Saddling up for a unique insight into Connemara

Lifestyle – Bernie Ní Fhlatharta meets Cáit Goaley who overcame grief to grow a high-end tourism venture

Specialist holidays are a growing trend worldwide, aimed at the discerning visitor who wants something different and is willing to pay for it. One home-grown specialist holiday experience is Connemara Equestrian Escapes which enjoys what the local landscape has to offer and provides one of the best known horse breed in the world — the Connemara Pony.

Riding a Connemara Pony on the white sands of a local beach along the popular Wild Atlantic Way, with the sea on one side and the beautiful Twelve Bens mountain range on the other is something that has to be experienced to be believed.

Cáit Goaley, the woman behind the Connemara Equestrian Escapes, loves horses but particularly her Connemara Ponies.

She has been adding to her stables since she invested in first brood mare — Cáit has been riding horses since she was a child, first coming across them when her father bred a few on his farm in Moycullen.

Johnny Goaley, a city based builder and part-time farmer and Connemara pony breeder, loved his trips to Moycullen and Cáit remembers hiding in the boot of his car to ensure he wouldn’t go without her!

Her own love of Ireland’s favourite native pony breed is her late father’s legacy to her and a love that she is now using to make a livelihood.

“It’s like I suddenly know what I want to be when I grow up,” says Cáit, who is thoroughly enjoying meeting a range of nationalities, mostly American and Canadian and an increasing number of Europeans through the luxury package holidays which involve staying in her five-bedroomed house on Curra Farm. It’s five miles from Moycullen Village and guests travel by bus throughout Connemara to visit local sights and enjoy cultural activities like the Glengowla Mining Experience or a visit to Aughnanure Castle in Oughterard.

Curra House backs onto Lough Corrib and in the evenings, as guests enjoy relaxing on the deck (designed by Cáit to resemble the deck of a boat), they can see the twinkling lights of houses in Annaghdown on the other bank, beyond a few of the 365 islands on the lake, although Cáit believes that figure is much higher!

The holiday project was a concept dreamt up by Cáit and her husband Ciarán, who died suddenly over two years ago.

And while others might have collapsed and withered with grief, Cáit has used her grief to develop and expand what started as a B&B for fishermen. The expansion made sense as the couple had begun to to realise that the fishing season was too short to sustain a viable B&B.

The secluded location of Curra House is one of the selling points of the holiday. And guests don’t have to worry about finding it because as soon as they arrive in Galway City, they are picked up by Cáit and brought wherever they want to go for the rest of the week.

“We did extensive market research — we started about four years ago — and decided to incorporate our love and knowledge of horses,” she explains of the project. “We were pleasantly surprised that there are a lot of people who also love the idea of holidaying on horseback with a bit of Irish culture thrown in!

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.