Memories of the Miami Valley Hunt (MVH) Fox Hunting Trip to Ireland
November 5-14th 2010

PLANNING THE TRIP
A fox hunting trip to County Galway Ireland was in the planning stages by Donna and Mark Masters well over a year before it happened. They persisted in keeping the dream alive by sending out potential itineraries, cost estimates and dates. Ten MVH members expressed intentions to go: Donna and Mark Masters, Jane and Devon Jacobs, Mac and Mary Alice McFarland, Diedre Koik, Pat Slusser and Linda and John McKean.
At the MVH Christmas Party in December 2009, I volunteered to help Donna with the arrangements. As luck would have it, I found a B&B, Craig Country House, right in Galway hunt country that had a 5 star review on Trip Advisor and was rated the top B&B in the area. I also learned by reading guest reviews that it was owned by the huntsman of the Galway Blazers, Tom Dempsey and his wife, Mairead. I was so excited…could we really be that lucky to stay with the huntsman’s family? I emailed Mairead the end of December and booked all 5 guest rooms with en suite bathrooms. With lodging arrangements finished, we could now focus on deciding which hunts to visit as there were many within easy driving distance of our B&B.
(http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g211935-d664642-Reviews-Craig_Country_House-Loughrea_County_Galway_Western_Ireland.html). Country Craig House (CCH) http://www.craigcountryhouse.com/

LIFE HAPPENS – MVH GROUP OF 10 SHRINKS TO 4
After booking our B&B, we had a long 11 month wait and life began to impact our plans. The first accident impacted Pat Slusser. Pat was whipping at a hunt and galloping through the trees when she got tangled in a grape vine and yanked off her horse. While recovering from this fall, she had yet another when her horse stumbled and broke her collar bone. This fall grounded her riding for 12-16 months. That was the end of Ireland for Pat.
The next accident strikes Mark Masters in May. As he’s mounting one of their horses the horse breaks out bucking and Mark hits the ground and shatters his ankle. Mark was unable to ride most of the summer but he recovered in time to go to Ireland.
Mac and Mary Alice McFarland begin looking after Mac’s mother as she’s in her mid-nineties so they regretfully cancel. Diedre Koik, our huntsman, opts out of going to Ireland unless the economy gets better. Unfortunately, the economy doesn’t get better.
In July, the three remaining couples (the Masters, Jacobs and McKeans) book airfare and begin counting the days until we leave. We make plans for hunts, hirelings and sight seeing. With all this planning, the reality of fox hunting in Ireland starts to hit home. We’re all thinking about jumping those stone walls and wondering whether or not we have what it takes to do this safely. Donna and I attended the Camargo Hunt Jump Clinic in July and got some great tips from Janice Holmes on how to jump stone walls safely in Ireland. John also took a couple lessons from Janice in order to get better prepared for the ditches and banks at Scarteen.
Jane Jacobs spent the summer wrestling with health issues until surgery was her only option. Following surgery she was recovering nicely and still planning to go to Ireland but a week before the trip she was hospitalized for complications. That ended the trip for Jane and Devon.
I expected to get covered in Irish mud every hunt so prepared by bringing lots of clothes. With the help of my generous fox hunting friends, Pam Grusz and Candy Carlson, I borrowed a few things to be totally well prepared. Candy loaned me her beautiful and warm “Melton Frock Coat” and Pam let me use her heavy duty won’t-ever-fail-you hairnet. I was ready!!!

It’s less than week before we depart we we’re down to 4 PEOPLE…..we’re beginning to wonder WHO WILL MAKE IT ALL THE WAY TO IRELAND?
IRELAND

You can see all the video and pics from the trip at the following link on Miami Valley Hunt’s website: http://mvhunt.net/intl2010ireland.htm
DAY 1 - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6H
Our Delta flight from JFK touched down in Shannon about 40 minutes early (approx. 7:30 AM). We breezed through customs and headed for our rental cars. We had a rainbow to welcome us (see pic below). This was just one of many double and single rainbows we saw on the trip. Below is a pic of Donna and Mark in their car. Donna is intent on setting up the GPS directions and Mark is getting ready for driving on the “other side”. If driving in Ireland I recommend four things: a GPS, a small car, a driver with good distance judgment for the small roads and an automatic so you have less to think about if you’re hesitant to drive over on the “wrong side of the road”.

