Hunt sabs - your experiences...

[Smith123]

I have just (stupidly!) googled hunt sabs and watched some YouTube clips, they look so aggressive and don't care about the horses etc, they'd just look like they are out for a fight.

What happens when they come to a meet, do they come hunt the horses, ruin the wagons? Or do they keep a distance? What have you seen?

Due to go to my first meet for a few years and don't remember them being like this then!!

 

[Hunters]

Most hunt's have plenty of knowledge of dealing with sabs should they show up.

Please try not to be alarmed by previous video footage. You have no idea of the accuracy of any 'shock' footage that you may have seen.

 

[lcharles]

My friend that i hunt with has been shot at!!

Worse i've had - luckily, is when i was 9 years old, i rode my 12.2hh pony to the local meet on my own down a country lane and met my parents there, but on the way, about 2minutes away from the meet a lady - about 60 (may of seemed older as i was young) called me a evil f-in bit**, which seemed rather strong to me and scary as a 9 year old!! x Remember that she was stood inside her gate waving her crutch/stick at me!

She obviously knew where i was off to as i was dressed for hunting but to say that to such a young child, on my own is quite outrageous - although i know its nothing compared to some people have experienced.

I was suprised that someone from the country was so against it - i guess i just assumed it was town people that didnt like hunting as it 'doesnt affect them' - eye opener!! x

 

[Shay]

Most hunts will give advice to the feild at the start of the day. Don't look at them, don't respond to any taunts. Look straight ahead and let the masters and the police deal with them.

The occasions where they are violent is rare. Mostly they are just abusive. The police are usually about to make sure everything is reasonable.

Don't let the fear of them put you off hunting. if you do - they have won!

 

[TarwinBate]

Had my first experience with them a few weeks ago out cubbing..they were very rude, but looking back on it they do make me chuckle!! DO they really not have nothing better to do than run around after hunts over the South Downs? And the way they dress in black balaclavas!! Makes them look like flipping terrorists!!

However came across this youtube video, made me laugh a lot!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNDUQxFx-m8&feature=channel&list=UL

 

[Velma]

I had the pleasure of 'meeting' sabs on my first ever meet. They didn't do an awful lot apart from appearing suddenly out woods etc, all dressed in black with balaclavas. They were just a bit eerie and intimidating and did should a bit of abuse but everyone just ignored them and picked up a trot to get past as quickly as possible.

I asked some of the others what they tend to do and they said that sometimes they spray the hounds to confuse them and someone had been pulled off their horse once. At that time the hunt I go with was being regularly targeted by sabs and as such there was a huge police presence at this one, included mounted police and those on quad bikes so they could keep a pretty close distance to us. There was no physical trouble as far as I was aware.

I just don't get why they want/have to hide their faces if it's something they believe it so strongly?! Show us who you are!

 

[A1JUMPJOCKEY]

There not all Animal lovers as they love to potray, Wear a scarlet coat and you soon realise there more people haters!! They see me as some wealthy bumpkin so they hate me! Little do they realise I live off a farm workers wage, graft like hell training pointers for the chance to enjoy my sport. I've seen some shocking things, Before the Ban i saw Mr Smith a master with the Cotswold Vale Farmers pulled from his horse and they Kicked hell out of him. Ive seen a member of hunt staff have there reins cut with a blade.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I've had friends who've come back to their vehicles after being parked up on a verge and they found their tyres slashed and paint daubed.

Also the sabs were at the opening meet a few seasons back; some of them had cameras which they were oggling at some of the children with.......... if it was anyone else they'd have been had up in court for pervy offences.

Have seen them trying to lay a false trail as well; silly damn fools were spraying something which smelt like Citronella around the place.

 

[Smith123]

I've had friends who've come back to their vehicles after being parked up on a verge and they found their tyres slashed

oh god!!

 

[partypremier]

I always say good morning & nice day for it. it really flummexes them.
Years ago a sab in a balaclava shouted coward to me, so I reminded him that he was the one covering his face & I was very proud to show my face out hunting.

I have been driven past very very fast, spat at, sworn at, had the road blocked by a sab's car & they tried to get the ramp down to let my horse out (luckily some hunt followers came along with the police disaster averted).

They used to try to grab hold of our horses but seemed to have stopped that for now.

