A rant about inconsiderate hunts!

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oldie48

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I have a small yard in Croome country but we are frequently visited by the Ledbury, who seem to stray over the boundary with regularity. I have absolutely no issue with hunting although I don't hunt myself. However, I do have horses that get very lit up with the hunt around, this trashes the paddocks, can result in pulled shoes and some very sweaty horses. I will, if given the opportunity eg a phone call, keep my horses in, though frankly, because it happens very frequently, it can be a bit of a pain. I was out this afternoon, but had got a couple of the horses in because I thought I might be late home. Thank goodness I did! Ledbury arrived around 16.00, a lovely competition pony who was still out, jumped a fence and galloped flat out down the lane for several miles, crossing a busy road and thank goodness, managed to keep upright and did not collide with any cars. What did the hunt do? Nothing! I am very very angry. I have had so many conversations with the Ledbury about their lack of communication, how do I resolve this issue?
 
oldie48 said:
I have had so many conversations with the Ledbury about their lack of communication, how do I resolve this issue?
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You need to kick ass. They rely on you being polite and ineffective, and will carry on ignoring you unless you ramp up your retaliation :).

Write to the hunt mastership, to the MFA, to H&H and if no satisfactory response, to the local press.

Inform the Ledbury that you will be billing them for any loss or damage to your stock resulting from a unpublicised incursion near your property. Of course, since post ban they are trail hunting, and will know exactly where they will be heading, it will be easy for them to know when they may be in your area, it's not like the old times, is it ;) ?!

And if they do it again, and you are at home, jump out and shout and rant at them for being ignorant idiots, before taking further more robust action.

Seriously, they are relying on you being wet, and not wanting to rock the boat. Stand up for yourself.

Hunts like this need naming and shaming, so well done. I'm not anti hunt, either, but have despaired at the attitude of some hunts locally (though things are currently going ok here).

I hope your pony is ok. My late dressage horse suffered a career ending suspensory injury in the field, most probably brought on by tearing around like an idiot when the hunt were near by, so I feel your pain. Like you, all I ask is to be warned, in advance, that the hunt is coming so that I can get the horses in beforehand.
 
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You have my every sympathy on this. Their lack of consideration beggars belief sometimes.......Alas, don,t expect too much sympathy about this issue......I expect you'll just be told its your fault for putting your horses out on your own land.....
 
Thank you so much for replying, I'm still so angry about it. This hunt saw the pony on the road and did nothing. thank goodness a neighbour saw him gallop down the lane and initially followed him on foot, then got a passing motorist to follow. I can't believe he got so far without injury to himself or causing an accident. I have had not one word from the hunt! Frankly, I don't expect sympathy, I do however, expect an apology and in the future, better communication. Especially as this is not the first time it has happened!
 
The Ledbury are not the only hunt with no manners, unfortunately. My horse escaped in full view of my local hunt & not one of the bar stewards offered assistance.
 
sometimes I wonder if banning the hunt had anything to do with the barbaric traditions of killing the fox and more to trying to rid the countryside of these rude, inconsiderate bunch of w&&**s!
I was very pleased when our farmer refused them access across his land :)
 
Taken from the Ledbury's website.

'A DAY’S HUNTING
For each day that hounds are taken out, one of the Joint Masters will be in charge. It will be his job, before the hunting day, to contact every farmer over whose land it is expected that hounds might cross and to seek permission for that to happen. During the day the Joint Master will be fully in charge and will lead the mounted members across country so that they can see and follow hounds hunting one of the many trails that have been laid. '

So there you are, they pre plan to where they are to go. They have no excuse for not letting local interested parties know of their plans in advance.

As for them not assisting in retrieving your pony, well that is appalling, and shows them in their true colours. Proper country and animal lovers? Bullocks. Selfish pillocks, more like.

OP, you really must take matters into your own hands and create a stink with the powers that be, or these boorish muppets will carry on in their own ignorant way.

TP (who has hunted with 7 different packs, none of whom would have dreamt of acting like this).
 
they often do not turn up on days they say they will (when we all keep out horses in) then just turn up un-announced on another day instead round here.
it is pure selfishness, I don't want a broken horse or a trashed field when it is easily avoided.
 
Oh dear, this brings back some unhappy memories for me. We very, very rarely saw the hunt years ago, but as more landowners have stopped them using their land, the hunt started to appear near the horse paddocks in my village. The mare in the field next to mine suffered an significant injury due to galloping wildly when she spotted/heard the hunt. The mare's owner contacted the hunt and promises were made to notify in future and the stay further away from the horses in the paddocks. The latter promise wasn't kept.

