A LESS risky enterprise than trading in stocks, the Cahirmee Horse Fair drew thousands of breeders, trainers and equine enthusiasts yesterday.
Believe the myth and legend or believe it not but the fair is said to have supplied Napoleon Bonaparte’s mount, Marengo in 1799, the Cahirmee Fair at Buttevant in north Cork is a 700 year old tradition.
Stall operators began rolling into town last week, for the one-day event that sees everything from horses to hair dryers bought and sold.
Breeders travelled from all over the country to risk a punt on some fresh lineage, with gardaí putting visitor numbers around the 3,000 mark.
The annual event takes place along the length of the town’s main street, forcing the closure of the main N20 from Cork to Limerick.
Motorists were diverted through the village of Doneraile, 5km away, to link up with the N20 at Newtwopothouse, south of Charleville to facilitate the event.
While visitor numbers were well down on last year, the numbers of horses brought to Buttevant to be bought and sold saw a dramatic increase.
Horse manure and haggling were the order of the day, with a diverse selection of ponies, foals, cobs, geldings, track horses and donkeys up for grabs.
The main street was transformed into a bustling trade centre yesterday, with stock tethered to every available inch of space and owners wandering loose among them.
Traditionally, much of the horse trading takes place the night before the event, with the focus shifting to stall trading and taking stock on the day of the event itself.
Besides trading in all things equine, Cahirmee serves as a popular social gathering, with pubs and the local cafés filled to capacity.
Toys, tools, clothes, food, saddlery and even psychic readings were available for purchase and fair goers were rewarded for their journey as the sun broke through the clouds shortly before midday.
The annual summer event remains one of the few, and rapidly decreasing opportunities, to see one of rural Ireland’s oldest traditions of horse trading.
Buttevant has a long equine tradition; the ancient Cahirmee horse fair which was held at the Fair Field of Cahirmee, some two miles to the east of the town, was transferred into the town in 1921 and takes place in July every year.
Reputed to date back to the time of Brian Boru, such is the myth and legend surrounding the ancient fair that folklore has it that it was also the source of another mount for a well known rider, in the form of Copenhagen — the Duke of Wellington’s horse at the Battle of Waterloo.