Saturday 18 February 2012

A rare treat

Earlier this week I got a phone call from my sister to ask if I wanted to join her on a visit to a local hunt meeting today. We are lucky enough to know the Master of the Hunt and he knew that we would both enjoy it.

Rodders and I were up early so that we could get to my sisters and have time for him to have a runabout and a play before being left in his crate at hers.

We left for the hunt meet just before 10am and got there in time to join them for a cooked breakfast held in a barn at a farm. It was a brilliant set up and a great breakfast with Sausage, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, beans, bread, croissants, jam, marmalade, tea, coffee and orange juice. There were loads of tables and chairs set out in the middle and stalls around the edge and they had heaters running to keep us all cosy.

We were given the wink by the Master of the Hunt so that we could make sure that we were outside to see the arrival of the hounds, it is quite a sight to see them running up the drive to where the rest of the hunt participants were congregating. I did get to see the eagle, needed to give the hunt legal but missed the decent photo opportunity. It was lovely to see how many young riders were out there to join in the fun. The hounds were running about through the crowd, having a sniff here, a fuss there, having a great time. Once everyone had drunk their warming port and everyone was mounted up the hinting horn sounded and the hounds immediately stopped their fun and were ready for work.

The Master of the Hunt had been out the day before to set the trail, they tend to follow a scent set by humans nowadays rather than foxes so he was able to tell them which way they were heading off.  As a country girl I think this is a bit sad, but I am a traditionalist!



















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