Horse Riding in Ireland: Detailed Ride Report

In case you missed it, at the end of October, I had the opportunity to join a group of women from Southern California for horse riding in Ireland at Clonshire Equestrian Center in Adare. This blog post is an overview of how I became a braver rider, and tells about the genesis of this equestrian getaway. For those of you who enjoy the nitty gritty of riding lessons, this blog post will outline the riding we did Monday through Friday for three hours a day.

Monday: The Boss Mare and Saintly Gelding

The three other women in my group and I were so excited as we rode the ten minutes from our daffodil colored cottage to Clonshire Equestrian Center! I tried not to have any sort of expectations for our horse riding in Ireland adventure, but I had a good feeling.

The night before we had met up with our group leader (a British Horse Society certified trainer who currently resides in Los Angeles), and she told us about a gentlemanly thirtysomething-year-old gelding who was still in the lesson program. I think three of the four of us were jokingly calling dibs on that horse.

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I wondered if I should have divulged I owned a retired race horse, because it sounded like there was only one horse on the farm with some Thoroughbred blood in her and although sane, from time to time, she felt her breed’s special calling. She likes to open up her stride and get excited.

Sure enough, we arrived at the stable area and the whiteboard had my name next to the TBish mare. The weather was damp (not to be surprised) and we began our first riding session in the giant indoor arena with rubberized footing.

There were maybe one or two other riders not from California in our group. The spread of experience levels and moxie was broad. We began on the flat with a walk, trot and canter. My horse felt a little hard to bend, but extremely safe and sure-footed.

When I cantered her down the long side of the arena, I felt like she was galloping. I’m sure she wasn’t, but her stride built power along the straightaway. By the end of the lesson, we were trotting over several poles then a cross rail to a small vertical.

One of the women in my group had only cantered a few times in her life (actually loped–she is a Western rider). She too trotted the X! The whole week it was remarkable how the trainers could incorporate varying skill levels in to the same lesson seamlessly.

In that first hour lesson, I was told to sit up straight en route to the jumps and not two-point. That was another recurring theme for the week–“Sit up!” Following the lesson, we rode around the property, past the kennels for the Limerick hunt. The mare spooked–or so I thought. Apparently, her unexpected movement was a kick out at a horse she felt should NOT have been near her. She did not strike him–it was just a, “Stay back!” warning. lol

For the rest of our property tour the mare was on time out, as I was instructed to keep her face in the tail of the horse ahead of me. Two young horses in a field approached us along the fence line, and she jigged and went sideways in what I’m sure would have been some fabulous dressage move had I cued her for it.

During our lunch break we went to a local pub and I ordered soup and salad. The food in town was really very good. I didn’t have a bad meal during my whole stay. I could probably write a post just on the food of Adare!

Read this blog post, a short overview of my horse riding in Ireland.

For the afternoon session I rode a beautiful Dutch warmblood gelding. He felt solid and unflappable beneath me. We worked on another grid, this time and X to a vertical to a two-stride. I was told to sit down and back more. I felt safe on this horse–like he made me seem like a better rider than I really am.

Later I walked over the to measure the jump I rode without crying or dying of nerves and it brushed my middle finger tip when I allow my arm to hang down naturally. I measured it later and it was two feet, three inches. That might seem small to some of you, but it was a major accomplishment for me. lol

Tuesday: Scones, Pons and Show Jumping

Before we departed for the equestrian center, I ate the best scone I have ever had in my life. There was a bakery a few doors down from our cottage, and the raspberry scone with a snowy glaze tasted even better than it looked (and it was gorgeous).

When we arrived at the yard (Irish term for “farm” or “barn”), my name was on the white board next to the saintly liver chestnut gelding’s name I had ridden the day before. Our group of Californians was joined by another rider–a local who is the friend of our group leader and another BHS certified trainer. She owns a young gray cob and once mounted, our group did a loop on the property as a warm up for our second day of horse riding in Ireland.

Our morning session was outside with eight riders. Our instructor had us work on riding a rectangle, really asking our horses to bring their inside hind legs underneath them as we traveled the four corners of the arena.

We then worked on leg yielding. My horse was more fluid going left to right; I could really feel his legs crossing underneath him. Then we did another grid.

This grid started out as two half X’s to a ground pole. We practiced it trotting first, then at a canter. The trainer added a small vertical at the end. Later she raised it significantly where if I had been on my own horse I would have had a moment of, “Oh no! That’s too high!” But since I figured, “This horse does this all the time,” and he was so smooth, I faked my confidence and just tried to sit up like they had been telling most of us.

