Following on from Subs...

[Weezy]

Would you hunt if it was cheaper? Would you hunt more if it was cheaper?

Just thinking out loud really - I would hunt weekly if the charge to me was, say £25, but I cannot afford £60, I cannot afford to buy 8 tickets (OH would freak), so I will hunt less than I would like to.

Would it not be more sensible for hunts to take what they are offered and up their supporters rather than have less followers as people cannot afford it? I am pretty sure that those who can afford full subscription charges would continue to pay, but reduced subs for those who cannot afford to pay for full wouldn't be a bad idea - or do you think it would breed animosity? I would be happy to gate shut every other time I went out for instance, to pay my way...

If I was given full weekday membership, for the season, for, say £500 then I would be a very happy bunny - I don't feel it fair to pay for Saturdays when I never attend.

Anyway, am rambling - thoughts?

 

[ihatework]

I would ideally like to hunt the youngster next year but at £60-80 that just isn't going to happen unless he really really needs to go out. I'd rather spend that money on 2 lessons and utilize 'fun rides' for his education

 

[Weezy]

Exactly! I think young horses should have reduced subs if they are being aimed at eventing - maybe a scheme run in conjunction with the BE?

See I have always been subsidised as I have accompanied minors, but I have none to accompany this season so I have to pay full whack and it is going to hurt Will do a fun ride every month, hunt once a month and have 2 lessons I think - argh, but then there are entry fees...ho hum, God knows what I will do!

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

our hunt has subs for weekdays only... VAHGSB

 

[Haniki]

We've had endless debates about this at our hunt committee meetings Wheezy! Whether to charge less to get more people out or keep the charges up to pay for the hunt so less fundraising by the committee and supporters club. We have a mix of people down here some wealthy and others (like me) who struggle to pay a full sub. It costs over £1000 a week to run our hunt kennels. We now have 5 masters to help share any surplus overheads. Wages are generally low in the far South West.

 

[SSM]

Our hunt is charging

£40 for Mondays
£80 for Thursdays

You can buy a five day ticket for the Thursdays but not for the Mondays - and it was bl**dy expensive

I too cannot afford Thursdays, will get out a few Mondays, but is also means taking a day off work which is a pain.

Readyfield are only £35 and go out Saturdays and Sundays - so as much as I love true hunting (watching the hounds work is poetry in motion) I will be Bloodhounding this season.

 

[brighteyes]

I coughed up £50 to hunt on the children's meet - wouldn't have missed it for the world, but it means I can't go out again for ages. Think it's unfair on full payers if others (me) get cheap deals, but wish I could go every weekend. I would happily pay £25 to join in, as my kids go (and I pay £30 for both) £55 total for us three is about as much as I think is justifiable in my case! I've the non-horsy OH to consider and all that.

Not an easy one and I am very grateful our hunt waives that 'subscribe or don't ask' and I can ring up any day and just go if the price is right.

I definitely would go more often if it was cheaper.

 

[Maesfen]

Exactly! I think young horses should have reduced subs if they are being aimed at eventing - maybe a scheme run in conjunction with the BE?

Perhaps that is the way to go; get BE on board and see if you can get the discounts that are given to qualifying point to pointers as they only go a few times a season - well supposed to! :grin:

I personally think they should lower the cost so that people have more of a chance to afford going more frequently; as you say, more heads means more money. Only disadvantage I can see is if farmers complain at the size of the field but that could be sorted by regulation of actual numbers per day or something.
We need more people to hunt, we need more youngsters to get hooked with it too; it's totally stupid to ignore that.

 

[Weezy]

One meet at the end of last season 6 of us from the yard wanted to go (on a weekday when field is usually no more than 20) - we only wanted to go for 2 hours and we could all afford to pay £20 per head and as our YO is the old Hunt Secretary she tried to arrange it for us - we got a resounding *no* which meant the hunt was £120 worse off We had all hunted with them before and we wouldn't have taken the mickey and YO was willing to vouch for the lot of us, but there was no leeway

 

[xhannahx]

this is exactly what friend and i were discussing tonight at the yard, i would love to hunt every week/fortnight but its just too much totally agree with you

 

[madhector]

Im very lucky and only have to pay £10

 

[Weezy]

I do go out on foot - and pray please send me in the direction of a cheaper pack that is within a reasonable distance of me and I am there!

 

[burtie]

I'm fairly sure the New Forest is only £5 to follow on foot, but forester would know for sure! It's not that pricey to hunt with then either £30 or £25 for those that can hack to the meet!

 

[Weezy]

Skiddaw I do have the horse in the trailer to think about!

 

[Weezy]

Well you are a better man than me (even though I am a woman LOL)

 

[brighteyes]

And I've just found out it's £60 for tomorrow, so the hunt will not be seeing any of us. I simply can't afford £90 for two hours....

 

[Ravenwood]

I didn't realise how lucky I am here then. Our hunt do very reduced rates for normal locals, grooms etc and children just pay £1 cap. If they know you only go out when the hunt is local to you they charge you accordingly.

This year my sub was doubled with a little note at the bottom saying "because we saw you out a lot last season!" but it is still only £250 to go whenever I want and they meet 3 times a week.

 

[severnmiles]

I feel sorry for the pointers that way, down here what is £100.00 to qualify (as its usually the price of the subscription) if it is the price of the sub down there how can they afford to qualify 6-8 pointers? :shocked: I couldn't thats for sure.

No wonder eventing/hunting and pointing are dubbed elitist. I was thinking about this the other day, we had a meeting for our ag show, the entry fee is £3.20 and 1st prize is £16.00. Entry fees for shows/county shows are usually 20% of 1st prize, if only that was the case in eventing eh :smirk:

 

[Eagle_day]

"I personally think they should lower the cost so that people have more of a chance to afford going more frequently; as you say, more heads means more money."

Yep, agree absolutely, and with your proviso with what the country (and the farmers) willl bear. As you say, we need the new blood; without them, ban or no ban, hunting will struggle.

 

[Chumsmum]

Our hunt is either approx £650 subs or visitor charge is £50 for a maximum of three meets. I've been told there is no negotiation.

I can't afford £650 at the moment, esp. as I don't have my own transport but I would be able to hunt maybe 5/6 times this season. So the hunt will lose out on the extra money. I have at least three friends in the same situation.

But I guess they have these rules for a reason...

 

[JenHunt]

I quite agree....
my hunt has just put up the subs, and i can't afford it any more, but the day cap has increased too so the only affordable way for me to hunt is to buy a 10d ticket, and carefully work out which days i'm going.
horse is distinctly unimpressed by this idea, and proceeds to be a right pain in the backside when i hack out instead of putting him in a trailer!

 

[Safina]

Jaysus - I thought I was hard done by paying a £30 one off cap on Wednesdays/Saturdays.

 

[BBs]

Our hunt is around £100 thursday and saturdays and £60 monday and tuesday.

I bought 4 days for £250 but also went and did gate shutting so got extra days for free

Still bloody expensive tho and this year im only going boxing day.

 

[JenHunt]

had a day with a neighbouring pack this weekend, and their day cap is double what ours is, and they wonder why their membership and visitors numbers are dropping! i think packs should work together to even out prices, and hopefully increase numbers.
i heard of another local pack charging 120quid for a day cap! 4 times what we pay!