On the last occasion they were in the village, they were trespassing on farm land next to my paddock. Hubby held my (frightened but fairly steady) horse, whilst I tried to help my neighbour, who had her toddler grandson with her, whilst she was trying to soothe her hysterical mare. The little boy got frightened and tearful as some of the hunt members appeared at the top of the lane. My neighbour was between a rock and a hard place - she couldn't leave her grandson and didn't want to leave her horse. I went and stood in the middle of the lane and the Master tried to dodge past me, but I held my ground and side-stepped in front of his horse. I was nearly in tears and I saw his demeanor change from anger to embarrassment. "Do you want us to go?" he said. "Yes" I replied and swept my hand around to show what mayhem they were causing. In all fairness, the rest of the hunt were called and they rode away. But it shouldn't have to be like this. There's only one place in my village with horse paddocks, so it's not necessary to be riding near to them, as there are alternative routes. It was a totally selfish and highly dangerous situation. And then I had the joy of leading my horse 400m through the village to his stable at home... it wasn't a pleasant experience.
 
Tiddlypom said:
You need to kick ass. They rely on you being polite and ineffective, and will carry on ignoring you unless you ramp up your retaliation :).

Write to the hunt mastership, to the MFA, to H&H and if no satisfactory response, to the local press.

Inform the Ledbury that you will be billing them for any loss or damage to your stock resulting from a unpublicised incursion near your property. Of course, since post ban they are trail hunting, and will know exactly where they will be heading, it will be easy for them to know when they may be in your area, it's not like the old times, is it ;) ?!

And if they do it again, and you are at home, jump out and shout and rant at them for being ignorant idiots, before taking further more robust action.

Seriously, they are relying on you being wet, and not wanting to rock the boat. Stand up for yourself.

Hunts like this need naming and shaming, so well done. I'm not anti hunt, either, but have despaired at the attitude of some hunts locally (though things are currently going ok here).

I hope your pony is ok. My late dressage horse suffered a career ending suspensory injury in the field, most probably brought on by tearing around like an idiot when the hunt were near by, so I feel your pain. Like you, all I ask is to be warned, in advance, that the hunt is coming so that I can get the horses in beforehand.
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Agree with this.

Our hunt always go and see my YO a couple of days before they're near us and TBH, none of my horses have ever really charged around when they've been about (though they will often charge around for no good reason), they just tend to stand, watch and listen. Must be quite upsetting for owners with horses who are wound up by it and as said, there's no excuse, particularly these days, for them not to let you know they're going to be about.
 
marmalade76 said:
Agree with this.

Our hunt always go and see my YO a couple of days before they're near us and TBH, none of my horses have ever really charged around when they've been about (though they will often charge around for no good reason), they just tend to stand, watch and listen. Must be quite upsetting for owners with horses who are wound up by it and as said, there's no excuse, particularly these days, for them not to let you know they're going to be about.
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Couldn't agree more. Years ago it would have been quite a tedious job to telephone/call to see each landowner, but it's just a minute's job these days to send a group email to those who may be affected by the hunt visiting on a certain day.
 
I'm not anti hunt either really but since moving to my current hamlet have become incensed with their lack of communication. They canter through our village high street right next to two paddocks and past parked cars on both sides and mine and neighbours horses get so wound up. There's only two paddocks in the village so would be easy to let us know in advance so I could keep her stabled! Even worse they let or sent the whole pack of hounds right through my paddock last time, thank god she wasn't in there as I doubt they would have taken any different action if she had been. Just by a lack of communication they alienate people that wouldn't otherwise be anti hunting. I can't understand it at all.
 
We had a bit of a disaster with our local hunt just before Christmas. It was complete chaos - they lost half the hounds and ended up going backwards and forwards, winding up two of the horses from our yard who subsequently escaped and ended up about a mile away. By the time we found the horses it was pitch black so I drove behind them being walked to the yard and we encountered loads of riders on notoriously dangerous lanes in the pitch black. No hi-vis, *obviously*; it was shocking. Had that been a group of kids (or, heaven forfend, travellers) mucking about in the dark, merry hell would have been raised. The hounds were in our yard's paddocks and people's gardens were trampled. It was their arrogance and complete lack of consideration which really astonished me.
 
Phone the secretary and ask for the Master in charge of your bit of country (or the bit which borders yours) to come and see you and say sorry and promise to keep you in touch in future. They'd do it for a farmer. And if they have to keep on doing it they'll get bored and put some effort into being more helpful next time!
 
