Death of friend who inspired devotion sets poetry in motion

Hereabouts we have a reputation for a fascination with horses going back into ancient times. In more modern times names like Arkle and Shergar have passed into our folklore while admirers of the equine species such as Martin Maloney, Pat Taffe, Paddy Prendergast and Vincent O'Brien have kept the profile of the Irish horse in the forefront of our imagination. Apart altogether from the Curragh of Kildare there is no county in the country which does not have a horse culture. There have been many instances in literature of horses and horsemen being celebrated but it is unlikely that any horse has been so widely celebrated as one called Dasher or Preabaire in the Irish language, whose death caused the composition of at least six poems from a group which are now known as The Maigue Poets. The name of the group arises from the river Maigue which is a tributary of the Shannon. Lovers of the horse are indebted to Cristoir O'Flynn, a ubiquitous writer and talker, who has published the six-poem collection in the original Irish with side-by-side translations into English by himself. The horse Dasher belonged to a Franciscan friar, himself a member of the Maigue poets. His name was Nioclas O Domhnaill who was the guardian of the Franciscan Abbey in Adare in the 18th century.

In his lovingly compiled collection of these poems O'Flynn points out that: "a series of poems such as these on the death of Father O'Donnell's horse would result when one of the poets would compose a poem on some theme and give copies of it to the others, either by messenger or when they assembled to discuss their poems at the poetic court."

The others would then respond in kind using the same poetic structure and style, which how this collection came to pass. We do not know how Dasher the horse in this instance came to die although it is suggested elsewhere that it was "by the poison of an evil person's eye, by the contract of an evil woman, by the malice of a hill (a fairy fort) or being wounded by a female sprite."

We are told by O'Flynn that there may have been a hidden agenda in the writing of the original poem in the first place because Father O'Donnell may have been hoping that some rich patron might provide him with a new horse to replace Dasher. This view is born out by O'Flynn's translation of the first two verses of the poem:

Long though I've lived deprived of means and kin,

While blatant injustice oppresses our chieftans still.

The depths of distress I have never known until

My horse - my grief - came a cropper on a fairy hill.

O hill to the south, 'tis you have left me bare. Unable, unfit to make my way here or there.

All at a loss, my days weighed down with care,

Since you stole my steed and I'm left without even a mare.

Among the other poets who responded to the original composition was one Sean O Tuama who had this to say of Dasher:

Beneath the grass 'tis pity Dasher should be.

So swift and smooth, a beautiful sight was he;

So lithe his pace, his speed of such degree.

His tail was all the others could ever see.

This suggests that Dasher was a fine specimen of a racing horse and one can only speculate about how it came to be that at one time, not all that long ago either, priests were forbidden from going to race meetings. It also brings to mind that there is still a rule in the GAA Official Guide which forbids "betting men" from attending and setting up stalls at GAA functions.

Another verse from Sean O Tuama's lament for Dasher reads:

To see him race was a sight of high allure.

No shying, no halt, his strength could long endure.

Frisky and vibrant and shaped so fine and pure,

In heights, in debths, in corners safe and sure.

Of course the relationship between racing men and other sports is well vouched for, and there are many instances of very close contacts. Michael "Babs" Keating of Tipperary, and a number of other places in the hurling fraternity, is a keen racing fan as is J P McManus, a horse owner, who is also a hurling supporter. The story is told of the jockey, Christy Roche, pulling on his street clothes over his racing silks after a victory at Phoenix Park and having a taxi waiting to take him to Croke Park to watch Tipperary beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final of 1991. O'Flynn's collection of poems in When Dasher Died celebrates this Irish obsession with the horse and all that goes with it. It is well worth a read in either or both languages.

When Dasher Died. Six poems on the death of a horse. By Cristoir O'Flynn, Obelisk Books, £4.95.