Busy Time for Irish Equestrian Sports!

These next two weeks are surely the most exciting for any equestrian enthusiast in Ireland. The Galway Races (July 27th - August 2nd) kicked off yesterday at Ballybrit and launched Galway City into into its busiest week of the year. And next week we have the Dublin Horse Show (August 5th - 9th) in the RDS. This year I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to both so I'm hitting the road for Galway tomorrow morning to make the first race of the day at 1.50pm (tomorrow's feature race is the William Hill Galway Plate and 4.25pm).

Then next week we're offered a few day's grace after the last race of the festival in Galway until the doors of the RDS open at 9am on Wednesday morning. If you're planning on coming along over the course of the 5-day show be sure to drop by the Discover Ireland stand (D1) right inside the entrance to the Main Hall of the RDS. With food tasting, demonstrations, live music face-painting and much more happening each its the right place to start your Horse Show journey! And we have a competition running each day on the stand to win one of 5 activity breaks around Ireland. Enjoy the show!

Great publicity for the Killarney Riding Stables

As you can imagine, an important part of being a successful equestrian tourism centre is generating positive publicity for it where you can and getting the good word out there not only about you and your centre, but about the area in which you live. Well when it comes to publicity there's no better man than Donie O'Sullivan at the Killarney Riding Stables in Kerry.

Not only was Donie and his world famous stables featured on Fáilte Ireland's Master's Apprentice series earlier this year on RTE 1, but following a visit by a German TV crew a couple of months ago, their adventure with Donie on the Ring of Kerry will be broadcast on German television (ARD) on a program called “Ratgeber Reise” this coming Sunday, July 26th. Now I realise that many of you do not have access to German television, nor I expect, do many of you speak fluent German, but if you do you should take a look or watch it online on www.daserste.de/ratgeber/reise_default.asp.

Renowned Horse Whisperer coming to Ireland

Derek O'Byrne-White of Cochise Stud is bringing the renowned horse whisperer Franklin Levinson to Ireland from August 23rd to 29th. Mr. Levinson will be giving a presentation at the Game and Country Fair at Birr Castle and Demesne in Offaly on the 22nd and 23rd. He will then be travelling to Cochise Stud on the 24th and 25th, Coolmine Equestrian Centre in Saggart on the 27th and Lonesome Dove Ranch in Cliffony, Sligo on the 29th.

This is a great opportunity to see one of the finest horse whisperers of our time in action. You can find out more at http://www.wayofthehorse.org/ or http://www.cochisestud.com/.

See the world - walk a donkey!

Have you ever lay in bed hitting the snooze button ever 5 minutes for over an hour to avoid going to work, dreaming about your perfect holiday? Me too. Has that holiday ever involved a donkey? Me neither. But believe or not donkey-walking holidays are becoming more and more popular in Ireland!

I was back West a few days ago visiting some equestrian centres I hadn't been to before but heard a lot about. I ended up going for coffee with Bertie Cummins from An Sibin equestrian centre in Whitegate, near Mountshannon in Clare. Bertie runs the Galway Clare Burren Trail and we somehow got talking about donkeys - probably because my dad has a couple at home in Mayo and managed to breed two foals last year. Donkey foals are pretty cute but apart from their aesthetics, their role in Irish life has lessened in importance over the decades.

I told Bertie I had heard that Mary and Hans Clissmann in Wicklow, who run Clissmann Horse Caravans, have started Donkey Walking holidays and it was proving pretty popular, particularly with German guests. A visitor can rent a donkey for a week, load it up with luggage and what not and lead it lazily over the Wicklow Way, staying at different B&Bs every night. It turns out Bertie has been doing the same thing for years! How had I never heard about this, surely the most unique walking experience this country has to offer? Its not hard to see the appeal. A real 'get away from it all,' across Ireland's green hills with a trusted friend.