Homage to the horse and a rural way of life

Lifestyle –  Judy Murphy visits Dartfield Horse and Heritage Centre and finds it to be a hive of equine-based activities

Dartfield Horse and Heritage Centre, a couple of miles outside Loughrea on the Dublin Road is the sort of place where, if you hung around for any length of time, you’d be given a job to do.

The impressive set-up in Kilrickle, which pays homage to Irish horses and ponies, and to a rural way of life that’s now gone, is a social hub. On a busy Friday morning, neighbours drop in for a chat and cup of tea before engaging in tasks that range from cleaning to clay pigeon shooting. Right now, the emphasis is on preparing for a visit from tourism minister Michael Ring, but behind the scenes, stable hands are also preparing ponies for export, because Dartfield is much more than a heritage centre.

Owned by farmer and businessman Willie Leahy, it is also a working farm, one of several in his possession. Willie, who is now in his 70s, has been buying land since he “was 15 years of age” and regards it as the only asset worth having.

He grew up on the other side of Loughrea, at Aille Cross on the Woodford Road, where the family had a 30-acre farm which “I inherited eventually, but I’d bought all over the place before then”.

Sitting at a table in the museum café, with his neighbour Brian nodding in agreement, Willie explains his passion for land.

“There is nothing like land. You could have all the houses in the world, but old houses will fall down. Land is always there. And it is the backbone of everything. Nobody could live without land. People would have no breakfast without it. People forget that, especially in cities. But somebody has to be a farmer.”

That’s a role he is more than happy to fulfil. He is the largest breeder of Connemara ponies in Ireland and owns about 400 horses and ponies according to the museum leaflets, although he is coy about the exact figure. Willie also keeps cattle and sheep on his various holdings.

He is an able herdsman and horse dealer, and even as a child, had a good eye for horses and an aptitude for hard work.

At the age of 10 he borrowed a donkey so that he could go to the bog to cut and harvest turf for sale.  Unlike his six siblings, he never had any interest in college and says simply “It takes up time. I couldn’t understand why you would spend years and years in college when you could be making a living”.

That’s what he did. The young Willie bought a potato sprayer on hire purchase and worked for farmers, spraying against potato blight – in those days, every farmer grew potatoes, he explains.

“I made a lot of money spraying potatoes.”

And that money wasn’t wasted. Willie bought land, he bought cattle and he bought horses. While his family background was modest, his love of horses led him to take up hunting as a teenager, although traditionally this was the pursuit of well-heeled farmers. Willie didn’t care. The first time he went out, he had a sack for a saddle because he didn’t own a proper saddle, he recalls. Later, he went on to become Field Master of the renowned Galway Blazers.

He didn’t give a toss for social divides then, he says, and he doesn’t now.

“I meet them all and everybody is the same to me.”

‘Them all’ includes the Kennedys and the Clintons among others and he takes it all in his stride.

“The small person is as important as the highest person. I’m able to talk to everybody and everybody is the same.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.