West Clare Horse Show: Tullabrack, Kilrush, Co Clare, Ireland

My cousin Bernie & her hubby Daragh have done an amazing job with "re-establishing" (for lack of better words) our family and it's history within Ireland. It's because of them that we've all found each other and connected over the past several years and it's also because of them that we've been able to take part in and/or share in all the wonderful things they've done to perserve our family name, land and the history behind it. I admire all their hard work and for giving me the opportunity to learn about and be a part of such a wild irish family.

One of the things that they've done is resurrected the West Clare Horse Show in Tullabrack, Kilrush, Co Clare. The history I was given, states that my great uncles (my grandmother's brothers, JJ & Christy) initially began this horse show way back in the day, but once they died, nobody carried the show onward and it died out. It's my understanding that my cousin & her hubby have made the existence of this horse show known again and that each year they provide the purse and The Callinan Cup (Callinan is our family name) to the winner. The Cup is then kept at our family home in Tullycrine until the next year's show. Here's a picture of my dad and my cousin Liam (from England) at our family home with the cup.

So....the other day just out of curiosity, I googled the West Clare Horse Show to see what I could find on it, if anything. I didn't find any information other than the date of the most recent show (June 22nd, 2008) and then there before my own two eyes was a picture of my cousin Bernie, her husband Daragh and MY DAD standing between them holding the cup. I definately did a double-take and I believe the exact words I said OUT LOUD were "Holy shit, that's my DAD...and Bernie...and Daragh". It was quite funny actually as the last thing I expected to come across was a picture of my family on the internet posing w/ the shiny Callinan Cup for God and everyone to see. None-the-less I was quite proud once the initial shock wore off. HAHA!

Picture is courtesy of Charles W Glynn

I used to have this linked to his website in an effort to credit him for his

 photos of the West Clare Horse Show, but the weblink is no longer available.