My father, a master of the reins

With the Dublin Horse Show on this week, Colman Garrihy offers a personal perspective on the Irish draught

IN the registered Irish draught horse classes of this year’s Dublin Horse Show, up to 70 entries will vie for top honours in six mare, stallion and foal classes.

The draught horse is known for its versatility for the amateur rider and as a foundation breed for the Irish sport horse. But the horse had a different role. The placid, powerful and reliable animal was central to farm life, when farmer and horse combined to perform a range of duties, when horse power mattered for harvesting and the survival of family farms.