Kallibear
Well-Known Member
And he was
He's a big gentle clumsy muppet at home and is always easy and laidback but today he found his calling in life.
It was his first time out and I had borrowed him from a (very trusting!) friend.
If anyone's hunted with the Lauderdale hunt before, it is seriously hill country. Not a single flat field in sight. None of this galloping over green fields hopping hedges, this is proper 4x4 ing, scrabbling up and down scraggy heatherland at a canter. I hunted once as a child down in devon and it was worlds apart. Scary stuff if you're a woose about going fast down hills (I.e me) and you've got a horse who's legs are usually only loosely attached to his brain.
He was a bit fidgetty and excited being tacked up but stood quietly whilst everyone gatheredd. We set of with an unusual spring in his step but fairly calm. Until a hairy moment when the quad roared past and spooked him, he lept sideways only to find a horse on the other side, having an even bigger paddy, and terrified he even more Bad words may have been said and arms wrapped round his plunging neck. At this point I was wondering if I'd made a mistake in taking him.
Thankfully he calmed quickly as soon as he was away from plunging horses and sauntered along near the back on a loose rein, me very relieved and regaining hope at surviving the day. We walked across the side of a hill for 10min, chatting to many very nice people.
The hounds picked up a scent very quickly and we spent a good 10min watching them being very enthusiastic but utterly useless at flushing the fox in a ravine 20ft below us. Then they started to run back the way we'd just come. Cue us going from the nice quiet back to the very front with everyone thundering past us
He managed to hold it together for a bit but when his neighbour leapt up the 4ft bank to the side and bolted across the hillside, Rebel decided that looked fun and followed suit Now I'd decided this definitely was a huge mistake and desperately wished I'd gone with my initial instinct to put a gag or pelham in.. Excited fresh horse is fine. 600kg of irish draught galloping blindly across the side of a hill with absolutely no intention of stopping is not fun. Thankfully he quickly sobered up and slowed down when he realised everyone else was going the other way!
The blast did him the world of good (but not my nerves or my arm sockets) and it was like a switch flicked in his head. Because he then mooched carefully down into the stream bed, ignored all the suicidal/out of control horses charging down past him then set off at a steady careful gallop back up the fields on the otherside.
After that he'd got the idea. He lolloped along keeping up but not trying to overtake. He slowed when everyone slowed and picked up when they did. He watched where he was going and was steady and sure footed.
Unfortunately I was rather less trusting and had to really work on just letting him get on with it. At no point did he give me reason to worry but I can't let go of my anxiety of moving at speed down poor terrain. It was the cause of a bit of pulling and discussion between us as I wanted him to trot carefully down steep bits and round bends and he thought I was just being a right pansy and needed to man up and stop interfering with his efforts to keep up!
As an idea of our terrain, at one point we trot/cantered down a 1:3 stone track, hair pin bend into a stubble, down a 6ft 45degree slope/drop in clay mud in trot/canter, across the stubbled dip (on a slope) with a bog in the middle, back up a similar 6ft drop/slope but with a tight bend through a broken gap in a stone wall, whilst trying to avoid the wither height trees and across the side of a 1:3 hill at a canter. Stand whilst the hounds worked in the woods then repeat in reverse at a rather faster speed. And you know what? He didn't slip, trip or stumble even once despite me having my heart in my mouth. But even still I couldn't let go of my fear that we'd fall if I didn't hold his head up
At various points I was equally glad he doesn't wear shoes (steady canter up the roads) and thinking he should maybe have shoes on ( cantering over crushed rubble). But he didn't take a single ouchy step and his feet weren't sore when we got home so I'm more than glad of the agility the lack of shoes gave him.
Towards the end (2hrs of pretty much nonstop moving) he was starring to tire, at which point he did start slipping and also getting strong. I think he was starting to worry that he might not be able to keep up now he was tiring. So we called it a day, said good night and walked the mile or so home to the lorry. On seeing the lorry I thought he'd be releived but instead he seemed disappointed. Washed off then drove home and seemed chipper when I unloaded but this evening when he came in he was so sleepy and knackered but doesn't look sore or stiff. I think he'll be a bit stiff in the morning though so a gentle inhand walk and some stretching is on order.
So, the gist of my long rambling report is : he's a star and we're going to try to go again next weekend.
Handsome clever horsey
Watching the hounds work below us. And a small indication of the land type.
