Photo credit: Joan C.Griffith
To contact us:
from the foreword by Suma Stud
Joan C. Griffith is a Librarian, worked at Dartmouth College, University of New Hampshire and University of New Mexico libraries before moving to Germany where she works for a book seller and subscription agent. She is an Honorary Life Member of the Irish Draught Horse Society, Ireland, a breeder of Irish draught horses, and maintained the websites of the IDHS Ireland (2000-2007), IDHBA (2008-2010) and Suma Stud(2000-to the present).
Mary McGrath is an Art Conservator and Consultant and has had an international career which included working and lecturing at Harvard University, The Getty Museum and the University of Denver. Her lifelong interest in horses led her to research and set up the Irish Horse Museum at the National Stud and to become Honorary Secretary to the Irish Draught Horse Society for a number of years. She currently breeds and shows Irish Draughts.
John Feehan is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture at University College Dublin. He has written extensively on the natural and cultural heritage of the Irish Landscape and on many broader aspects of environmental science. He has won several awards for his work in connection with rural biodiversity and the sustaining of rural community.
Dr John Flynn was involved in human blood typing during the 1970's in Dublin where he was attached to a number of hospitals, before moving to the Irish Equine Centre to set up Weatherbys blood typing laboratory for foal registration. He expanded this service to the non thoroughbred sector which provided the basis for comparative studies in horse population genetics, which included the Irish Draught. John and his staff of 13 members have now established a multi-species DNA testing laboratory that is internationally recognised as one of the leading institutions throughout the world.
Fergus Kelly is a Senior Professor in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. His interests centre on the study of early Irish (Brehon) law, and his publications include a Guide to Early Irish Law (1988) and Early Irish Farming: a study based on the law-texts of the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. (1997).
Stuart N. Lane lives in an eighteenth century farmhouse on the Meath-Kildare border with his wife, two dogs, an unknown number of cats and seven horses. He has been involved in horses all his life having bred hunters and sport-horses, hunted with most of the Irish packs and some of the English, point-to-pointed, show jumped and ridden stock horses in Canada and Australia. He took his Master’s degree some years ago in Trinity College Dublin and is currently working for his PhD in NUI Maynooth, his subject covering the economic history of the Irish horse in the nineteenth century.
Colin A. Lewis lectured at University College Dublin for over twenty years before moving to South Africa, where he is Professor of Geography at Rhodes University. For over a decade he was hunting correspondent for The Irish Field and a well-known judge of horses and hounds. Professor Lewis’ books include Hunting in Ireland (1975) and Horse breeding in Ireland and the role of the Royal Dublin Society (1980), both published by J.A. Allen and Company.
Finbar McCormick is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queens University Belfast. His interests centre on early medieval archaeology and the study of faunal remains from Irish archaeological sites. He has published extensively on early livestock farming and diet from a zooarchaeological perspective.
Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, holds a BA in modern languages (UCD), MA in Irish language and literature (UCD), and PhD in Folklore (National University of Ireland). Author of thirty research books dealing with a wide range of culture, as well as five collections of poetry in Irish, three collections of short stories in Irish, and four radio plays in English. Has also published many research papers on folklore, literature and related topics. Associate Professor of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin. His collected poems in English, entitled Footsteps from Another World (publisher Philomel of London and Athens), was published in 2002.
Marjorie Quarton has farmed, dealt in horses, cattle and sheep, bred Border Collies and has written 13 published books. Marjorie can honestly say that she made her living almost entirely out of horse dealing for 35 years. She had a sketchy education and cared for her elderly parents until they died. The first of her books appeared in 1984 and she had a column in the Irish Field for many years. She retired from farming at the age of 68 and got a job with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, and is currently Supervisor to their second hand bookshop, ‘Book-ends’ in Abbey Lane. Nenagh. Her best known horse book is, Breakfast the Night Before.
Norman Storey, B.Agr.Sc is Equine Specialist Adviser at Teagasc, Kildalton College, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny. He is responsible for the development and management of the equine breeding unit at the college. He was an active member of the Irish Draught Horse Society for a number of years and served as Chairman of the Breeding Committee. He is secretary of the Kilkenny branch of the Society. He speaks and publishes regularly on Irish sport horse breeding.