P R I C E. L I S T

It was Sir Dermot McCalmont’s vision, over 100 years ago, to improve the Estate’s agribusiness management over its then 4,500 acres, to properly balance the ecosystems that embrace the fox.

Today, over 100 years later, The Kilkenny Hunt Club is a group of passionate equestrians who place the value of Ireland’s rich, and millenia old, agriculture and farm businesses at the top of their priorities to manage and sustain the first industry that Ireland was, and still is today, known for. Farming. All while properly managing wildlife, working toward a balance that honors the lives and souls of this very special place for all who call it home.

The Kilkenny Hunt Club has been in operation, 95% volunteer driven, for over 100 continuous years.

Offered seasonally, your engagement in participating in the Hunt is available starting some time around November 1st each year. And continuing sometime through March 15th the following year. The start and end dates for the Hunt season are reliant, as all farming management is, on the weather.

As the season kicks off, The Kilkenny Hunt hunts every Tuesday and Saturday. Start times for hunt dates begin with us at Mount Juliet Equestrian generally around 8 am to start the day. When we join up with the Hunt at the start location, hunts can go as long as five to six hours. Providing a defined opportunity for around 38 hunt dates each season. A truly special and limited offering.

The Hunt is for advanced riders only. 

Participating in the Hunt will put every single one of your advanced riding skills to the test.

Through gentle and stunning meadow and forest lands, all the way to the most rigorous creek and river crossings, up and down the most challenging slopes, and up and over some of the most craggled and ancient stone walls. On mounts built and developed for their incomparable skills in the Irish open, and often untamed, landscape. 

You and your mount will experience an equestrian tradition that challenges the very best of us to employ every single one of our best horsemanship skills.

Through Mount Juliet Equestrian, this is an offering for up to 4 guests per Hunt date.

Guests are required to prepare in advance with your Mount Juliet Equestrian Certified Elite Trainer the day before each hunt – Mondays and Fridays, for a 3 hour private session.

During this session riders must demonstrate a mastery of all skills, starting at the walk, to the trot, to the canter, to a very rigorous hand gallop.

After a break, riders are required to have an all clear round in our show jumping arena on a specifically selected Hunt mount through a course with advanced technical features for a total of 16 jumps set at a minimum of 1 meter.

Following a break, riders are required to demonstrate their working knowledge of all tack required to complete a successful hunt, as well as a demonstration of all working knowledge about their mount and what creates a successful partnership while out on the Hunt between rider and mount.

On the day of the Hunt guests will meet with their Certified Elite Trainer at the Centre to begin their epic journey forward into one of the most incredible adventures any rider could ever dream of.

Hunts can occur for The Kilkenny Hunt Club throughout all of County Kilkenny. Transport of rider[s] and mount[s] from our Centre to the Hunt start location is included in the investment of this offering.

Riders must provide their proper hunt attire. If a rider is without arrangements can be made through our Centre to properly secure correct riding attire for each guest.

The rider’s duration in the Hunt is commensurate with each individual rider’s skill and physical ability. Riders are welcome to depart the Hunt at any time. Our livery team will be on hand at predetermined locations along the Hunt to collect riders and mounts who need to end earlier than the final end time for each Hunt.

Your Hunt experience includes snacks and lunch catered by Mount Juliet Estate, prepackaged and brought out with our livery team along the Hunt path.

And for everyone, whether hunting to the very last call of the hunting horn, or departing at any point along the path, your investment includes the traditional ‘ Wet Meet ‘ at the end of the Hunt. A gathering of all who joined up, to raise glasses in slainte [Irish cheers] to a successful day investing in the value of Irish family farming and agribusiness.

€1,685 pp

Of special note. 

The Kilkenny Hunt and Mount Juliet Equestrian honor an ethically driven approach to the Hunt as required by Irish law. 

Before there were the industries we know today of Tourism, Pharma, and Tech, Ireland was for milenia a farming country and culture. The quiltwork of the entire country’s landscape speaks to this milenia old DNA that is without comparable the world over.

As with any farming endeavour, there are many day to day hurdles that require management in order for a family farm to thrive and be viable in an ever competitive regional and global economy.

The fox has no natural predator in Ireland. There is not a natural order that keeps the foxes population numbers in check. 

Foxes are cute. Yes. And they are very intelligent animals. Yes. And like all living souls they require respect, empathy and support. As a rule, they can be quite cunning and destructive. This is especially true when their numbers are left unchecked. Leading to the destruction of livestock – chickens, ducks, pheasants, fertile and unfertile eggs, baby pigs, baby cows, baby horses, and others. Often foxes don’t kill for sustenance. 

For a hunt to take place – one that results in the killing of a fox – an Irish farmer must follow Irish law through local agricultural offices to request the removal of a fox or foxes form their property. Once approved, the local Irish agricultural office contacts the area’s Hunt Club and provides legal and official approval for the removal of a fox or foxes under Irish law and guidelines. In a structured hunt it is illegal to kill a fox without following Irish law and guildelines.

Together with the hounds, the Master Hunstman and the Whips, manage the very real and important work of the killing of the fox or foxes and the proper removal and disposal of their bodies from a farmer’s lands. Done with care and respect.

Our guests do not participate in the actual killing or removal of the fox or foxes. 

The Hunt is an integral and important part of agribusiness and farm management in Ireland. A tool we value and support.