When the gelding and I successfully navigated the grid I thought, “I wish Colleen were here to see this!” (She is my friend who connected me with this group experience–she was going to arrive in Adare the following day and join our group toward the end of the week).

On Monday, at the end of the day, before we departed for the village, our guide said, “Let’s go walk the course.” The show jumping arena had myriad colored rails and it seemed it was mostly oxers. There were also a handful of cross country solid fences mixed in. The fences looked about three feet to me. That is too high for this nervous equestrian.

I had this moment of following our guide and listening as she commented about riding deep into the corners so we could approach the fences in a straight line, but also thinking, “I’m not so sure I’m going to be participating, but I’ll act polite and take in all the instruction anyway.” I dutifully followed our leader and the adorable Jack Russell who walked the course with us.

Our group lesson on the flat and over the grid then progressed into the second phase. Our trainer said something to the effect, “I can make the fences smaller and whoever wants to can jump as much or as little as you want.” PHEW!!! I liked this lady!

My roommate from Malibu went first. She is a beautiful hunter rider and because she made the course look easy, it gave me a boost of confidence. I said I was going to do the first three jumps. I’ve never been a jumper rider–I’ve only done simple hunter courses in a show setting, so I wasn’t sure my brain could take in the bending lines and sheer number of fences. lol

I rode the left lead outside line to a single angle fence then right to another single fence on the end. It just flowed. I didn’t have to do anything really. My equine partner got his lead change and kept all his strides consistent and forward. He made me look good!

As I brought him back down to a trot down the long side a wave of emotion swept over me. I felt so happy and proud. I thought of my first real trainer from my 20s and how she’d be proud. I thought of Knight and why I’m such a nervous Nellie on my own horse. I had shared a video from Monday afternoon, of me jumping what felt like a super tall end vertical in that grid with my friend Carey. She said Knight could have done that same line for me.

Our group went into town for lunch at a pub; this became a trend and was a a side benefit to horse riding in Ireland. 🙂

When we returned I found out I’d be riding a 5 year old Irish horse. When I opened his stall door his huge face with a white blaze greeted me like a puppy dog. He had a darling personality and this cute chunky, body. His hooves were enormous and he was built like an NFL player–solid and strong.

Our afternoon session was a ride to a nearby estate named Hollywood (for actual holly trees–not the movie industry). It was a really windy day, but that didn’t really register with our group. We rode a three mile trail which started and ended on the country road, with the majority of the ride being along the scenic pathways of the Hollywood property.

Our guide revealed after the ride was over that she was kind of thinking, “Oh crap!” because it was so windy and she didn’t want the horses to spook and misbehave. Our group was clueless and weathered a few spooks and shies with no drama.

Wednesday: A Cool Cob and a Chocolate Gelding

Truth be told, my heart sank when I saw my name next to the name of the young gray cob’s on the whiteboard Day Three. About a year before I had ridden a small horse when I was a guest on a fox hunt. I felt extremely uncomfortable and top heavy on that one. My long legs and 5’9″ frame would not allow me to have a base of support on his diminutive side. I was troubled his high headset would bump me in the face. I’m not sure how I managed to stay on that day in the field.

The good news is, although this cute-as-a-button cob gelding appeared small, he did not feel small. He rode like a horse and had a great stride, game attitude and was really a delight.

In short, he was dreamy.

I loved how light and responsive the cob was. He was comfortable and felt safe. After good flatwork, we practiced angles and a skinny. I’ve never jumped a skinny before. This gelding, although young, has been hunting and eventing–he clearly has got hops.

The instructor told me to support him with my outside leg coming out of the corners on our approach to a fence. He was just a teeny tiny bit wiggly out of the turns, but as soon as he saw the jump, he locked in, stayed forward and sailed.

We had a little snafu at the skinny (my fault) when it was raised to be a small vertical. On the first go, the plastic block “standards” sandwiched a skinny pole on the ground. We did sitting trot. No biggie. When it was raised up, I didn’t pilot my mount well and he refused in a sideways, “What are you making me do lady?” I was told to keep kicking and not let him step out of the way and he obediently cleared the skinny (we might have hit the rail). It was my fault. On our next go he did it just fine.

Our lunch break was awesome because we went to a nearby tack shop. I bought a couple of winter Ariat shirts. I’ve had success staying warm in the past and since I’m now in the Midwest, I need more warm winter riding clothes.

