Horse show images through the ages on display at RDS

A PHOTOGRAPH taken in 1868 of the Dublin Horse Show’s first show-jumping champion is among the highlights of an exhibition that opened at the RDS library in Ballsbridge last night.

Richard Flynn, a sheep farmer from Co Roscommon, on a gelding called Shaun Rhue, recorded the highest stone wall jump – 6ft, 1½in – and won the inaugural competition held on the lawns of Leinster House. He promptly sold the horse for the then princely sum of £1,000.

Twenty years later, in 1888, the show moved to a greenfield site in “Ball’s Bridge” where it has been held annually since, except during the two World Wars. The 138th show begins next Wednesday and continues until Sunday evening.

The president of the RDS, rare book auctioneer Fonsie Mealy, said the exhibition, Representations of the Dublin Horse Show 1868-2011, illustrates how “this very important event in the Irish social calendar” has historically been depicted in newspapers, magazines, advertising and literature. The exhibition is open from today and runs until the end of August. Entry is free except between August 3rd-7th, when admission is included in the ticket price for entry to the horse show.

Natasha Serne, an RDS special collections cataloguer, said the exhibition revealed the impact the Dublin Horse Show has had on the imaginations of artists, designers and writers for more than 100 years “whether viewed as equestrian event, social occasion, tourist attraction or subject for literature and satire”.

Exhibits include memorable posters used to advertise the show, including an example from 1950 – used in railway stations and on cruise ships – designed by the American-born equestrian artist and illustrator Olive Whitmore; and, from 1930, an image titled Ireland’s Magnet, depicting the event’s appeal to visitors from Britain and the European mainland.

The first international competitions were introduced in 1926, with the Nations Cup for the Aga Khan Challenge trophy.