sharky
Well-Known Member
William out hunting again - The Sequel
(another long one)
So, finally managed to get William out again with the Chiddingfold, Cowdray and Leconfield hunt again this weekend, this time with the yard owner and her new horse who’d never hunted before. She was more excited than me, But obviously not as excited as William AGAIN…. Sighhhhhhhhhhh.
We get loaded and set off for the meeting place which was properly in the middle of nowhere, I got convinced I made a wrong turn on the way and so decided to turn around…. And I don’t reverse trailers. [insert lots of expletives here].
After a 4 mile loop trying to find the meet we stumbled on it by accident (only half a mile from where I turned around.. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) By this time we were late and the master was giving the pre-hunt brief which we missed of course.
We got William and Minnie (YO’s horse) off the trailer, fortunately we travelled them tacked up this time, Minnie was interested in the grass and William has obviously be watching strictly come dancing the last couple of weeks and started doing a beautiful Pasodoble when he heard the hounds.
He went from a 17.1 to a full up 18.3 in about 10 seconds….. ohhhh bugger, here we go again.
Finally managed to get on despite his bolshyness, the hunt had started to move at this point and we trotted (yeah right… call that a trot William) to join the back of the pack with the lead rein Shetlands.
My experiments with bits recently proved to be completely wasted as all hopes that the Pelham was the answer proved to be unfounded… he pulled through it faster than greyhound chasing a rabbit.
Some tricky ground to start with a lot of narrow and steep inclines and declines, all the while trying to stop William standing on and walking over 5 year olds on Shetlands. Meanwhile Suzi (YO) and Minnie were plodding behind being ridden on the buckle.
The field had got quite a way ahead at this point and we stood with some of the Hunt staff (yep William stood nicely again) but decided to catch up/find the rest of the field. They were about a mile ahead but as it was just Suzi and I who went to catch up we did some nice trot and canter to join the field.
Mid canter along one of the fields we heard the hounds…. Ooooooohhhhh ****, William heard them too, I swear that Ferrari F1 team will be jealous of Williams acceleration rate. Canter to gallop in 0.5 seconds.
Suzi and Minnie were behind and she said even Minnie pulled hard after William, so he must have been going for it.
I eventually managed to stop and we joined the field, err in a field. He stood beautifully and had a chat with a few people I met the last time and at a Hunt supporters social the night before.
Quick gallop across the field with the pack to the next covert… he was ok(ish) this time and seemed to be getting a bit better in his manners.
As we trotted down the road together to move over a few fields that ominous loose shoe sounded from William. It was pretty bad so Suzi and I + another nice gentleman on a 4yr old hacked back to the boxes (we got lost too and took nearly 40 mins to hack the equivalent of a mile)
The shoe managed to survive the hack back and after untacking the horses we put loaded them… William was reluctant as he wanted to go find the pack again but settled in and made the trip home.
Quick wash down, brush, check legs etc and turned him out to blow off a bit more steam. He then went and lost a rear shoe in the field hooning around.
Farrier up today to sort him out for next weekend.
So, 2nd time out I’ve learned the following:
• I hate having no brakes – Cheltenham gag is my next experiment
• Arrive a bit sooner in future
• May have to change his feed to something a bit calmer and maybe even feed a calmer before the hunt
• He was so bold and would canter, jump and go through anything which is amazing and means no excuses when we go xc schooling
• HE LOVES HUNTING
• He behaved better than the 1st time out.
I also learned on Friday night at the social do that I cannot for the life of me blow a hunting horn.
However I do have a big mouth and can holloa like a good’un
Tally Ho Tally Ho
(another long one)
So, finally managed to get William out again with the Chiddingfold, Cowdray and Leconfield hunt again this weekend, this time with the yard owner and her new horse who’d never hunted before. She was more excited than me, But obviously not as excited as William AGAIN…. Sighhhhhhhhhhh.
We get loaded and set off for the meeting place which was properly in the middle of nowhere, I got convinced I made a wrong turn on the way and so decided to turn around…. And I don’t reverse trailers. [insert lots of expletives here]
.After a 4 mile loop trying to find the meet we stumbled on it by accident (only half a mile from where I turned around.. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) By this time we were late and the master was giving the pre-hunt brief which we missed of course.
We got William and Minnie (YO’s horse) off the trailer, fortunately we travelled them tacked up this time, Minnie was interested in the grass and William has obviously be watching strictly come dancing the last couple of weeks and started doing a beautiful Pasodoble when he heard the hounds.
He went from a 17.1 to a full up 18.3 in about 10 seconds….. ohhhh bugger, here we go again.
Finally managed to get on despite his bolshyness, the hunt had started to move at this point and we trotted (yeah right… call that a trot William) to join the back of the pack with the lead rein Shetlands.
My experiments with bits recently proved to be completely wasted as all hopes that the Pelham was the answer proved to be unfounded… he pulled through it faster than greyhound chasing a rabbit.
Some tricky ground to start with a lot of narrow and steep inclines and declines, all the while trying to stop William standing on and walking over 5 year olds on Shetlands. Meanwhile Suzi (YO) and Minnie were plodding behind being ridden on the buckle.
The field had got quite a way ahead at this point and we stood with some of the Hunt staff (yep William stood nicely again) but decided to catch up/find the rest of the field. They were about a mile ahead but as it was just Suzi and I who went to catch up we did some nice trot and canter to join the field.
Mid canter along one of the fields we heard the hounds…. Ooooooohhhhh ****, William heard them too, I swear that Ferrari F1 team will be jealous of Williams acceleration rate. Canter to gallop in 0.5 seconds.
Suzi and Minnie were behind and she said even Minnie pulled hard after William, so he must have been going for it.
I eventually managed to stop and we joined the field, err in a field. He stood beautifully and had a chat with a few people I met the last time and at a Hunt supporters social the night before.
Quick gallop across the field with the pack to the next covert… he was ok(ish) this time and seemed to be getting a bit better in his manners.
As we trotted down the road together to move over a few fields that ominous loose shoe sounded from William. It was pretty bad so Suzi and I + another nice gentleman on a 4yr old hacked back to the boxes (we got lost too and took nearly 40 mins to hack the equivalent of a mile)
The shoe managed to survive the hack back and after untacking the horses we put loaded them… William was reluctant as he wanted to go find the pack again but settled in and made the trip home.
Quick wash down, brush, check legs etc and turned him out to blow off a bit more steam. He then went and lost a rear shoe in the field hooning around.
Farrier up today to sort him out for next weekend.
So, 2nd time out I’ve learned the following:
• I hate having no brakes – Cheltenham gag is my next experiment
• Arrive a bit sooner in future
• May have to change his feed to something a bit calmer and maybe even feed a calmer before the hunt
• He was so bold and would canter, jump and go through anything which is amazing and means no excuses when we go xc schooling
• HE LOVES HUNTING
• He behaved better than the 1st time out.
I also learned on Friday night at the social do that I cannot for the life of me blow a hunting horn.
However I do have a big mouth and can holloa like a good’un
Tally Ho Tally Ho
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