Napoleon, Tara's high kings and the second Earl of Clancarty would turn in their graves. Europe's oldest horse fair, where the French leader is reputed to have bought his white horse, is said to be "under threat".
The doomsday forecast comes from the Irish Saddlers' Association, which opposes new arrangements for the Ballinasloe Horse Fair next weekend. The international event - now claiming to be eight times the size of the RDS show in Dublin - will be subject to a ban on all traders within the town's fair green.
Not surprisingly, the opposition is also supported by travellers, traders and pedlars who have frequented the show since "Jesus was a boy", or at least since the second Earl of Clancarty gave it its charter in 1722.
The saddlers say by closing the town to traffic and forcing traders off the green and on to the streets, the essential character of the fair will be lost. Also banned is the display of sulkies, or horses flashing in speed carts.
There was a safety issue, said the saddlers' spokesman, Mr Cyril Gammel. "Saddlery needs to be fitted to the horse to ensure it is comfortable for the animal and the correct size. Now, horses will have to be brought through crowded streets to be fitted. This is sure to lead to accidents.
"Also, when tack breaks, people need to replace it quickly. They cannot do this if saddlers are located half a mile away on crowded streets. Ballinasloe is a very important event in our calendar and it accounts for an estimated one-third of our annual income."
Mr Colm Croffy, chief executive of Ballinasloe Chamber of Commerce and event controller for this year, defends the decision to implement the restrictions and to hire extra gardai to enforce them. One word sums up the key issue here, he said, "insurance". Farmers had also been criticising organisers over the past few years about the lack of space to show a good horse.
The insurance factor came to a head on May 14th, he said, when Irish Public Bodies informed the urban district council that there would be no cover for the event if a management plan was not put in place. Already, the cost of insurance runs to six figures, including claims.
The co-ordinating body, comprising the council, the chamber of commerce and the local fair and festival show society, decided to ban all caravans on the green, with travellers being accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis on the traditional hill.
The measures, seen as transitional pending a development plan, were publicised at sister fairs, including Caheramee, Tallaght, Puck, the Tullamore show and in advertisements in national newspapers on the week of August 14th.
A consultant engaged by the co-ordinating body to visit other events noted that a division between stalls and horses had already been introduced at the Oul' Lammas Fair, in Ballycastle, Co Antrim.
"Ireland has changed. It is not like 20 or 30 years ago when most people were familiar with horses. Now people don't know how to react. The separation gives a huge sense of spectacle, and all the traders in both Ballycastle and Killorglin, where it is also implemented, are quite happy.
"People will be able to see Ballinasloe's horses from the four perimeters. They will be able to walk through it if they really want to, but we are not encouraging it", Mr Croffy said. The Irish Saddlers' Association had been allocated the closest trading pitch to the green, and would be able to use the green on the foal fair day towards the end of the event.
He said the ban on sulkie racing was at the insistence of the insurers. "We also had a large volume of complaints from the Galway Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals about this, and there were threats to take a test case. We have no trackway for this in Ballinasloe but we are putting in a second lunging ring for owners and buyers of lunge horses." Apart from insurance, the Government's health and safety legislation had to be adhered to, said Mr Croffy. "Last year, 48,000 people visited Ballinasloe over two days of the first weekend. If we do nothing, we will have a serious accident or end up in court. We don't want to become like the Donnybrook equivalent - a great tradition that got out of hand and is now only remembered in song."
