Recent content by palo1

I suspect...but don't know, that ideally you/we would always work to create the balanced, responsive horse that contact no.1 supports, before jump training and only develop jumping when the no 1 contact is consistent over poles, small obstacles etc. The strength, balance and confidence of the...

He's a fab horse. Pearl Island Arabians are worth looking at too - wonderful working, sporting pure Bahraini Arabs and a lovely stud to deal with.

I don't think there is any ethical way to acquire fox urine and the CA are bonkers to perpetuate the fox urine narrative. I don't know any hunt using this though huntsman's urine is used as is shot fox marinade.

In animal welfare terms, acquiring fox urine should be illegal in the UK: it is an appallingly cruel 'trade'. It is, I understand, mostly acquired as a cat deterrent by keen gardeners.

Quite! 🤣 I've had a lovely day's trail hunting today. A children's meet with many small, quite excited ponies having a perfectly safe and fun day on the open hill. We saw 3 hares which were completely ignored by hounds (but not by dog walker's dogs) and local livestock including our own in-lamb...

I too only know the term venery in relation to hunting and hunting expertise.

They do indeed. If they are bored enough they will hassle shoots, anglers and legit drag hunts. They particularly enjoy disrupting professional shoots as they know that these earn landowners money and that as soon as they turn up, all the guns get locked up. It is a very easy win and generally...

Hounds are generally tattooed rather than chipped and are routinely wormed, jabbed and receive vet treatment. My local pack have all of this done via a farm vet and in this area it is standard practice. Kennels have isolation areas, heat lamps and whelping kennels and are available for...

I agree but I think it is important to understand the feelings and reasoning of those who will be affected.

I think that the issue is that hunters do not want hounds to lose the unique ability to track natural scent which is far trickier than the alternatives. Many foxhounds and harriers have already adapted but there is absolutely a loss of something in that adaptation. For hound keepers much is at...

I disagree - trail hounds can learn to follow an alternative scent and if that is what is required by any new law, that is what some/many hunts will do. many hunts already do this in any case. If all that changes is the requirement to use a non animal based scent, it will not be a huge problem...

I cannot imagine hound keepers just shooting their hounds; all those years of breeding and carefully developed bloodlines...it is actually unimaginable. Those hounds will need exercise, care, feed etc. The Ross Harriers, with whom I am familiar have done everything they can to safeguard their...

Yes, I understand this on a local level completely but policy has to be based on facts which I appreciate don't always feel sufficient to the issue.

Populism just isn't the right way to run a democracy though...

Yes, the wildlife crime element pushes the number of convictions up but that isn't necessarily related to trail hunting. There have been some vile hunting related incidents in those convictions and the law should meet those perpetrators very squarely and they should be banned from having any...