It's hard to believe it's been four years since we said goodbye to Jack.
This year, we've chosen to share a collection of stories and memories submitted by friends, family, and even strangers Jack had an effect on. Thank you to everyone who sent us a submission. We will continue to update this article with any more excerpts we receive - the link to follow should you wish to send in a story or memory can be found in our instagram bio or at the end of this article.
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"I never got to meet Jack personally. We were passing ships in the night on many occasions. I had heard many stories of the charming, witty, and talented Jack Dodd from friends. Upon his passing my husband was unusually moved, I didn’t understand it; to me they were just two lads who grew up around each other. My husband rode in Jack’s guard of honour and insisted it be on our best horse. I still didn’t quite grasp why. However, in the days following the outpouring of support from around the world for Jack himself and his loving parents Trish and David was absolutely breathtaking. While I cannot offer a personal story of Jack, I have come to know and appreciate what an amazing human he truly was, how many lives he touched, his work ethic, his perhaps devilish sense of humor, and the astronomically positive effect he had on his friends, family, horses etc. Jack’s butterfly effect stills ripples through the world to this day and for many more."
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"Well what can I say. I consider myself Jacks German mammy. He loved a nice dinner and a cuddle. A little funny memory was from when Jack first came to work with Cameron Hanley at Carl Hanley Sporthorses. The boys told Jack that wearing no jocks would be more comfortable for riding. Cameron decided to give Jack a lesson the first day he tried this and he made him ride with no stirrups for a good half hour. Needless to say the shared bathroom in our apartment had a cloud of talcum powder in it for a week.I also wouldn’t be one for expensive beauty products but we had our own shelf each in the bathroom and my stuff often got raided. Always wondered why he had baby soft cheeks. We love and miss you so much Jack but we are grateful to have so many precious memories xxx"
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“To be tough is to be fragile; to be tender is to be truly fierce”
Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces. Beautiful Book that makes you realise you are never alone."
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"My most outstanding memory of Jack was when I was learning to ride. I needed a box or I was never gonna get up. This particular day I was wearing Doc Martins and no box had appeared. So I put my foot in the stirrup and jumped. All that happened was I ended up on my back foot still in stirrup, luckily in the sand pit. Being very professional he was doing his best not to laugh but failing miserably. Edward was bent double. After that the box was always ready."
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"Jack always had that smile on his face. Doing what he was best at.He helped me at my hardest time in life after an accident who changed me and I wasn’t that brave person anymore. He pushed me and believed in me. So after a couple of months I was back in the saddle and was jumping again. Still today it’s hard but I’m believing that Jack still is watching over me and all of us. Making him proud! He always believed in me and now it’s my turn to believe in his words and in myself again.I love you JD and you will always be remembered as that funny guy with a great smile. Always and forever!"
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"Jack came to Enniskerry to give myself and a few others a lesson and I remember talking to him afterwards in a friends house and he was showing me funny videos on his phone and all I can remember was his laugh. His laugh and smile could light up a room. Afterwards himself and David dropped me home and my stomach was sore getting out of the car because of how much he made me laugh. I will always remember him for his humour and his infectious smile."
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"My first memory of Jack will always be my favorite. During the first few days I was in Ireland we all gathered in the Dodd’s kitchen before a night out. Jack was working on his leaving cert at the time. Into the kitchen he came in a white button down shirt, and Trish said: Jack that’ll get filthy! Jack responded with a smile: don’t worry, we have Vanish Oxy Action! I laugh about this moment to this day—even thought it was silly. His sense of humor, silliness and wit. He could bring brightness and lightness and laughter to any room. Happy birthday, Jack—I miss you."
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“I want to start my own business because I want to be the boss. I can’t take anyone telling me what to do anymore!”
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"Jack’s laugh. High-pitched, light, airy, absolutely contagious. He laughed, he smiled with his whole face."
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"Jack’s T-Rex arms"
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"I hate and love when my phone randomly slap me with a picture of Jack in the Memory feed. I hate it because it’s still hard to thing about how he was gone too soon, but I love to rediscover all Jack’s pictures and video that I didn’t even remember I had and always make me smile."
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"You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happyWhen skies are grey
You’ll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away"
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"I grew up with Jack and all at the yard and was very lucky to have Jack be my trainer. To narrow it down to a single memory would be tough but I suppose what stands out is the craic that would be had in and out of the arena. Now in the arena it was business no doubt and he was alway tough but very fair. Even after a hard session if it didn’t go great I’d always some get positive feedback, always. Even if not always deserved! Jack came to all my shows always made sure both me and the horse were well turned out and was my biggest supporter. Best times and the best memories I’ll always have and am so very thankful for."