During the afternoon session I rode another Irish horse–this one was a handsome bay gelding (love a handsome bay) and we did a flat lesson in the indoor arena. He was a steady enough mount, but not as a fun as the cob, or the two chestnuts. I really appreciated the chance to ride so many horses in the span of five days. I know that for sure contributed to my confidence-building.

Thursday: Picture Day and a Puppy Dog Horse

A local horse show photographer came out in the morning to take pictures of our group. This was exciting to me as I wanted to document my progression during the week horse riding in Ireland and have memories of the different horses I rode and the new friends I made. I specifically chose to wear my rust breeches on Thursday for the camera, as they really pop! And they matched the liver chestnut gelding I rode! Win!

Click here for my rust breeches review.

We began our riding day in the indoor arena. There were eight in our group. I had this moment feeling like I was one of the Spanish Riding School riders when the instructor split our group into half, asking us to ride 10 meter sitting trot circles at our respective ends simultaneously. My young Irish gelding was a little hard to bend, but he was willing and gave it his best shot.

We worked on another grid. Each morning started: flatwork then a grid, then riding courses. Something about the rhythm and consistency of that succession helped calm down my otherwise over-active riding brain. It was like baby steps for me.

When the morning session transitioned outside to the show jumping ring, I thought the jumps were set up a little too high for me. I asked the instructor to drop the back rail of the oxer. In hindsight, I should have just went with it. As evidenced from the above photo, the sweet gelding would have not cared if that back rail were up a few inches higher than the front. 🙂

One thing I really liked about horse riding in Ireland at Clonshire was the fact the instruction was solid. In addition to the trainer on the ground working with our group, on Thursday I rode in a lesson with two other trainers (both BHS certified). I could watch their example for each new exercise and then if I had a question about what I was going to do or what I just did, they could offer me feedback while the main instructor was involved in working with the rider whose turn it was to jump.

After a trip to town for lunch at a pub, we returned and did another trail ride through Hollywood. I was on the same cute horse from the morning and he was a good boy even when a scary tractor emerged from out of nowhere. Too bad he was too big to fit in my carry on. I texted a friend and said I think Knight would like to have a brother.

The Friday Finale: a Faux Hunt

The whole reason I fell into this horse riding in Ireland trip was because my friend who is a very bold rider fox hunts in Ireland every year. I am not interested in that from a riding standpoint because I don’t have the courage, but I was interested in tagging along to watch and take pictures. She told me about Clonshire and the group who was going from LA and connected us. I’m so grateful!

Long story short, knowing I will never hunt in Ireland, I was elated to discover we could ride out for hound exercises. I packed my formal fox hunting clothes so I would look the part.

Some of the riders in our group opted to stay back at the yard and ride in the ring for their morning session, but I chose the faux hunt. I got to ride the saintly warmblood gelding from earlier in the week and he was a prince. Did not put a foot wrong, did not get agitated with other horses, did not spook. He really was a dream to ride outside the arena too.

If you’ve never done hound exercises, the Master of Foxhounds and a whip or two (assistants) move off through countryside as a conditioning ride. We started at Clonshire and trotted single file down the country road back over to Hollywood, through the trees, over stone bridges and past a pink cottage, gorgeous pond and butter yellow manor house. I wish I had a GoPro.

My spin bike training and weekly riding lessons served me well. I’m happy to report that I did not get winded from the 45-minute non-stop trotting. I was definitely sweaty, but not red-faced.

Concluding Thoughts on Horse Riding in Ireland

It really was a magical morning and the closest thing I’ll get to fox hunting in Ireland. After the ride we went to the kennels and got to talk with the huntsman. I asked if he was all dressed up for us tourists, and he said yes. But I’m pretty sure he enjoyed it as the hunt has not been active (due to COVID for two seasons now).

My heart was so full at the end of the week and I kept thinking, “I need to come back here! I need an Irish tune up for my riding maybe once or twice a year.”

Many factors contributed to my growth over the span of just five days horse riding in Ireland, from riding five very different from each other horses, to being in a group with various levels of riders, to the high quality instruction and beyond.

Suffice it to say, I think everyone who likes to travel and wants to improve as a rider should try a similar type of experience. I plan to return in the spring of 2022 and have a list of other riders who want to join. If this type of trip sound interesting to you, reach out to me: susan @ saddleseekshorse . com. I would love to answer questions you have and help point you in the right direction.

Thanks for sharing this riding journey with me and I hope you get out there and can have one of your own very soon! Tally ho!

Question: Have you been horse riding in Ireland? If so, what did you learn? If not, where do you dream to go? Go ahead and share in the comments section. 

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