest agricultural show secretary Colin Doyle, also in the middle of returning to the classroom for his north County Dublin teaching post. His organisational skills saw handouts printed off for the All-Ireland finalists as the finalised list didn’t make the catalogue before it went to print.

It has been a tough year for the Moate Show committee but they came through smiling by a chilly Sunday evening. And in a double bonus, show chairman Michael Scott has gained both a son-in-law and show day volunteer this summer in Patrick.

Smiling In The Rain: IPS judge Shauna Finneran continuing on her grandfather Sean’s legacy at the Moate Show \ Susan Finnerty

What lies ahead

Around the era of Moate’s first show was the first recorded use of the word OK (Oll Korrect), first attributed to the Boston Morning Post in 1839. Major changes in both the newspaper industry and agricultural show worlds have happened since and now that the Irish agricultural show calendar starts to wind down for the year, its a good time to start to look at the challenges ahead.

Midlands-North-West MEP Maria Walsh spoke at Moate last Sunday about the importance of community as seen at such shows and there is no doubt that many community events, including agricultural shows, rely heavily on volunteers.

Post-Covid though, that volunteer spirit has dwindled for organisations. Will equine events go the way of professional show teams in America that arrange everything, from setting up rings to providing office crews, but the payoff is in increased entry fees to cover this service?

Prize money partially covering entry fees and expenses is another big ticket item gathered from exhibitors. “€50 first prize? Not worth getting out of bed for!” was one exhibitor’s comment about a recent show.

The funding provided by various Government departments, chiefly Community and Rural Development and Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been rightly described as a lifeline by shows.

It certainly provides a financial buffer although Irish Shows Association president Raymond Brady, present at Moate, said he would also like for a portion of the funds to be used by shows to develop and expand shows.

Moate is one example of a show that has been hampered by the weather for the past two years and all-weather arenas and equestrian centres are becoming increasingly popular venues for shows.

Brady was adamant though that nothing quite replaces or benefits a town or community more by hosting a show within the locality. “It’s the individuality, the history and the specific location of a show that makes it special.”

One sign of such benefits was evident by the amount of pre and post-show business for the nearby Browne’s filling station and Grand Hotel in Moate.

Grand and okay are often lukewarm adjectives, there is nothing lukewarm though about Moate’s determination to keep going.

Moate Show committee members Pairic McNeill and chairman Michael Scott with Maria Walsh MEP \ Susan Finnerty