We arrive around 10:00 AM at Craig Country House (CCH) near the village of Craughwell without incident other than a couple of wrong turns due to construction. Four adorable Jack Russells greet us in the driveway. We are warmly welcomed at the door by Kitty, Mairead’s mother. The home is gorgeous and well-accented with hunting memorabilia. Kitty directs us to our rooms which are on the second floor and Mairead invites us to tea in the kitchen. At tea, we meet Tom’s Aunt, Angela, who is a delightful Catholic nun who is staying at the CCH while she recovers from shoulder surgery. We also meet Tom and his daughter Katie as they get ready for the day’s hunt Tea is served with Irish brown bread and toast and jelly. This really hit the spot.

We learn that Tom and Mairead built the house about 5 years ago on property that had been in his family. Prior to CCH, Mairead had a successful B&B business near Bunratty Castle. CCH sits on about 30 acres, some of it fenced where young horses owned by Tom’s father graze. They also have chickens for fresh morning eggs and 4 jack russells that look after the chickens and keep the foxes at bay.


FLOWERHILL EQUESTRIAN CENTER http://www.flowerhill.net/
On our day of arrival, we had plans to exercise hounds with Oliver Walsh, huntsman for County Roscommon Hunt and owner of a Flower Hill Equestrian Center. Riding out with his hounds was a nice warm up before we went to the hunt field. Flowerhill is a beautiful equestrian holiday estate offering a cross country course, 250 acres of riding, and horses for hire. The horses are Irish Draught crosses and have a reputation of being great jumpers. Oliver’s house is amazing, by our standards it’s a mansion. His land is beautiful with some gently rolling hills and a small river.
Once arriving at Flowerhill, we quickly mounted our horses: Peter Pan (Donna), Mr. Fox (Mark), Ivory (John) and Latte (Linda). Directions were to follow Oliver and the hounds if we didn’t want to jump or to follow Michelle who was acting as the Field Master if we wanted to jump. Donna opted to go with Oliver and the hounds so she didn’t have to jump but John and Mark called her back because they thought she was supposed to stay behind the field master. That put Donna very shortly on a line heading for some jumps and Peter Pan was more than willing to “FLY” over them. He had a career as a prelim jumper and he was ready to show Donna just how HE DOES IT! Shortly after we broke into a canter and started heading out over a few jumps, Donna opted to take Peter Pan back to his “Castle” as he was very forward and ready for some fun!!
That left the 3 of us to follow Michelle around some jumps in the vicinity of where Oliver was working the hounds with his whips. We rode for about an hour. The jumps were very inviting. After our ride we were invited into Oliver’s house for tea. We had good conversation and discussed hunting and horses. I highly recommend visiting Flowerhill to experience their inviting jumps and great horses. If I returned to Ireland for more hunting, I would spend more time here enjoying the jumps and getting lessons to improve my jumping over stone walls.
Below are two you tube links from John’s helmet cam showing our ride around Flowerhill. The pics are of hunt horses in the stables, Oliver Walsh, and Donna and Mark relaxing over tea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNL9IxnrIoY – Flowerhill Hound Exercise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBARtp4Ibu8 – Flowerhill Jumping
We head back to CCH. Two new guests arrived, two ladies from Dublin who were in the area to celebrate a local birthday. The wine flowed before dinner, and we were all ready to eat when dinner was served. We had a beautiful dinner prepared by Mairead and Tom. The starter was a delicious cucumber and shrimp salad, the main course was a delicious roast with two types of potatoes, vegetables, and two dessert choices. The conversation was lively and fun, and there were lots of good jokes and story telling. We practiced our Irish accents and the Irish practiced their “American”. We were exhausted and retired shortly after dinner. Below are some pics from dinner including a bottle of Buckfast which according to Tom and Mairead is the secret to keeping Kitty and Angela so s