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"The year I groomed for Jack in millstreet, he made me breakfast once .. scrambled eggs needless to say I have never had eggs like them since ! It was the best millstreet show I had nothing but laughs , craic and mostly I learned a lot from him ."
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"I’ve never met a guy before that likes to sing publicly more than Jack! Hours and hours in the car… Irish folk songs and eventually it was only Old Town Road from Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. Literally every day he was singing this song out loud! I got crazy from that zong but now it’s the sweetest memory of him!"
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"Jack was in Oliva on show for a few weeks during February. He called every day and sending pictures. And on February 14th on Valentines day I received the nicest bouquet of red roses from him. He literally thought of all these things!"
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"For me Jacks death just put my mind in overload. Trying to quiet the the thoughts and noise in my head became a battle One of the ways I found was to read. This quote led me to one of my favourite books “To be tough is to be fragile, to be tender is to be truly fierce “ The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich. Well worth the read"
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"I still reach for my phone and go to call him at times, forgetting for a moment that he's no longer with us. You were the most wonderful friend and I will never, ever, forget you"
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"Little J - I called Jack little J because he always called Derin big D. He was actually saved on my phone as little J. I don’t remember where it started or how, and he was everything but little, but somehow it stuck, and every time I saw him I would call him Little J ♥️"
-------- 2023 Update - New Submissions --------
"Growing up I spent a lot of time going to work with my father Jeremy, who is a well known farrier. One of my favourite places to go was to the stable of Vinnie Duffy. There I would get to play alongside Michael Duffy, and jack Dodd. We got up to all sorts as 10 year old kids would! One winter we had a lot of snow, so we decided we would go to the home of jack, where there were lots of hills to slide down in the snow. The best hill was right beside a small river which ran along the edge of the field. Jack had the ingenious plan to get one of the summer blow up mattresses from holidays as it had the right amount of slide and speed needed for the job. First up to demonstrate was jack. Michael and I launched jack off the top of the hill with all our might. Jack broke new bobsledding records for Ireland down that hill only to head directly towards the river! Thank god we chose a floating device that day or it would have quickly changed into a scuba diving mission to rescue jack from the cold river. A long stick drew jack back to the banks of safety." - Dr Lucia Dawson-Stanley
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"I will never forget my favorite encounter with Jack. We were both competing at quite a prestigious event, the first day I managed to clinch the win by a very small margin - so Jack made it his duty to try and get me drunk in that evenings party, to say the least I was wasted, trying to keep up with the Irish was impossible but I think I had one of the most enjoyable evenings ever… what he hadn’t thought about was that he would also have to drink, long story short we both still jumped clear somehow! Thank you for the most fun Jack! We miss you!"
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"When we were all fairly bo***xed at the end of a long day in a busy yard and the riders had to design and build a course for the next day. Jack to the rescue!! I can’t remember why we couldn’t use the tractor (but had to go a fair distance carrying jumps and wings). On wud come Jack with the Mercedes Benz that had a draw bar!! Our feckin hero!! He didn’t have the arrogant and sickeningly positive attitude of ‘let’s get this done’, it was more like ‘c’mon to fek lads, this is crap; it’s 9pm but shur we can get this shit done’! And ‘pure torture’ was spat out a good few times!! But we always backed up Jack. At the end of the day, he was responsible for the end result and we were all aware of this. But we were all on the same side and Jack kept us all going til the job was done. Jack had a heart of gold and respect for all levels of employment and that’s why we wanted to do well for/with him. Loved always"
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"I asked him once about opening my own business. He replay “you will have a lot more stress, a lot less sleep but good days will be better then ever before” 5 years later it’s exactly how he said it. Miss his sense of humor. His “ what’s the craic” with his Irish accent."
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"The first time I met Jack was when I went to the Netherlands to work with horses. We'd cross over to Belgium now and then to go to different shows but the first time I crossed over to Belgium I was lucky enough to have dinner with some Irish show jumpers and grooms that were there in Sentower for a show. I didn't know what to eat in the restaurant but Jack gave me a run down and I ended up choosing his favourite the 'Kapsalon'. He always made people feel comfortable and that's even more important when you're away from home."
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Thank you, everyone.
Should you wish to share your stories or memories of jack, please follow the link below: forms.gle/FB1xbomRWdvzVbYA6
We will be updating this article with any and all excerpts we receive going forward.