Thanks. i have done this on a number of occasions already as this is far from the the first time it has happened! I just don't understand why they keep coming off their own country. My local hunt is fine, will even tell me which part of the day they'll be around if I ask.
turnbuckle said:
Phone the secretary and ask for the Master in charge of your bit of country (or the bit which borders yours) to come and see you and say sorry and promise to keep you in touch in future. They'd do it for a farmer. And if they have to keep on doing it they'll get bored and put some effort into being more helpful next time!
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Last feb my cousins two biggest fields had just been harrowed and rolled and fertilised , unfortunately the contractor had failed to shut and re lock her main gateway, and the hunt laid a trail through these two fields, without her knowing and rode through that morning and near trashed them, broke a fence where the hedge had a gap in it first she knew about it was when one of the liveries came running in on a sat morning to tell her what had happened...she was livid to say the least, the contractor had just done his job and it had cost over £350 the fields were to be rested till late spring, and they now looked like a heard of elephants had run riot in them. She spoke to the hunt, who had the audacity to say as the gate was open they thought it was an invite to ride them! She threatened to sue them, and the master sent someone round to roll the fields a week or so later..she has had no trouble since..but she got real mad with hunt master .
 
I don't have much / anything to do with hunting, but can I just ask - do hunts lay a trail across whatever land they choose / can access, or do they only do it on land they have permission to be on (a specific farm's / estate's land)?
 
Our Hunt publishes a meet card with the telephone numbers of the Masters on it - mine is on the mantlepiece as I type.
Ask to be on the email list - all hunts must have one of these by now - and to receive a meet card.

I had the whipper-in in our yard last weekend, and a good view of the whole field coming down our track - for once I had turned out my horse as they "never" come this way! Luckily mine have never been hunting, and I was able to shut them in a small paddock with good fences.

Get on the phone OP and read the riot act.
 
The latter and on a recent day neighbouring land owner had said hunt staff only on their land not field as too wet which is completely reasonable to me and was duly followed. I've not seen anything but consideration from hunts. We did once come across an irate lady who had not been informed but was met with copious apologies from the master at the time and resolved after I think. At home mums mare goes loopy so we usually ask for a card and someone informs us of any changes even though they don't often actually get that close. I find it disappointing they some of the bigger names have cropped up several times on here recently as being less than polite and considerate as it really isn't hard to be especially when manners/etiquette is a huge thing for hunting and they need to keep friends! I wonder if those with similar experiences this season could perhaps write a group letter to MFHA and h+h?
 
Orangehorse said:
With permission of course!
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In theory they will have asked/been given permission, of course ;). In practice, well, that does come down to the individual hunt.

As we have heard on here, some are much better than others at doing it.

You would hope that the MFA and suchlike had teeth and were prepared to kick a$$ and force hunts to stay in line.
 
I have a meet card and knew they were meeting some distance away, what I don't know is when they decide to go "off country". As I said in my initial post, my local hunt is excellent at keeping me informed and I have absolutely no issue with them whatsoever.I've spoken to several of my neighbours and no-one knew they were coming although they went some distance from here and even further into Croome country.
Orangehorse said:
Our Hunt publishes a meet card with the telephone numbers of the Masters on it - mine is on the mantlepiece as I type.
Ask to be on the email list - all hunts must have one of these by now - and to receive a meet card.

I had the whipper-in in our yard last weekend, and a good view of the whole field coming down our track - for once I had turned out my horse as they "never" come this way! Luckily mine have never been hunting, and I was able to shut them in a small paddock with good fences.

Get on the phone OP and read the riot act.
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I am not anti hunting as before I had my baby in October I would go quite regularly however, I have often thought some of the packs bear to me are a law unto themselves and I have to say I've hunted with the ross harriers and the Cotswold and found them to be great but despite the Ledbury only being 10 miles from me I would never hunt with them. Their reputation presceeds them.....
 
Orangehorse said:
Our Hunt publishes a meet card with the telephone numbers of the Masters on it - mine is on the mantlepiece as I type.
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the hunt local to me publish a meet card too, the yard I stable a receives one, the problem is we all keep in on days the card says they are hunting from the pub next to the yard and they don't turn up till a few weeks later when all the horses are out because they have given us no warning.
 
oldie48 said:
Quick update on pony, he has thrown a small splint. He's lucky to be alive. I still feel sick thinking about what could have happened!
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Sorry to hear that. Indeed, he is very.
Thankfully, even though mine hunts, when the local pack goes through the village all 6 of ours are fine, they just gallop around a bit.

I think it was very inconsiderate and rude of them not catching your pony, or even telling you.
 
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