Only mules and horses at Europe’s oldest equine fair

THEY were all shapes, sizes and colours — grey, white, piebald, chestnut brown and black — and that was just the fellas selling the horses.

They swarmed up and down the main street of Buttevant in their thousands all day yesterday seeking out a good bargain — or trying to drive a few hard ones — at one of the world’s oldest horse fairs.

Reputed to be the longest-running in Europe, Cahirmee Horse Fair brought buyers and sellers from the length and breadth of Ireland, as well as traffic between Cork and Limerick along diversions off the N22.

The main thoroughfare was bustling from first light as Travellers, traders and tourists all converged on the north Cork town.

Dermot O’Mahony was well satisfied with his morning’s business, having arrived with two half-bred riding horses at 7.30am. Both animals were sold within the hour to a trader from Co Laois, for what the seller described as the going trade price.

“They say the early bird catches the worm, but he also catches an early death,” laughed Dermot, who owns a stud farm in Ballinhassig, Co Cork.

A few horse droppings further up the street, the haggling was fierce as buyer and seller took nearly 10 minutes to agree to split the last €100 on the price of a four-year-old riding horse.

“Will you go on and buy him?” shouted the wispy-haired vendor, slapping his hand into the potential buyer’s to try and seal the deal.

“I will not, I’ll give you 35 hundred, that’s it,” affirmed his opposite number. Suffice to say that neither party knew much about the craft of horse whispering.

“Look, 36 and I’ll give you €50 for luck,” said the owner, finalising the transaction with a spit to his palm and a stamp of his foot as he shook with the buyer.

The deal done, he told the successful haggler of the bargain he had secured: “Sure if you took him out of the river tomorrow morning, you’d get €4,000 for him.”

Then away behind the nearest chip van for the cash to be counted out in not-so-crisp €50 notes before the piece of blue rope that made for the horse’s reins finally changed hands.

One local woman revealed that some of the traders and their animals arrived as early as last Friday night, making it a busy weekend for the normally quiet town. Apart from those in the equine trade, vans and stalls lined the streets offering everything from power tools and country music CDs to fashion items and walking sticks.

A group of French film students were amazed at what was unfolding.

“We were coming to Ireland to do some filming and I read about it on the internet, but this is just crazy selling horses on the main street,” said Nadia Fahy, a native of Paris.

Business was going fairly well by late morning for the three Byrne brothers, with two of the six horses they brought from Kildare taken off their hands.

“It’s good going, and there’s a long day there yet. We come down every year, but it’s the weather that makes everything,” said Stephen Byrne.

Although the sun was not too evident on an overcast afternoon, there were plenty beaming smiles as traders headed home — or to the local hostelries — to spend their well-earned spoils.