Two Curragh training yards, the laboratory that safeguards Ireland’s horses, a six-course evening in the former home of Paddy “Darkie” Prendergast and the farms where horses still earn their keep: the new line-up runs far past the racecourse rails.

Irish National Stud, Co. Kildare, 14 July 2026

Horse Country has released nine new bookable experiences across Counties Kildare and Tipperary, its largest expansion since the network launched in April 2025 with ten. Based at the National Equine Innovation Centre at the Irish National Stud, Horse Country has spent that first year championing the two counties at home and abroad as the heartland of the Irish thoroughbred. Six experiences joined along the way; these nine bring the total to 25.

Inside the racing yard

Ross O’Sullivan trains on the edge of the Curragh Plains, and Ross O’Sullivan Racing invites small groups into the morning racegoers never see: farriers at work, riders legging up, thoroughbreds heading out to the private gallops. The visit finishes with brunch at the O’Sullivan kitchen table.

Down the road at Rangers Lodge, a Curragh yard with more than a century of history, Richard Brabazon hosts Starting Point: The Making of a Racehorse. Guests watch young horses learn their trade, then join Richard for coffee and stories in the family’s 1880 home. Every visitor leaves with a horseshoe.

An evening at the Champions Table

The Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge was once home to Paddy “Darkie” Prendergast, the trainer forever linked with Classic winners. Champions Table begins with a garden reception and a browse through memorabilia from the Prendergast years, then seats guests at one long candlelit table for a six-course tasting menu drawn from Kildare’s farmland. Fran Berry, the former champion jockey, hosts alongside racing broadcaster Kevin O’Ryan, telling the stories that never make the racecard.

The science behind the horse

The Irish Equine Centre in Johnstown runs the disease surveillance and forensic testing that protect Ireland’s horse population. Inside the Irish Equine Science Laboratory Experience puts visitors in a lab coat, goggles and gloves for 90 minutes: a tour of the laboratories, a life-size anatomical horse and a live experiment carried out with the scientists themselves.

Kildare from the saddle

Darragh and Gráinne O’Neill farm 220 acres near Clane, and Abbeyfield Farm offers three ways to see it from the saddle. Ride cobbled lanes through meadows and barley fields with the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains on the horizon. Help move the farm’s pedigree cattle to fresh pasture, a job done here the traditional way, horse and rider together. Or pair an hour’s ride with clay pigeon shooting, rifle shooting or archery on the farm’s own range.

The horses that built rural Ireland

In the Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary, John and Ailish’s family have farmed Corderry for seven generations. Their evening Art of Horse Logging Experience introduces Rupert, an Irish Draught who hauls timber on voice commands, before a Connemara pony demonstrates traditional log handling beneath the Galtee Mountains. Homemade scones, tea and local preserves round off the visit, and the family plants a native hedgerow sapling for every 30 guests who come.

Lullymore Heritage Park sits in the Bog of Allen, and The Working Horse Heroes is its tribute to the animals that once powered daily life there. Storytellers Johnny and Ray, whose own families worked the canal barges, introduce Irish Cobs, donkeys, Kerry Bog Ponies and the tiny Falabellas grazing the restored peatlands. A thatched cottage, a forge and a bog boardwalk complete the route, and the park, electric train included, is fully accessible.

Booking

All nine are open for booking at horsecountry.ie, with adult prices from €30. Private and group bookings are available on request, and each can be bought as a gift through Gift the Experience.

“People come to Kildare and Tipperary for the racing, then discover the racing is only half of it,” said Ayra Thapa, spokesperson for Horse Country. “We launched just over a year ago with ten experiences and a promise to show visitors the Ireland behind the thoroughbred. These nine take you further in than we have ever gone: a trainer’s kitchen table, a laboratory bench, a wood where a draught horse still pulls timber.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The nine new experiences:

About Horse Country
Horse Country is Ireland’s equine tourism network, taking visitors inside the studs, training yards and racing institutions of Counties Kildare and Tipperary. Launched in April 2025 with ten experiences, the collection now numbers 25. Horse Country is operated by Thoroughbred Country CLG from the National Equine Innovation Centre at the Irish National Stud, in association with Fáilte Ireland, Horse Racing Ireland, Kildare County Council and Tipperary County Council. Bookings, race day tickets, itineraries and gift experiences are available at horsecountry.ie.

Media contact
Ayra Thapa | marketing@horsecountry.ie | +353 87 343 3535
High-resolution images of all nine experiences are available on request.