The worst thing they done was took baseball bats & wood to a range rover, smashed the windows, lights & bodywork with the owner & her baby grand daughter in the car. They both got covered in glass sabs were in a right frenzy, the hunt came along & brawl ensued with several members from both sides arrested.
Sabs were charged with criminal damage & trespassing.

They also will grab hounds & put in their vehicles, quite often driving away & letting hounds out away from the hunt totally disorientating the hounds.

One guy that used to run everywhere but just monitor us was called Cookie. He knew our country like the back of his hand & despite us galloping off, would always catch us up. He was always causing trouble with other hunts but not with ours. Strange Man.

That said they should never put you off doing something what you enjoy & legally pursue. Although as someone else said taking videos of children should not be allowed you cannot do that in a park, swimming pool or school play so why are they allowed to do it without the parents/guardians permission out hunting.

 

[Foxhunter49]

As others say they can be plain nasty.

Many years ago when the anti's first started my sister and I were at a meet on the IOW.
I was riding a big heavyweight hunter and she was on a similar horse.
Much to our surprise antis turned up having travelled from the mainland. The meet was very near the ferry and a boring place to hunt.

It was woodland and forestry around with a filed leading down to the beach. Nothing much was going on so Sis and I sneaked off for a pee and to pop a few cross country fences nearby.

We returned to the field to see an anti stood on his own blowing 'Gone Away'
Sis and I being bored and quite evil (it must be genetics) decided to give him a fright. We charged towards him, whilst a couple of hundred yards away I realised that my horse didn't turn very well right and hers didn't turn left and we were the wrong side to go round him!
We glanced at each other and swore.
Give this lad his due he just stood facing us and when the horses were about four strides away he stepped forward and clapped his hands in their faces. My horse did turn right and Sis turned left.

It was very impressive and when we pulled up we rode back to him. He was very interesting to talk to. His father was a whip with a midlands hunt. He had hunted all his life and had seen a fox break away hence calling hounds on.
He was a student ant Southampton University and was being paid £20 to go out as an anti.

The rest of the mob hadn't a clue what he was blowing so he was quite safe in them not knowing.

Before the ban one of our liveries, an older gentleman was attacked by a mob. They smashed every bit of glass in the horsebox - the police did nothing to help.

 

[Serenity087]

My first experience was being followed through woods by men in balaclavas and army fatigues.

There was two of us being followed, on foot! I was terrified!

My next experiences calmed down a bit, just a bunch of idiots running around the woods failing to blow hunting horns.

But my final experience was horrific - I wasn't even hunting - I was just passing through the area! Police had sabs pinned to the road surface arresting them, two coppers per sab and about 4 or 5 sabs, it was a little chicane!

I later heard one of them had been biting people?!?

We then had a meet that was booby trapped with piano wire (which was found by a non-hunting rider the evening before on her hack!)

The only thing I can presume is that they're insane and ignoring usually works best for them. Even if they're leering over children they're only doing it for the rise and wouldn't actually hurt a child (that said, these are the kind of people who rate a fox over a mentally ill child so assume nothing is 100% safe!).

Have to admit though, I admire their balls. If only they would stop hurting animals I'd take them more seriously.

 

[KellyJoArnold]

I've seen videos on YouTube.. they seem like ignorant, judgemental, rude, dangerous (in some cases), and completly un-educated about hunting itself, and the coubtryside.. and a lot of them just seem to be there to ruin peoples day and are plain nasty!!

 

[Hunters]

They are invariably students who have a bit of angst against society in general. They are paid (I'm told) by the Linda McCartney fund.

I refuse to support her veggy food range!

 

[glamourpuss]

They also had some support & funding from Lush Cosmetic company

One of our local hunts has a particularly stubborn crew of sabs. All the hunt know their names & on the whole it is very civilised. The Sabs tend to spray citronella & blow horns to confuse the hounds.
At the meet if the master knows they are about he usually warns us to either totally ignore them or to just say 'Good Morning' he always advises getting into any dialogue with them.

