"It has been said" writes Colonel E.V. Campion, O/C the Equitation School at McKee Barracks, Dublin, "that it was the Army jumping team which first made the new Irish State and the National Anthem known throughout the world." This in a preface to Forgotten Dreams, a life of Major G. "Ged" O'Dwyer, who died in March just short of his 97th year.
What was not known to many people until this book was written by Thomas Toomey, was the extraordinary way in which the school came into being. A Swiss army officer who was in this country buying horses put it to Judge Wylie and Edward Bohane of the RDS that it would be a good idea to set up an annual military jumping competition between the two countries.
Bohane wrote to the Government suggesting a military jumping competition would be included in the 1926 Horse Show. There was no definite commitment from the Government but the RDS went ahead. And then in April 1926, the Government said Yes. And so, "with not a rider or a horse to their name they had entered an Army jumping team to take on the cream of Europe, jumping against nations steeped in expertise and very well endowed with resources", writes Toomey. And it was against this background that O'Dwyer arrived in McKee Barracks.
In May 1926 the first horse for the new team was bought, and the last of the six just two weeks before the Show opened. In the Nations Cup, later better known as the Aga Khan's, Ireland came an honourable second to the Swiss, beating Britain, France, Belgium and Holland. From that day they went on to be world beaters. Back to Colonel Campion's preface. "A combination of things came together to make the team virtually invincible at that time. All members had been brought up on farms where the horse could still be doing the ploughing, drilling and sowing etc. Hunting and point to pointing were the leisure pursuits for those who could ride. They were, therefore, natural horsemen. At an early stage they were given the unique opportunity of learning `showjumping' from a master craftsman, Colonel Paul Rodzianko."
Rodzianko, a White Russian Emigre, a pre war champion rider taught a style and discipline learned from the Italian Caprili. Finally the Irish horse of that era had no equal as a jumper and there was an abundance of them."
This book is the life of a great hearted Irishman; it gives a picture of an era. There have been fine and successful riders since. This was the start of it all. And, horses aside, there is a lot of Ireland of yesterday in the book.