Hunt coming through yard

[ester]

I never understood the all piling into the pub at the end, as it was I had to hack home/often left early if we were about to turn away from home but I couldn't do that to Frank at the end of the day, much deserved hot shower and a roll in the field in order!

We didn't have many pub meets near me, more farm meets which also worked much better by way of parking everyone up out the way too.

 

[milliepops]

it used to make my blood boil at my old yard, I'd be driving home from the yard and see boxes all over the place full of steaming horses with the riders in the pub

Not what my old skool PC upbringing taught me, that's for sure! Horse's comfort comes before yours & all that..

 

[palo1]

it used to make my blood boil at my old yard, I'd be driving home from the yard and see boxes all over the place full of steaming horses with the riders in the pub

Not what my old skool PC upbringing taught me, that's for sure! Horse's comfort comes before yours & all that..

Definitely. I have never left a horse on the box and it's deffo not the done thing round here!! Virtually no pub meets but occasionally we have a pub breakfast meet. We usually park in a yard or field but there would just never be anything like the number ycbm mentions!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Definitely. I have never left a horse on the box and it's deffo not the done thing round here!! Virtually no pub meets but occasionally we have a pub breakfast meet. We usually park in a yard or field but there would just never be anything like the number ycbm mentions!

You seem to be oblivious, despite many of us previously alerting you to it, of the realities of living in big hunt country. That is just what it can be like, with all the disruption.

 

[YorksG]

Re the disruption, try living very close to the northern bit of the tour de France in Yorkshire, followed by the tour fee Yorkshire and all the weekend events that cycle clubs had here as a result. Roads "closed" by marshals the level of rudeness towards locals and the damage to footpaths was phenomenal!

 

[rabatsa]

We had that here too.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Re the disruption, try living very close to the northern bit of the tour de France in Yorkshire, followed by the tour fee Yorkshire and all the weekend events that cycle clubs had here as a result. Roads "closed" by marshals the level of rudeness towards locals and the damage to footpaths was phenomenal!

Exactly the same here with the Ride for London, the off road monthly events and the likes, the Surrey hills routes have been decimated, the roads closed too often etc.
The 2 hunts in the area haven't done lane parking for years, all are farm meets, for courtesy and safety.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

I leave mine out as they really aren't bothered. Most on the yard do leave out but the special ones get brought in.


The hunt know not to come on the yo land.they start at the farm a field and a road away and head away from us.

Previous horses have either been in or out. One of my current ones will do moe harm staying in past what he thinks is "turnout time"

 

[Fred66]

My bolding.

Oh heavens Palo, you really seem to have absolutely no idea how hunts within easy travel of large numbers of horse owners operate, or you are blind to it.

This is how it goes.

Dozens of big vehicles turn up to small local roads and cause traffic chaos while they are parking, often blocking roads so that lorries, buses, fire appliances and sometimes even bigger 4x4 can't get through and so that locals have trouble accessing their own driveways.

Sometimes there is parking on verges, leaving serious and unsightly damage for the rest of the winter.

The field crowd into a local pub removing any chance of a local from getting their normal quiet drink and/or lunch on a Saturday morning, if they can even get into the car park. The field are excited, boisterous and noisy. They fill the pub.

The meet is held and then left, leaving masses of horse poo from excited horses all over the place.

During the meet, horses in fields that are passed often get over excited and risk damage to themselves.

Drivers on major roads get caught behind up to a hundred horses, causing a massive tailback. Drivers on minor roads face long delays.

Hounds run onto roads causing near collisions and are sometimes injured or killed themselves. Stock is sometimes killed (I've personally seen a lamb killed by hounds).

Footpaths are ridden down (sometimes with landowner permission, sometimes without) by a hoard of riders. Walkers using those paths are forced off the path into whatever refuge they can take. Those walking dogs often appear terrified of an approaching pack of hounds.

Damage is caused to wet footpaths, bridleways and verges by the field's horses, sometimes making that path unusable by others and/or the verge unsightly for some time.

At the end of the meet, roads are blocked by people washing down their horses before loading.

People who don't leave immediately or have no groom to take the horse home then go into the pub and leave exhausted horses rewarded by standing in a lorry stall while they have a great, noisy, excited, and by now sweaty, muddy, chat about how the day went. Preventing another lot of locals from having their usual quiet late Saturday afternoon drink/ meal.