We were out clubbing last year & the sabs were trampling across a seeded field, the farmer (following on a quad) was asking them so politely to get off. I mean it was almost comical he was saying 'excuse me sir, this is private property may I please ask you step off the field' in return he was getting a load of abuse, sworn at etc. afterwards when he was asked why he was so polite he said that they are always just looking for footage to edit together to make propaganda videos they can post on the Internet.
At another meet a group of sabs started harassing a female whipper-in. We could see it starting so my friend videoed it on her phone. The whip got off her horse & the next thing one of them punched her. The next moment the woman's wife came flying over & defending his wife started fighting with the sabs....at this point they started videoing! Later that day the police turned up as the sabs had called them wanting to arrest the man for assault. Luckily my friends footage was very clear & I believe the initial Sab got charged

 

[natalia]

I think they are hilarious and all our children that come out hunting refer to them as the "black ninjas" as they looks so stupid running round in full black outfits trying to hop over gates, up trees etc.
In general I think they prob just need a good shag and a drink and they will feel a bit better about life. Not to mention a good wash! On occasion though they have their uses for catching loose horses etc. I've even used one for a leg up before now! I think the trick is to not alienate them, if anything be over friendly, horrendously polite and try and break down any "us and them" attitudes. They soon give up if hunt is clearly following a trial anyway.

 

[hcm88]

They've stabbed a friend's horse on numerous occasions because its kept on a hunt yard. The friend has never hunted the horse in her life. Hunt sabs are ignorant, naive, law-breaking and disgusting. How dare they be so hypocritical as to hurt and harm our horses and dogs when they're campaigning to stop us 'hurting' foxes.

They are welcome to campaign for what they believe in peacefully but when they become dangerous they deserve to be arrested. I don't watch any of their videos as I know they'll just make me angry.

After Lush (the cosmetics shop) supported them I immediately boycotted the shop and have done ever since. They were naive in supporting the sabs and I like to think they lost custom because of it but I doubt we were that influential.

 

[Hunters]

Lush (although they do make good soaps) are strong supporters of anti hunt supporters.

They have a large shop near me I refuse to buy from them, it's my own fairly futile way of protest, but I do enjoy s good 'sniff' as I walk by lol!

 

[Charem]

My only experience was having a couple fly past the field down a narrow country lane in their car whilst shouting various nonsense. Luckily non of the horses were worried.

My dad told me once when he was younger and out hunting some sabs called the hounds on to a railway track He has since gotten back in to riding again after a 30 year break but wont hunt because the sabs infuriate him so much. Animal lovers my ass.

 

[happyhunter123]

The worst bit is that they've conned so many members of the public into believing that they are 'peaceful' and 'non-violent' and that we are the violent ones!! Those YouTube videos really raise your blood pressure!! I really wish someone had been able to expose the true face of the anti-hunting fraternity many years ago. One of the best ways of winning the public argument would have been exposing our opponents as the liars or thugs most (maybe not all, but most) of them are. Unfortunately, the antis painted us as the thugs, us as the ones putting out false propaganda, and they very much succeeded . But then again, it's easy to fool the public when you add fluffy animals to the mixture-the sabs are said to be saving animals, they are the 'heroes'. The hunting people are supposedly 'abusing' animals so they are the villains. The public believe it. The reality is quite different.

One thing that we are able to thank the ban for is that the numbers of sabs have sharply dropped. I reckon that sabbing has gone out of fashion a bit. That's not to say that there aren't a few of these losers still knocking about!

 

[wench]

I have seen some at my local meet. We were told that there were "univited guests". First time they were riding all over farmers crops with their stupid motorbikes.

Second time they were out photographing young children who had come to watch, and really upsetting some of them. A group of them thought it was a good idea to walk between the field and the hounds (in densely wooded area, so we couldn't go around them). They also thought it was fun to lay on the tracks in the wood so we couldnt go down there. How I would have loved to have charged my horse over one of them.

They also thought it was a good idea to dress up all in black with balaclavas and stand next to the track we were going down. My horse saw one and had an almighty spook in the opposite direction (I was fine as I was pretty much thought he was going to do it). Stupid cow sab (Was def female) then did an enormous leap in fright the other way as she was obviously **** scared of horses.

Although my parents did worry about me getting back in one piece after the hunt, I am quite prone to liking a good fight!

 

[rachi20x]

Their behaviour is really sickening. It's obvious they aren't doing it as animal lovers. If they loved animals they wouldn't be putting the horses and hounds' safety at stake(as well as attacking them!).

Have just seen the LUSH ad campaigns. Luckily I haven't bought anything there for quite some time, and now I think I won't be either.

