Parnell

One upon a very long time ago, I was young and adventurous and thin.  Especially the thin part.  It was 1995 and the summer after my sophmore year of college - I was 21, the same age as the Lone Wolf is now!.  My oldest and dearest friend Cris, spent the year abroad in London.  After I got over being incredible jealous, Cris invited me that summer to spend a few weeks wandering England and Ireland.  The summer of 1995 rocked!

There was a lot to this trip, and as it was one of the best trips of my life, I'll go into more detail about various aspects of it in later posts.  For now though, I just want to talk about one part of the Ireland trip.

We managed to make our way to Dublin and from there out to County Wicklow (isn't it cute how they use the word county first instead of last?  Love those foreigners!).  We stayed at a beautiful B&B called the Laragh Trekking Centre which also offered horse and pony rides all over the Wicklow mountains.  We specifically chose this B&B for the horses.  And man, we weren't disappointed.

Please let me introduce you to Parnell.  Parnell is an Irish draft horse and at the time, was the second largest horse in all of Ireland at 24 1/2 hands tall.  Now, let me put that in perspective for you.  Most horses average between 14-16 hands.  Yeah, he was a big horse.

Please forgive these photos, I was using a film point and shoot, this was way before digital cameras and any sense of shooting good photos came into my life.

I stand 5'6 if that helps bring perspective to this photo. (Please ignore the fact that I'm wearing short boots.  I was 21 and dumb.  Thin, but dumb.)

Still don't believe me, here's my foot next to his.

And here's a view of Parnell (in the center) compared to the other two Irish draft horses we rode with.

And for all his strength and power, Parnell was a sweet tempered horse.  I loved that horse.  And my best friend and her boyfriend were nice enough to let me have him all to myself.  Thanks again guys!

If you ever want to experience a different kind of life, try staying at this B&B and going on one of these rides.  We rode all over the countryside seeing ruins of old churches, sheep free grazing and amazing vistas.  It's worth it.  Laragh Trekking Centre doesn't have a website, but you can contact them by phone.

Laragh Trekking Centre
Glenmacnass Road
Glendalough
Wicklow
Phone: +353 (0)404 45282
Fax: 404 45204

 It's can't miss if you're going to be in Ireland.

Anyone else have some must visit places either in Ireland or elsewhere?

Seriously.. Thoughts? 

ps.. this is not an advertisement, the Laragh Trekking Centre likely doesn't remember me and could care less about my little blog here.  I just loved the place a lot.