I loved hunting, it was some of the most fun I've had in my whole life. But THAT is the reality. Not every time, not all on one day, but too often. There is no other leisure activity, cycling included, that demands that level of tolerance by non participants.

Most hunts don’t park on road sides, farms generally are used and the horse transport rarely blocks the road for long.
Car followers can end up blocking on very narrow lanes for short periods but in my experience then the shout goes up and people move to allow non followers through.
If meets are held at pubs then this at the Licensees request so any complaints that you can’t get into your local should be directed at them not the hunt.
The hunts with 100+ mounted are relatively few and probably 80% of the mounted field have said goodnight by 3pm and are unlikely to be back in the pub, although certainly in our area we are encouraged to call back for a drink and bite to eat (many pub meets nowadays are breakfast meets)
There are occasions where main roads need to be crossed and the reason the field are encouraged to group together when crossing main roads is to cause less disruption and be less of a risk to both hounds, field and the general public. To be honest I find that the hunt are generally more considerate of other road users than either your everyday happy hacker or cyclists. Tragically yes there are occasional accidents, hounds occasionally get lost and stray onto main roads, just as occasionally they do riot and chase and in some instances catch and injure / kill other animals. This is not what they are bred for and is something that has to be dealt with, a hound that worries stock is likely to be put down (sad but necessary as they are by breeding pack animals and would not do well in a domestic setting as adult dogs), but to my mind if you aren’t able to control a dog that worries stock through training or restraint then this is a necessary choice.
Horses in fields can get just as excited by a group of friends going for a hack as they can by the hunt, they are naturally herd animals and therefore others of their species passing by is something that may excite them. Unless they have hunted themselves they have no actual knowledge or concept of what is happening just that a number of horses are passing by. Yes the hunt is likely to be in larger numbers than you are likely to find in a group hack situation but if you banned hounds and just had the mounted field doing a drag hunt or similar you would have the same effect.
People’s biases colour their view, my awareness that horses on roads and organised group events like hunts or fun rides can cause disruption on roads makes me more tolerant of other road users such as cyclists, it’s not my road, they have as much right to be there as I do and I just need to have patience.

 

[Gloi]

it used to make my blood boil at my old yard, I'd be driving home from the yard and see boxes all over the place full of steaming horses with the riders in the pub

Not what my old skool PC upbringing taught me, that's for sure! Horse's comfort comes before yours & all that..

Our local driving club were very like that at their rallies . Long time since I've been so don't know the situation now

 

[Julie Ole Girl]

Yes, I would bring mine in too. My 21 year old fat old lazy thing who doesn't move in the field is super excited and 7 years old again when I take her out hunting. It's like Glastonbury for them.

 

[ester]

Palo you keep saying 'most hunts', surely you actually mean hunts you have experience of, which is quite different to 'most'?
People are giving you information re. the differences in their areas and it seems like you just repeatedly shrug it off.

People out hacking don't tend to blow horns. . .

I have been embarassed but a number of hunts behaviour on roads, in different areas. I don't think biases colour most people's views, experiences do.

 

[Tiddlypom]

There's a lot more to the hunt going past than just the horses. It's the whole razzmatazz - the horses clattering by at a butchers' boy trot on the road, the ruddy quad bikes racing up and down the lane, the hounds, the shouting, the large numbers of travelling circus car follower vehicles causing chaos, the lorries.... That all happens even when there is not a hunt in progress. Once hounds pick up a scent, it goes mental.

Though interestingly, it has all been much calmer since the local pack switched to trail hunting.

We are normally very quiet here.

The three horses that I've had that have been most upset by the hunt are ones that I've had from unbroken youngsters. I don't know why they got so frantic, but they did. Ironically the calmest horse was the late chestnut git, who was a proper live wire to ride, but who enjoyed standing and spectating on hunt days.

 

[palo1]

Palo you keep saying 'most hunts', surely you actually mean hunts you have experience of, which is quite different to 'most'?
People are giving you information re. the differences in their areas and it seems like you just repeatedly shrug it off.

People out hacking don't tend to blow horns. . .

I have been embarassed but a number of hunts behaviour on roads, in different areas. I don't think biases colour most people's views, experiences do.