 

[oakash]

I think the thing to remember about 'saboteurs' ..(thats what they THINK they are) is that they are fascists to a woman or man. Just like the Nazi philosophy, they think they have a right to dictate to others what we should, or should not do. As someone else mentioned, they are not concerned about so-called 'cruelty' to animals, as they make despicably cruel attacks on horses and hounds themselves. They are people haters and scum, so do not let them influence your decision to hunt trails one single iota.

 

[jules9203]

I was a groom for a master of a hunt in the home counties in the early to middle 90's, I used to drop him and his horse off and then pick them up at the end of the day because the 'sabs' had a history of damaging vehicles etc. They certainly turned up in balaclavas and used to try and frighten the horses. More recently I have been drag hunting (which I love) and the amount of abuse we get from the public who might be passing is unbelievable. There is a huge amount of ignorance out there. Please don't not go hunting because of any perceived threat

 

[soggy]

By and large they are just a bunch of anti establishment weirdo's.

The "rent a mob" lot that get bused in by the van load are mostly disaffected yobs, who have a gripe against society as a whole. Mostly brain dead from smoking skunk and lacking meat in their diets. The dressing up in black is an attempt to make themselves appear more menacing than they are. Smoke and mirrors really. Get one by its self and it wets its knickers within the first 30 sec's and soils itself within 60 sec's. The women do it even faster. They all only feel brave when in a crowd behind which they can run and hide.
Occasionally one gets run over or comes to harm by some unknown method. Sad but even coach-roaches have mishaps.
The older more weird ones are the funniest. All self righteous and committed to the cause. The fact they haven't got a clue about how the countryside really works just makes them all the more pitiful. Just take that dope Brian May as an example.

 

[happyhunter123]

More recently I have been drag hunting (which I love) and the amount of abuse we get from the public who might be passing is unbelievable

That's awful. I have to come to the conclusion that the general public have, by and large been brainwashed by these anti lunatics. Their ignorance is utterly astounding. I guess they just despise anyone on a horse dressed up.

The baseless hate can really get you down sometimes

 

[soggy]

I have to come to the conclusion that the general public have, by and large been brainwashed by these anti lunatics. Their ignorance is utterly astounding. I guess they just despise anyone on a horse dressed up.

It may appear that way sometimes. Simply due to that's the lot we encounter most often. But the reality is very much the opposite. In fact the vast majority of our urban dwelling population couldn't give a hoot.

The police estimate that they only deal with about 10% of the general public on a regular basis. That 10% are mostly the anti social scum we see so often in the news reports and docu-soaps that now infest what has become reality TV in Britain. The other 90% of law abiding, morally decent, socially well adjusted members of the general public they hardly have any contact with, other than as victims of crimes committed by the first 10%

I appreciate that if you continually encounter the sad deluded, vegetarian, anti, and their rent a mob slime ball side kicks, its hard to remember the other 90%.

 

[Deraden]

I will be completely honest, i am against hunting (im not going state an essay of why, i have my reasons and thats it) and i have never taken part in any 'sabbing'. I suppose i am just commenting to say we are not all crazy! I dont like hunting so just avoid them, and i cant stand hearing that horses and hounds get purposefully hurt, i dont understand hurting an animal because you want to save an animal????

 

[ZoeRPM]

I have just (stupidly!) googled hunt sabs and watched some YouTube clips, they look so aggressive and don't care about the horses etc, they'd just look like they are out for a fight.

What happens when they come to a meet, do they come hunt the horses, ruin the wagons? Or do they keep a distance? What have you seen?

Due to go to my first meet for a few years and don't remember them being like this then!!

Well since hunting with dogs is illegal, it's hardly surprising that the sabs act like this. I'd join them if I could.

 

[soggy]

I will be completely honest, i am against hunting (im not going state an essay of why, i have my reasons and thats it) and i have never taken part in any 'sabbing'. I suppose i am just commenting to say we are not all crazy! I dont like hunting so just avoid them, and i cant stand hearing that horses and hounds get purposefully hurt, i dont understand hurting an animal because you want to save an animal????

Thanks for your honesty. Opinions are like bum holes everyone has at least one. They are also like buses, what around long enough and the one you want will eventually appear over the horizon.
All I say is those that oppose hunting have not concept about the realities of the countryside or the red of claw and toot nature or of the natural world.

Perhaps one day the reality will sink in.