TG4 to broadcast mini-series on AIRC members

TG4 will broadcast the first of a four part mini-series, Ar Mhuin na Muice agus na gCapall, on Sunday night (11^th January) at 9:30pm which follows members of Donegal Gaeltacht Riding Club.

The club is based in the north-west region of Cloich Ceann Fhaola in Co. Donegal.  Against the backdrop of the Derryveagh Mountains, the consuming passion for the members of this club is their love for their animals and their sport, spending all their spare time and money indulging in their hobby.

Life inside Cumann Marcaíochta Dún na nGall is certainly a colourful one. Elitism doesn’t come into it in this particular club, it’s for young and old alike, the novice and the more accomplished.

In Ar Mhuin na Muice agus na gCapall, the drama of the competition both within the county and further afield punctuates the rhythm of life as it is lived in this Gaeltacht parish.  We witness the tears, tantrums, trials and tribulations inside this equestrian world across the year and gain insights into life in the broader community too.  For the many members of this particular riding club, it’s a life better lived in the company of the horse.

In the first programme, it’s horses not reindeer that Santa Claus is preparing for the task of pulling his sleigh on his visit to Falcarragh, we hear how the oldest member of the club took up the sport at the ripe old age of 67, builder Eamonn McGee attempts his first jump and has his first fall and we find out how the North West League is progressing for the Donegal Gaeltacht Riding Club.

Episode two sees the members of the Donegal Gaeltacht Riding Club put the finishing touches to their St. Patrick’s Day parade, it’s not good news for Patricia Warren’s best pony Colorado who has a growth in a most unfortunate place and Manus Kelly and Micky McHugh set off in the lorry to compete at the National Hunter Trials in Tipperary.

Episode three and it’s all to play for as members of the club head for the RDS show-jumping qualifiers in Sligo with hope in their hearts.  Áilbhe Kelly is struggling to balance studying for exams with her passion for riding while her father,estate agent Manus Kelly, faces his own challenge of trying to sell a house on an offshore island.  It’s also the club’s biggest event of the year, organising their popular beach show which attracts visitors from all over the country.

The final programme sees Manus Kelly and Micky McHugh attempt a local triathlon, the girls from the North West Pony Club anxiously travel to Wexford to compete at their biggest event to date; the Irish Pony Club Festival, while the grown-ups have to manage their own nerves in Stradbally Co. Laois where they have one last chance at qualifying for the RDS.  It’s exam results time for Áilbhe Kelly and the equestrian year is drawing to a close in the Donegal Gaeltacht.

Ar Mhuin na Muice agus na gCapall is an Imagine Media Production for TG4, with support from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund.

Broadcasting weekly from 11/1/15 at 21:30 on TG4, with a repeat weekly from the 12/1/15 at 19:30.