For sure I mean the hunts that I know of and have experienced first hand. You are right and I should have been a bit clearer about that. That is quite a few though, spread over the country and both in England and Wales but not Ireland. I don't have experience of some of the bigger hunts in the South, South East and Midlands where I know there is traditional big hunt country. I have made visits to some quite well known hunts that are considered 'posh' as well as some of the almost unknown Welsh packs. In my experience the bigger the hunt, the more logistical support is available for ensuring that parking is sorted, field mastering is sorted etc and it is where a smaller hunt suddenly has more people than expected that problems can arise. Off the top of my head I have enjoyed safe, responsible and entirely legal to the best of my knowledge, days out with 10 packs in the last 5 years - very varied in make-up, country and culture which is a small proportion of the national number but does give a sense of what is 'common' and what might be unusual. Many of those days have been the result of a casual but friendly invitation. Some of those packs I will have spent a day with more than once or as part of a joint day, others have been a one-off. And people in hunting talk about their days too as you know so you do get a sense of the wider picture. I think that my experience is probably as contemporary and varied, if not more so than many that post on here about hunting matters. I know some keen hunters wouldn't dream of posting anything at all on HHO and I don't really blame them tbh but I don't mind being honest and open about my experiences and I hope that my experience does have a bit of currency to it.

 

[milliepops]

There's a lot more to the hunt going past than just the horses. It's the whole razzmatazz - the horses clattering by at a butchers' boy trot on the road, the ruddy quad bikes racing up and down the lane, the hounds, the shouting, the large numbers of travelling circus car follower vehicles causing chaos, the lorries.... That all happens even when there is not a hunt in progress. Once hounds pick up a scent, it goes mental.

We are normally very quiet here.

The three horses that I've had that have been most upset by the hunt are ones that I've had from unbroken youngsters. I don't know why they got so frantic, but they did. Ironically the calmest horse was the late chestnut git, who was a proper live wire to ride, but who enjoyed standing and spectating on hunt days.

Yeah when they were round our way the hunt staff would be charging up and down the lane multiple times, the field appearing in drips and drabs via different routes , they'd congregate in the yard for a bit .. hounds appeared in the stable barn more than once, a single fly by is one thing, having them around for a couple of hours is another!

 

[palo1]

There's a lot more to the hunt going past than just the horses. It's the whole razzmatazz - the horses clattering by at a butchers' boy trot on the road, the ruddy quad bikes racing up and down the lane, the hounds, the shouting, the large numbers of travelling circus car follower vehicles causing chaos, the lorries.... That all happens even when there is not a hunt in progress. Once hounds pick up a scent, it goes mental.

Though interestingly, it has all been much calmer since the local pack switched to trail hunting.

We are normally very quiet here.

The three horses that I've had that have been most upset by the hunt are ones that I've had from unbroken youngsters. I don't know why they got so frantic, but they did. Ironically the calmest horse was the late chestnut git, who was a proper live wire to ride, but who enjoyed standing and spectating on hunt days.

Blimey. Your experience has been so unrelentingly bad...

 

[Tiddlypom]

Blimey. Your experience has been so unrelentingly bad...

Indeed, but normal for here until the recent and welcome change of culture.

 

[MagicMelon]

Luckily where I live there is no hunting so never had this issue. But if it were me Id find out what specific time range they were thinking of coming and probably arranging to box my horse up and take them somewhere for a long hack or even to a friends and borrow their stable for the day. I have sadly had experience of both situations hence why Im suggesting this, they had heavy tree felling machinery working across the road from my land. My warmblood was starting to gallop about hinting he would jump out and very upset, so I put him in the stable for the night. He'd been so upset by it all, late that evening I believe he must have tried to jump the door. He somehow pinged the bolt out on the top but the lower swing catch stayed put. He managed to bend the (very solid thick) wooden door and got his knee jammed in the door. By morning, he was in a very sorry state. Long story short, I ended up having to have him PTS. It was horrific. The felling company paid half my vets fees as a "token gesture" but obviously took no responsibility. I dont believe a horse is safe in either the field OR the stable when faced with something totally out of the norm.

 

[ycbm]

Most hunts don’t park on road sides, farms generally are used and the horse transport rarely blocks the road for long.

Only the 4 drag packs, 1 bloodhound pack and 3 fox packs I've hunted with then. OK.

Car followers can end up blocking on very narrow lanes for short periods but in my experience then the shout goes up and people move to allow non followers through.

I'm sure those hunt followers think they move quickly. I doubt it feels like that to those waiting for people to get back to, get back in and move the vehicle to allow them to drive down a public highway.

If meets are held at pubs then this at the Licensees request so any complaints that you can’t get into your local should be directed at them not the hunt.

