Dublin Horse Show opens at the RDS
Dublin, 10 August 1921 – The Dublin Horse Show opened yesterday at the RDS in Ballsbridge.
The horse show is an important event on the Irish social calendar, and is considered by the organisers to be the greatest of sporting and agricultural carnivals.
Not in many years have visitors from Britain and continental Europe been as numerous, with hotels able to charge a premium for beds. Among the most enthusiastic spectators was a group of French girls dressed in the latest Parisian creations.
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Edmund Talbot, and his wife Mary paid an informal visit in the afternoon. The couple was taken to a demonstration by Irish countryside workers in the pavilion adjoining the veterinary paddock and were subsequently treated to a performance of old crossroad dances, including an exhibition of step dancing from John Harte, aged 76 and Maggie Quinn, aged 87.
Irish countryside exhibition (Image: Irish Life, 19 August 1921)
The morning arrivals at Ballsbridge were met with pleasant sunshine but this unfortunately gave way to rain in the early afternoon, forcing many visitors to reach for their mackintoshes and umbrellas.
The afternoon rain also forced many visitors away from the jumping enclosure towards the Central Hall and the other indoor areas where the trade stands were arranged, featuring a large number of Irish industries.
But the Horse Show is nothing without the horses and this year there are over 600 animals being exhibited. While entries don’t compare with the pre-war years, the informed opinion is that some of the thoroughbreds exhibited could not be bettered anywhere in the world.
British Pathé footage from the 1921 Royal Dublin Horse Show
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
