We all benefit from horses, believes Willie Leahy, who has fulfilled his dream: marrying history, heritage and vision to create a museum centre in Galway dedicated to the horse, which is 'paradise for horse-lovers'. He tells Eileen Battersby how it came about.
A group of young riders, having returned from a cross-country hack, are now busy; jumping ponies over fences in a fine, new, sand arena. A couple of adults, obviously the parents of small children cheering the riders on, are watching. The jumping area is part of a splendid complex of refurbished and new stone buildings, beyond which extends a series of traditional low-walled fields, some are being grazed, others form part of a cross-country course. It is a perfect setting. While the impromptu show jumping continues, several horses stop grazing in the fields to wander over.
This is Dartfield, Kilreekill, Co Galway, a horse museum on a 350-acre working farm just off the main Dublin-Galway road, between Ballinasloe and Loughrea. Cattle, sheep and deer share the land with horses and ponies.
Dartfield House, once the elegant home of a 19th-century Galway merchant family, is now derelict - but its stable-yard, built in 1827, has been restored and extended to include 20,000 square feet of museum space, with extensive display areas, including a hall of fame, fascinating exhibits, a range of period carriages as well as traditional agricultural equipment, a library, an art gallery, café and children's play corner.
Informative videos run continuously on several screens, while a modern version of Victorian stables with resident Irish draught, Connemara ponies and hunters adds to the atmosphere. History, heritage and vision combine to create what is a comprehensive and practical celebration of the Irish horse. Pre-booked riding and hacking is available.
Costing more than €3 million, a quarter of which was funded by the European Structural Fund, Dartfield is impressive - professional without being impersonal - but as one man's dream it represents something far deeper.
Willie Leahy (65), was born and raised nearby. His entire life has been spent buying and selling, as well as working with, riding and loving, horses. Since paying £10 for his first horse at the age of 10, he has been involved with these marvellous animals. While still a boy ("I left school early, at 12") he decided on a plan - whenever he sold a horse, he would buy two. He now owns several hundred, including Connemara ponies and sport horses, good hunters - the classic thoroughbred/Irish draught cross breds.
More than 50 years have passed since Leahy bought and sold his first horse.
Since then thousands must have passed through his hands. "You can't be sentimental. I'm a horse dealer but I know any horse we've sold on has been better than it was when we got it."
He and his children are well used to riding a fine horse, liking it and then selling it on. There was one horse he kept, Dan. A picture of the big gentle bay of unusual intelligence and courage, hangs on the wall in the museum's reception. His five adult children are fine riders: his two daughters run the museum; while two of his sons work with the family business, dealing in horses and running trekking and hunting holidays; the third is working with horses in the US. Leahy's philosophy is simple and persuasive: people benefit from being near horses. He lives by his beliefs, rides every day and hunts three times a week. A relaxed, natural horseman, Leahy is entirely self-taught and capable, through sheer enthusiasm, of inspiring all comers into the saddle.
Encouraging wary as well as aspiring riders, and making horsemen and women of many of them along the way, is something he has been doing for more than 30 years. In the late 1960s, he devised an idea that was characteristic of him, in being both romantic and practical - he set about combining two natural treasures: the Connemara landscape and the genius and appeal of the horse. The Connemara Trail was born and groups of holiday-makers, mainly from the US and continental Europe, have trekked across the beautiful west of Ireland wilderness, with Leahy as their guide.
Leahy's Aille Cross Equestrian Centre, based in the family home about six miles from Dartfield, also has a strong hunting and show-jumping emphasis. The place seems awash with horses in all shapes and sizes.
As field master of the Galway Blazers, he has a long involvement with hunting, which is a tradition in this part of east Galway. No one in the world could claim a larger involvement in the breeding of Connemara ponies than Leahy, who loves this hardy breed for its many qualities, particularly its jumping skills. "On top of everything, the Connemara pony is simply a great riding horse. It's there to be ridden." Of his own top stallion, Grange Finn Sparrow, currently at stud in the US, he says: "He's the best horse I've ever had, I'd like to bring him home".
Looking around the museum, which is arranged on two floors opening on to a large quadrangular courtyard area which in time will display a life-sized bronze of a famous Irish horse, the effect is one of diversity.
From its complex evolution to its status today as a provider of immense pleasure, the horse emerges as worker and as athlete. Famous Irish horses from the recent past look down from wall displays and they are complemented by the living horses in the adjoining stables, which demonstrate more than a passing interest in visitors.
The Irish hunter and show jumpers such as Dundrum, Boomerang, Heather Honey and Rockbarton enjoy pride of place in the museum display. An entire room is devoted to the colourful history of the Galway Blazers and also prominently displayed is the magnificent Irish draught. All the glories of horses are well represented yet, in keeping with the practicalities, there is a valuable equine injuries, illness and disease exhibition, devised by a German vet, Helmut Ende.
Any heritage centre designer would be advised to consider the intelligence and attention to detail driving the Dartfield project. Leahy, who is a shrewd, kindly visionary, gives the impression of being absentmindedly happy with the venture. As family efforts go, it is remarkable; for horse lovers, it is paradise.
Long aware of the Dartfield estate and of its potential as an equestrian base, Leahy set out in 1990 to visit its then owner, an Irishman living in Scotland. "We spoke about everything, except my buying Dartfield. I came home very disappointed." Within two days, however, Leahy had got his answer and the deal was done.
Dartfield is Leahy's generous tribute to the horse. It is also practical social history and a contribution to Ireland's heritage. Yet one project continues to preoccupy him.
"I'd like to restore Dartfield House itself" - though derelict, it is a beautiful example of a merchant-class country property complete with long avenue entrance - "then the picture would be complete".
Dartfield Horse Museum and Park, Kilreekill, Loughrea, Co Galway: family admission €13, adult €5, children €3.20. Open all year. Tel: 091-843968. Website: http://dartfieldhorsemuseum.com