I'm sorry, but I believe each individual is responsible for tneir own anti-social behaviour.

The hunts with 100 mounted are relatively few

Only the 4 drag packs, 1 bloodhound pack and 3 fox packs I've hunted with then. OK


I can't be bothered to trawl through the rest of your lengthy post, your level of denial about the disruption that hunting causes defeats me.
.

 

[Fred66]

Only the 4 drag packs, 1 bloodhound pack and 3 fox packs I've hunted with then. OK.



I'm sure those hunt followers think they move quickly. I doubt it feels like that to those waiting for people to get back to, get back in and move the vehicle to allow them to drive down a public highway.



I'm sorry, but I believe each individual is responsible for tneir own anti-social behaviour.




Only the 4 drag packs, 1 bloodhound pack and 3 fox packs I've hunted with then. OK


I can't be bothered to trawl through the rest of your lengthy post, your level of denial about the disruption that hunting causes defeats me.
.

I’m not denying some disruption happens but it is relatively minor. I get held up for longer and more frequently behind tractors, cyclists and folks out hacking. Them being on the road doesn’t bother me, I normally only get a bit narky if they make no attempt to allow people to get past them at a convenient place.
If the licencee invites the hunt to go from their premises then that is their choice. Equally it is a public house and the point is that it’s open to the public.
Over the years I have followed a number of hunts and rarely have I found people parking horse transport on the side of the roads and then only if the verge is wide enough to get fully off the road.
You obviously only follow the big fashionable hunts or followed a long time ago, numbers are not as high (or at least in our area they aren’t) as they were, we used to get fields of 80+ on a regular basis, we now only get that many on the high days with fields of 50-60 being more common nowadays.
Disruption happens for all sorts of reasons, in towns round football grounds, cycle races, fun rides, marathons, the list goes on. We share our space with others and we are therefore obliged to accept that sometimes others ways of life, doing their jobs, or hobbies will disrupt us in our life.
Your representation of hunts and those that hunt is far removed from my experience, maybe you have been unfortunate or me exceptionally fortunate

 

[Orangehorse]

Last autumn I was out on a hack and went slap into the hunt emerging from a bridlepath. There was nothing for it but to do a brisk trot to keep up and hope horse didn't buck, holding him back was obviously a waste of time and effort and much more likely to lead to injury to me and horse. Once we got going and he realised that he had to keep trotting he was going along like an old timer. When the person I was trotting alongside turned off into the field he asked if I would be joining them and I was very tempted, but decided that horse wasn't really fit enough to go galloping across the fields. He was a bit puffed for all that trotting and happily went off home with no trouble.

Even horse people have the typical hunter as posh, yet if you have ever become involved you will soon find that, although there are some who have money, there are plenty of very ordinary working people who go hunting. Far more than in eventing and dressage I suspect.

I normally keep mine in if the hunt are around (and they let us know). The one day I didn't -they never come this way! - I turned them out as normal and then glanced up at the hill and saw the whole hunt come down the field towards us. Mine were interested in seeing horses where they don't normally see any, but they certainly didn't become silly or excited.

 

[palo1]

I’m not denying some disruption happens but it is relatively minor. I get held up for longer and more frequently behind tractors, cyclists and folks out hacking. Them being on the road doesn’t bother me, I normally only get a bit narky if they make no attempt to allow people to get past them at a convenient place.
If the licencee invites the hunt to go from their premises then that is their choice. Equally it is a public house and the point is that it’s open to the public.
Over the years I have followed a number of hunts and rarely have I found people parking horse transport on the side of the roads and then only if the verge is wide enough to get fully off the road.
You obviously only follow the big fashionable hunts or followed a long time ago, numbers are not as high (or at least in our area they aren’t) as they were, we used to get fields of 80+ on a regular basis, we now only get that many on the high days with fields of 50-60 being more common nowadays.
Disruption happens for all sorts of reasons, in towns round football grounds, cycle races, fun rides, marathons, the list goes on. We share our space with others and we are therefore obliged to accept that sometimes others ways of life, doing their jobs, or hobbies will disrupt us in our life.
Your representation of hunts and those that hunt is far removed from my experience, maybe you have been unfortunate or me exceptionally fortunate