He's a big gentle clumsy muppet at home and is always easy and laidback but today he found his calling in life.
It was his first time out and I had borrowed him from a (very trusting!) friend.
If anyone's hunted with the Lauderdale hunt before, it is seriously hill country. Not a single flat field in sight. None of this galloping over green fields hopping hedges, this is proper 4x4 ing, scrabbling up and down scraggy heatherland at a canter. I hunted once as a child down in devon and it was worlds apart. Scary stuff if you're a woose about going fast down hills (I.e me) and you've got a horse who's legs are usually only loosely attached to his brain.
He was a bit fidgetty and excited being tacked up but stood quietly whilst everyone gatheredd. We set of with an unusual spring in his step but fairly calm. Until a hairy moment when the quad roared past and spooked him, he lept sideways only to find a horse on the other side, having an even bigger paddy, and terrified he even more
Bad words may have been said and arms wrapped round his plunging neck. At this point I was wondering if I'd made a mistake in taking him. Thankfully he calmed quickly as soon as he was away from plunging horses and sauntered along near the back on a loose rein, me very relieved and regaining hope at surviving the day. We walked across the side of a hill for 10min, chatting to many very nice people.
The hounds picked up a scent very quickly and we spent a good 10min watching them being very enthusiastic but utterly useless at flushing the fox in a ravine 20ft below us. Then they started to run back the way we'd just come. Cue us going from the nice quiet back to the very front with everyone thundering past us
He managed to hold it together for a bit but when his neighbour leapt up the 4ft bank to the side and bolted across the hillside, Rebel decided that looked fun and followed suit
Now I'd decided this definitely was a huge mistake and desperately wished I'd gone with my initial instinct to put a gag or pelham in.. Excited fresh horse is fine. 600kg of irish draught galloping blindly across the side of a hill with absolutely no intention of stopping is not fun. Thankfully he quickly sobered up and slowed down when he realised everyone else was going the other way!The blast did him the world of good (but not my nerves or my arm sockets) and it was like a switch flicked in his head. Because he then mooched carefully down into the stream bed, ignored all the suicidal/out of control horses charging down past him then set off at a steady careful gallop back up the fields on the otherside.
After that he'd got the idea. He lolloped along keeping up but not trying to overtake. He slowed when everyone slowed and picked up when they did. He watched where he was going and was steady and sure footed.
Unfortunately I was rather less trusting and had to really work on just letting him get on with it. At no point did he give me reason to worry but I can't let go of my anxiety of moving at speed down poor terrain. It was the cause of a bit of pulling and discussion between us as I wanted him to trot carefully down steep bits and round bends and he thought I was just being a right pansy and needed to man up and stop interfering with his efforts to keep up!
As an idea of our terrain, at one point we trot/cantered down a 1:3 stone track, hair pin bend into a stubble, down a 6ft 45degree slope/drop in clay mud in trot/canter, across the stubbled dip (on a slope) with a bog in the middle, back up a similar 6ft drop/slope but with a tight bend through a broken gap in a stone wall, whilst trying to avoid the wither height trees and across the side of a 1:3 hill at a canter. Stand whilst the hounds worked in the woods then repeat in reverse at a rather faster speed.
And you know what? He didn't slip, trip or stumble even once despite me having my heart in my mouth. But even still I couldn't let go of my fear that we'd fall if I didn't hold his head up At various points I was equally glad he doesn't wear shoes (steady canter up the roads) and thinking he should maybe have shoes on ( cantering over crushed rubble). But he didn't take a single ouchy step and his feet weren't sore when we got home so I'm more than glad of the agility the lack of shoes gave him.
Towards the end (2hrs of pretty much nonstop moving) he was starring to tire, at which point he did start slipping and also getting strong. I think he was starting to worry that he might not be able to keep up now he was tiring. So we called it a day, said good night and walked the mile or so home to the lorry. On seeing the lorry I thought he'd be releived but instead he seemed disappointed. Washed off then drove home and seemed chipper when I unloaded but this evening when he came in he was so sleepy and knackered but doesn't look sore or stiff. I think he'll be a bit stiff in the morning though so a gentle inhand walk and some stretching is on order.
So, the gist of my long rambling report is : he's a star and we're going to try to go again next weekend.
Handsome clever horsey
Watching the hounds work below us. And a small indication of the land type.
