Hunting report (As requested by jenhunt and Simsar!)

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nemo_

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Had an absolutely fab time! :D
Stayed at a friends house the night before so we washed the ponies and loaded the lorry then. Got up at the oh so civilised time of 4:30am :p Went out to get M ready, who had been sporting a bright blue lycra suit all night which kept him reasonably clean. He had a few stains, so yet another wash and then we loaded the ponies to get to there for 6. The hounds were out when we arrived so I was expecting M to be a bit excited but he stood very still whilst I tacked him up. We got on the ponies and walked around on a stubble for a while, M was quite excited to begin with and quite shaky but soon calmed down. :) We got going and it was great! We had a few nice canters but there was alot of standing around which was expected and that particular meet is known for being slower. M was slighty fidgety but he stood nice and still for the most part and he came back to me easily when we were on the move. We finished about 10 and had a nice bacon sandwich before going home :D so it was a major success!! We enjoyed it so much we went again at the weekend at the leisurely time of 4:30pm! We were a bit braver this time and jumped a few ditches and went up and down all the banks, he was a bit more excited than last time but still well behaved. So I'm now hooked and am going to try and go more this year. So another question - I can only ride at the weekend and in one lesson during the week. M is turned out about 10 hours a day, would it still be possible to hunt say everyother weekend (competing in between) and for him to still be fit enough?
Thanks for reading!! :)
 
Thank you for your lovely report, I'm so glad you enjoyed yourselves. Look forward to the next report. ;)

Re fitness I would try and do a bit more, but if not then it can't be helped you should be OK for autumn hunting but your pony will need to step it up for hunting in November.

Do you have a friend/family person who could help you out?
 
i'm so glad you gave it a go and that you enjoyed it! M sounds like he'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

like Simsar, I would want to be doing a bit more for hunting proper, but you should be ok for autumn hunting. even if you were just managing to lunge for half an hour once a week and could get someone to ride for an hour or so another day! once they're fit they're easy to keep that way - the hard bit is getting them fit!
 
Agree with comments above. You do need to try and get him as fit as possible before "proper" hunting. Even if you have to stand in a corner of your field with him on the lunge in the dark with a torch it will all help. We don't have an arena or walker, so when we both worked full time 8 - 5, I had to resort to all sorts to keep them fit. If you get him really fit then hunt twice a week, with plenty of turnout, he will probably be OK....as Jenhunt said is the getting fit that is the hard part.....but well worth it.

We had our first day on Weds was so good to be out and my old boy was a star so fingers crossed that he will stay soundish!!
 
Thank for the replies! :) To make it a bit clearer I would be hacking or lungeing one day of the weekend, competing or hunting the other day then have an hour lesson on a tuesday and am looking to hire the arena just down the road another weekday. I thought it proper hunting would probably be too much as winter is always a bit more difficult for me. I do it all on my own, I keep M and his companion at home with my very helpful but very unhorsey parents, so getting them to lunge is unlikely but my lovely dad recognises this problem and is willing to take us out to arenas etc to help when he can :) I might just have to resort to lunging in the dark (and mud as no arena) but there must be alot of people in a similar situation to me. Thanks for the help. Hopefully there will be many more reports to come ;)

Ditchjumper - got fingers crossed for your boy to stay sound! :)
 
nemo_ said:
Thank for the replies! :)
Ditchjumper - got fingers crossed for your boy to stay sound! :)
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Thank you...mine are too. He did Saturday as well as T has been off but I only did 2 1/2 hours with him as need him for Weds!! T has been walking out so may take him Sat and amble at the back as we are somewhere where I actually know my way around...I think. Never very good at directions.

Our field is clay so I end up doing what I call moveable lunging. He trots round as I walk about the field. To be honest I don't really care how he goes I just want him to work and puff. All OH wants is for him to stop, start, turn and stand still for a wee, a fag and a drink and to get on!! :)
 
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