It is such a relief to hear another poster whose experience is similar to mine. We all have to live with each other and most of us want to use the road. Most of us are tolerant of fun rides and fun runs, horse riders, bike riders and club cycle rides, tractor runs, harvesting and contracting vehicles, tourists on the lanes, farmers moving their sheep etc etc. There is increasing inconvenience on the roads for all sorts of reasons. Being part of a community means being tolerant where possible. There are things that people in my community do that drive me nuts, things I think are pointless, inconvenient and thoughtless but that is part of living in a community and it seems better to me to live and let live and accept people's chosen ways of life. I find it sad that there is so much resentment here.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

It is such a relief to hear another poster whose experience is similar to mine. We all have to live with each other and most of us want to use the road. Most of us are tolerant of fun rides and fun runs, horse riders, bike riders and club cycle rides, tractor runs, harvesting and contracting vehicles, tourists on the lanes, farmers moving their sheep etc etc. There is increasing inconvenience on the roads for all sorts of reasons. Being part of a community means being tolerant where possible. There are things that people in my community do that drive me nuts, things I think are pointless, inconvenient and thoughtless but that is part of living in a community and it seems better to me to live and let live and accept people's chosen ways of life. I find it sad that there is so much resentment here.[/Q
I could tolerate blood hounds, I can tolerate drag hunts, I cannot tolerate law breakers.

 

[Tiddlypom]

It's hard to be tolerant, and I most certainly wasn't, when a master's MiL parked the hunt horse lorry slap bang across our house gateway to swap over at second horses time. She refused to move, despite there being miles of grass verges that she could have parked alongside, as the second horse change was apparently so important .

Then the blimmin lorry wouldn't start, and our gateway and access to our own drive remained blocked for several hours until the lorry was eventually towed away. I'd been out to the supermarket, and had to leave my own car parked outside on the verge. My husband's car was trapped on our own drive.

More recently, and again at second horse time, a hunt lorry got stuck on the verge here on a blind bend and the police closed the road to through traffic while it was all sorted out. This was the hunt secretary's horse .

Hunt vehicles still park in stupid places blocking house gateways and on blind bends, when there are plenty of more suitable places they could choose.

My theory on why more posters who currently hunt don't post on these threads is that they know that their hunts are part of the problem..

 

[ycbm]

I find it sad that there is so much resentment here.

There is at least a much resentment of cyclists.

The resentment about hunt behaviour is generated by the attitude of entitlement of the hunts and their followers and unnecessary antisocial behaviour. Greatly exacerbated by just how long it has taken a large number of hunts to understand that no hunting fox with hounds means no hunting fox with hounds.
.

 

[Regandal]

Our local hunt meet at our yard a few times during the season. Our horses stay out but like to peer at the strangers. All lorries and trailers are either on the yard or in a field. Only drawback is that we can’t hack out on those days, likelihood of meeting the hunt is too high ?
I’m ambivalent about hunting, have to admit that I love watching the meet and them moving off.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

My theory on why more posters who currently hunt don't post on these threads is that they know that their hunts are part of the problem..

Not necessarily, there are some who gave up replying a long time ago (long before this thread) mostly due to a vociferous group of 5 or 6 same persons who constantly rail against anything that's said in any form of difference of opinion or support.

I wholeheartedly agree that there are some hunts that maybe do cause issues of many sorts but equally there are many more who don't.

LG, it's a huge shame your thread has derailed, hope the autumn hunting isn't an issue for you.

In life there are to55ers in everything you do, they spoil it for the majority.

Toodle pip ?

 

[Bernster]

Wandering in to see why a seemingly innocuous thread has turned into such a long one. Ah, now I see, it has gone the way of many a hho thread !

 

[ester]

I think there is a distinct difference between posh and privilege which can sometimes get lost. I'm not posh but I've been privileged enought to learn how to ride, have my own pony as an adult and been able to afford some relatively cheap days hunting as a non-subscriber. It felt better converting it to a per hour of entertainment figure ?

Equally though the majority of people I have met hunting with foxhounds have been pretty posh too. Lovely people.

 

[ycbm]

LG, it's a huge shame your thread has derailed,

Yes, it is. There was plenty of good advice being given about what she needs to watch out for, given by people with actual experience. And then hunting people tried to defend hunting on the basis that it doesn't happen very often (fair enough, but it still needs to be guarded against by LG) or that it happens in other sports and passtimes too (irrelevant). (Or that hunting should be a protected activity like it is in Amazon indigenous tribes!) And away it went, just like normal on any hunting thread since the ban.

If hunting people would stop trying to defend the indefensible and just condemn hunts that behave like it, these threads would die very quickly.
.