News
Woman’s island adventures – with six Connemara ponies
It might have been the maddest idea of the summer; an English woman taking herself and six Connemara ponies – two of them unbroken – to an uninhabited island off Connemara coast.
But now Emma Massingale’s adventure on deserted Fraoch Oileán – out from the coastline of Moyard and Cleggan – have been turned into an inspiring DVD called the Island Project, which was launched last week.
The story of the English woman from Devon who spend the month of June living in a tent on an island without services – and breaking horses without saddles, stirrups or harnesses – had captured the public’s imagination before it even began.
Emma wanted to find out if, without the help of a bridle, saddle or equipment of any kind – nor any kind of enclosure – she could back and train two ponies that had never been ridden before.
Her plan was to see if she could use her four trained ponies to influence the newcomers.
The Island Project tells the story of three year old Evenos and four year old Echo, both geldings bought in May from the Connemara pony sales in Clifden and taken in June to the 70-acre uninhabited and windswept island.
“It truly was an Irish adventure. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the generous help from so many in the area, and I’ll always be grateful,” Emma said.
Emma, who slept some of her time on the rain soaked island in a tent, and the rest in a cave, knew the challenge would be huge.
“I knew it was going to be solitary – I had only the ponies for company. My challenge, and it was huge, was to work with and start Evenos and Echo completely at liberty, without the use of any tack, and without any help.
“There were no places to catch the ponies, no help and no home comforts, just me, the ponies and our relationship.
“It wasn’t going to be plain sailing and, when people asked me before I began, I said it would test me to the limit and test my ponies’ trust.
“The concept of starting a horse completely at liberty isn’t something to be taken lightly. Horses rely on caution, flight and agility, to keep themselves safe.
“Starting a horse at liberty is the perfect challenge. There is nowhere to hide, you can either do it or you can’t, there is no cheating, no shortcuts; no easy wins,” she added.
Emma was determined that she would be alone for the month of the project and much of the footage she filmed herself, using a number of cameras from GoPros to handheld devices.
Spectacular aerial footage was filmed separately to capture the wild remote beauty of the place. With Emma recording her progress in the style of a daily filmed diary, she has been able to catch every moment as the ponies cottoned on to what they were being taught.
The story also tells of the daily trials of life on the island, bathing in a plastic barrel, swimming in the sea to catch fish with her spear gun, or delving amongst the rock pools for cockles to eke out the rice rations she had taken with her.
“It was a proper adventure, a bit scary when it was wet and windy and we only had four dry days, but it was the most amazing experience,” she said.
Emma used her trained ponies to help teach the new pair.
“I taught Evenos to lie down pretty much straight away by showing him the others doing it.
“From there I taught him to stop, turn and go while riding another horse at liberty, without the use of tack, so he got used to seeing me up above.
“To have half a ton of horse that wants to work with you, when they are at liberty, is the purest, the most perfect challenge.”
Emma’s collaboration with equine film specialists Equine Productions on the previous documentary ‘No Reins, No Rules, No Limits,’ which introduced her to a wider audience, has won two international awards this year, including last month’s Equus Film Festival in New York.
Equine Productions worked with Emma on ‘The Island Project’ too.
The new DVD, which is available on Amazon, includes a variety of bonus features including an emotional interview with Emma recorded within hours of leaving the island, glorious aerial shots, as well as the award winning ‘No Reins, No Rules No Limits.’
“What better place to do such an awesome challenge than the stunning homeland of the ponies.
“Waking up and living for a month with the breath-taking hills as a backdrop will remain with forever, Ireland is a very special place to me,” added Emma.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
