The Kildare Performance Hunter Show takes place at Punchestown Racecourse, in County Kildare, Ireland on October 21st next. Organised by the Kildare Hunt Club, the show’s purpose was to find Ireland’s finest hunting horse. The idea is credited with the Kildare Hunt Staff. “hold up, I want my wife see this!” The Huntsman recalls the eureka moment, “It was on a poor days hunting, as we cast the last draw, a number of members began to jump hedges to entertain themselves,” but the entertainment was short lived as an old farmer approached waving a stick over his head shouting “hold-up! hold-up!” Francis thought he was going to get an ear full, but to his surprise, the farmer continued “hold up,...
She posed a question to me… What about people who are dying? They need support too. Then it clicked! I finally knew what I was going to do “when I grow up”! That afternoon tea and conversation led me down the rabbit hole of the internet to find training that I could do to become someone who could be with the dying and their families. I found the course for which I was looking and wasn’t disappointed. It was an in-depth course about community deathcare that would change my life’s purpose as I had never thought it would.
What I find interesting is that it is not immediately obvious that the horse was central to the story. The story was about my father’s stopping to rest at a particular place within the valley. Yet, the horse is everywhere to be found within the story...
When riding a horse in a lesson or competition these thoughts do not enter the mind. Personal experience tells me that while pleasure riding (hacking, trail riding, cooling down) this phenomenon does not apply as intensely. At that point, one is relaxed and walking and therefore the challenges and tasks are completed...
The horse moves an individual’s heart to act with kindness because of its own generosity to perform work that ultimately fulfills human obligations and commitments. It remains a steadfast servant and friend.
