Ballinasole pics(warning some less than ideal conditions)

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Aru

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I was in ballinasole horse fair this year and i remebered to take pics for a change!
i got some entertaining ones that seemed to catch the mood of the show so i thought id share up here!

Ballinasloe is apparently the oldest horse show in europe and each year up to 70,000 thousand people and hundreds of horses visit the town for the fair.horses are found every where including the main street of the town but the main focus is on fair green.Its a mad place though with horses everywhere ranging from gypsy ponys being raced in gigs or ridden bareback in rope head collors to the loose juming championships of ireland...
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long day
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Great photos, would love to go to a fair but i too would be scared of wanting to take them all home

Crazy man to lie down with all those unknown horses around him, i'd be scared of being trampled.
 
i hate days like that, i always come home crying from them feeling so sorry for the ponies/horses....

i have never been to that particular one, however there are many across the county like that and i find it downright dangerous for the horses most of the time
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sorry just my feelings on them lol
 
Yup its an annual thing in october....3rd to 5th are the main horse days esp the sunday and monday.
Ballinasole is in Galway round half an hour drive from Galway city.In the west of Ireland the show have a site if you want to know more about it.. http://www.ballinasloeoctoberfair.com/

Somethingorother its also funny if you look at the sleeping photo you'll see that hes "holding" his horses 2!i no i wouldnt feel safe walking through the fair ground let along lying down but hey it makes a good pic...
it was a great weekend for me though some of of the sights can be a bit unnerving and you see so many ponys you'd just love to buy and bring home!!!
 
Jayus Aru, I would hate to be in a car with you! half hour from galway? Its 40 miles on not a brilliant road!

Lovely pics. I couldn't go personally. I went years ago and although there are some amazing horses for sale there, you run the risk of witnessing some horrific sights. It is not for the faint hearted but if you know what you are looking for, you can pick up a real bargin. you will notice that for the next while your for sale sites will be swamped with irish horses for sale. Literally lorry loads of them go to the UK from Ballinasloe.
 
Looks very much like Appleby HF, perhaps bigger and maybe by the looks of things you have a wider range of horses and quality etc and not so many tinkers lol, thats interesting though, do they have a lunge pen/jumping lane so you an see some of the horses jump?
 
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Jayus Aru, I would hate to be in a car with you! half hour from galway? Its 40 miles on not a brilliant road!

Lovely pics. I couldn't go personally. I went years ago and although there are some amazing horses for sale there, you run the risk of witnessing some horrific sights. It is not for the faint hearted but if you know what you are looking for, you can pick up a real bargin. you will notice that for the next while your for sale sites will be swamped with irish horses for sale. Literally lorry loads of them go to the UK from Ballinasloe.

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lol i havent drivin it i came down from dublin direction for the show.i just asked one of my galway friends and they said it should be half an hour once the motorway is finished...hopefully it will be done by next october.....
is the road really bad?its a great road from dublin to ballinasloe..please say its not like the galway to headford road or something like that im meant to go drive to galway visiting soon!

it does sounds like its a lot like applebey and there are a lot of tinkers at it and all the fun that comes with them..its one of the biggest matchaking events of the year 2 apparently....

but there is a good mix of stock of varying degrees of quality...irishcobs.ie is based in balllinasloe for example and they had some nice stock being ridin around by the pony club members...

there is a lunging ring on the green..i think one of the pics show it and the lunging seems to be going on all day...i know i seen the 4 year old championships when i was there...

but as ppl have said its not for the faint hearted ...for example its only in the last few years that water dispensers for the horses have been added to the fair green...and you do run the danger of being boxed in and kicked as you walk through the green due to the sheer volme of horses plus hats and often saddles are not all that common...regardless of the riders or horses age...
but overall it was a great experinece and i do plan on going again!
 
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