How do I go about making a complaint about 'the hunt'

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Jimmy260910

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Last weekend, the hunt (not sure which hunt) was out around in the surrounding fields near my yard and we (luckily) noticed that they were trying to use our land to drag the scent through without permission!!! The field they wished to use had horses turned out in it (the field backs onto the T.R.O.T path) and two members on foot had ushered our horses away from the entrance which the hunt wished to use - my friend and I ran down shouting and the men quickly ran, sealed off the entrance to the field, hopped on their quad bikes and went on their merry way - the whole time this was happening one of the huntsmen was watching from the base of one of our other fields.

Basically, we're outraged that:
1. they didn't make any effort to ask for permission to use our field.
2. they had no care or concern for our horses which were very clearly grazing within the field and put them in danger by opening up one of the exits which leads onto the T.R.O.T path
3. they have made to effort to apologise.

Unfortunately, I don't know which hunt it was, so I wondered if there was a general hunt thing where I could complain to?

I am not anti-hunt but I don't feel this behaviour is acceptable as they showed complete disregard for the safety and well-being of our horses.

TIA.
 
You could do a google search for hunts in your area and then write letters/emails to the secretaries of those nearby outlining the issue you encountered and your concerns? (Which by the way, I think are totally valid!). If it's a drag hunt you might also get lucky with details of the meets posted online so you could guesstimate which hunt it might have been from their meet locations?

As an aside - do you rent your fields? I wonder if your landlord has given consent to the hunts to use?? Would be worthwhile investigating that too!
 
exmoorponyprincess1 said:
You could do a google search for hunts in your area and then write letters/emails to the secretaries of those nearby outlining the issue you encountered and your concerns? (Which by the way, I think are totally valid!). If it's a drag hunt you might also get lucky with details of the meets posted online so you could guesstimate which hunt it might have been from their meet locations?

As an aside - do you rent your fields? I wonder if your landlord has given consent to the hunts to use?? Would be worthwhile investigating that too!
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Thank you, good idea! No, field isn't rented - 'landlord' is busy yard owner and they gave no permission whatsoever to the hunt to come onto the land, and has asked me to find out the best channel of complaint.
 
Where are about are you? Luckily our pack, the Four Shires Bloodhounds chase a human runner, and so the whole week the masters go and ask permission to cross the land. They should of asked, if any hunt dared to go into our field where the horses graze and try to lay a scent I'd also be quiet upset. But the field is only about 4.5 acres, so there wouldn't be much room for them to gallop about in it!
 
EquiEquestrian556 said:
Where are about are you? Luckily our pack, the Four Shires Bloodhounds chase a human runner, and so the whole week the masters go and ask permission to cross the land. They should of asked, if any hunt dared to go into our field where the horses graze and try to lay a scent I'd also be quiet upset. But the field is only about 4.5 acres, so there wouldn't be much room for them to gallop about in it!
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Near to Ashford (kent), the field they wanted to gallop about in is about 12 acres and it also has xc jumps within it (so I can see the attraction) just outraged that they didn't even have the respect to ask.
 
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Bang out of order in my opinion. It would also be out of order even if you didn't have horses in there as they haven't asked permission and therefore wouldn't it be trespass?
 
Jimmy260910 said:
Near to Ashford (kent), the field they wanted to gallop about in is about 12 acres and it also has xc jumps within it (so I can see the attraction) just outraged that they didn't even have the respect to ask.
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Did the huntsman have a red coat with a yellow collar? If he did, it may well have been the Ashford Valley Hunt.
 
What a cheek!! And then not to stop and say sorry!

I did once look up to see the a certain hunt galloping through my top field. It is the other side of a dry river course so I could not get there, I watch the hounds and the hunt and then the field gallop over my grazing, luckily the horses were down with me. My Mother(who's land it is) rang the Master who apologised. They thought they were in a different field apparently. Oh well at least they said sorry and it never happened again. Funnily enough it was one of the original hunts that makes up ^^^^^
 
Any hunt will put time and effort into gaining access to land and should always ask permission. Once you have found the hunt write / email to the Chairman or correspondence secretary and explain your issue and what you expect to happen if they are in the area in the future.
 
One of my friends had her local hunt jump in to one of her fields, they then could not get out and she caught them trying to unscrew a gate's hinges to get out. After she tore them off a strip (no permission, field looked like a WW1 battle field), she told them that they would have to jump out, or abandon their horses and she would keep them.
 
Best of luck with it. WHen my parents first bought our cottage and the field that went with it the local hunt came along, took the gate of the hinges and removed some of the Cornish bank to make it more jumpable, then proceeded to trash the field by riding over it. Dad complained to the Master who told him, well when Mr G owned, he let us ride on it. Master got a solicitors letter. Many years later we spotted several hounds out there (the same hunt had been responsible for the death of a friends cat, half a mile along the lane on another occasion, which they killed in her garden). We only had a well for the water supply, and to stop leaves and the like falling in, Dad had made a wooden cover out of some sort of ply. The hounds all jumped up on the cover and smashed straight through it, into the well ( it wasn't any depth), smashed the pipe off the water pump in the process and left us with no water supply. My Dad was terminally ill at the time and on oxygen 24/7 but wanted to fix it himself (only he wouldn have known how to anyway) so we had to push him out into the field in his wheelchair so that he could sort it out and it just about laid him out. We phoned the Master who said he would send someone round to speak to us. Did he? Did he heck as like! Arrogant through and through.
 
Where are your OP, if you are around penny pot woods and the denge then I think the East Kent hunt met around there on the 15th nov. There is an entry on their blog.
 
They are so arrogant!
We have repeatedly, expressly told them that they are not allowed to be on any part of our land at all, yet we've caught them on several occasions - riding on cropped fields with the hounds, riding quad bikes on the tracks, cutting wire fences in order to get through, riding through our woodlands near the badger setts...
 
Jimmy260910 said:
Near to Ashford (kent), the field they wanted to gallop about in is about 12 acres and it also has xc jumps within it (so I can see the attraction) just outraged that they didn't even have the respect to ask.
Click to expand...

Why did I know it was going to be Ashford! They are a bunch of clowns and seem to be less and less concerned about the impact they have on grazing horses. Luckily my girls aren't bothered but last season they spent ages up and down our lane, not only the horses, but followers on quads and in cars, all whooping and hollering like a load of kids out of school.

Not impressed and hope you manage to sort it out.
 
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