| Dartfield Horse Museum |
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One parent's review of Dartfield Horse Museum:
It was a typical winter Galway afternoon when we decided to visit Dartfield Horse Museum. Driving along the Dublin Road with the rain pelting down and really poor visibility, I did question my sanity and had my fingers crossed that the place would be worth the effort.
Luckily for us that day, apart from the horses, most of the activity is indoors. The building itself is a great space and, there are lots of plans afoot to bring in extra exhibits. But even so, a quartet of large wooden rocking horses kept the kids amused for quite a while.
Then it was off for an explore of the place - you basically walk through a series of rooms, each with a different slant, so in one area you learn all about farm machinery (used by horses, of course!) and horse traps and carriages, including one the children could hop inside, which was a big hit.
Then it was onto the other sections, the first is all about horse physiology, which kept the older children busy for a while. Then on to a cinema and an art gallery which focused particularly on horse racing. The little ones raced through this bit.
Dartfield is obviously a big hit with horse riding tourists but the weather aside, on a good day you could easily spend the best part of a day there as there was so much to do. We are looking forward to warmer weather for a return visit.
By Conor, age 10. I really liked Dartfield Horse Museum. It was a very wintery day when we went there and I was disappointed because I thought we would not be able to have a ride on the horses.
But there is loads to do indoors and there is a really cute little shetland pony called Sunshine and we all got to have a ride on her. The stables are very smelly but you get used to it after a while. I saw lots of different horses in the stables and they have an Irish Wolfhound there and a big Irish setter too. There is a big play area when you go in and it has four really big wooden rocking horses which we all had a go on. Even though it was indoors, there is lots of space to run around. We got to sit in a really old carriage from olden times before we had cars. It had leather all over the inside and in those days, you had a driver who drove you all over the place. The Museum teaches all about the history of horses and the jobs they do, so you learn lots of interesting facts. For instances, horses work in farms and are very strong and there is a big section all about horse racing. One part has a model of a horses insides which was cool to see.  |
