I'm boycotting boxing day

[k9h]

We only take hounds to the grren then box them up afterwards. The field get to go for a jolly & drink at one of the masters house & then jolly & jump round the fields then back again. The suppport we get is great. Alot of the faces I have never seen before & probably never will till next BD.
The kids I find alot more polite than some of the adult field members (& not new members at that.
You have to start somewhere (Yes boxing day may not be the best first day) But who cares we need all the support we can get & especially from the young ones as it is them that are going to carry it on. Without them there is no future for hunting of any kind.
I only go on the village green with hounds & then when hounds go back in the lkorry so does my horse. Purley because He has been out all day whipping in on Tue 18th, Sat 22nd, Mon 24th, Thern he will be out again on Saturday so he does not require a jolly but a well deserved rest so he is fit for Saturday!
The worst thing for us re BD & New yearts day is it is usually soon after this that the hounds get KC from mixing with other dogs.
Then there is no hunting for anyone for 3 weeks at least! But we do not ban people from bringing there dogs to these meets.
I do hope anyone who did not go mounted went on foot to support & show face.

 

[Sooty]

Well said. During the long drawn-out parliamentary campaign to have hunting banned, hunt members went to extraordinary lengths to make out they weren't toffs or snobs, but just ordinary people who enjoy the tradition and fun of hunting, often on a shoestring. Posts like the OP and others agreeing do nothing to support that stance, and smack of snobbery and a desire for exclusivity. Luckily, our local hunt is very friendly and welcoming, and wise enough to realise that all support should be welcomed. When there are no Boxing Day meets at all, hunt members can congratulate themselves on having weeded out all the idiots and plebs.

 

[aimeerose]

TBH although I can understand your view i think is pretty mean spirited.
Personally I love the hunt on boxing day (reaally missed it this year) ok, so its not a good 'jumping' meet, there are numpties etc etc, but its fun, everyone is happy, new people join in and become hooked.
Some people cant hunt 'reguarly', dont enjoy fast 'jumping' days and the slower, easier, 'full of numpties' meets do a fab job.
I think centre of the town boxing day meets where your friends, folks and other totally unhorsey peeps can come and wave is fab, and a great boost for the hunt community when lots of people do turn up.

*steps off soapbox*

HH - our master used to do just that on Boxing day! Up to Belstone through the Cleve, run round Tor marsh and over towards Gidleigh, ok not 'easy' but not hard either!

 

[hotellie]

i dont go on boxing day simply because they have an hour long meet and then another hour of pup crwling on horseback so you dont start huinting till 1pm and i would get bored and my horse would loose it! but i think it is fab that so many people turn out!

 

[lydiaandmiffy]

I've never hunted but i can understand how irritating it can be with people cutting you up etc, but the summary of Rosiie's post says she doesnt feel its not worth it for her horse which i think is as good a reason as any not to go and i read the post as though that was the reason she wasnt going as it wasnt worth risking her horse through the excitement of boxing day and the general atmosphere of the day
(does that make sense)
Lydia

 

[the watcher]

Lydia, that makes perfect sense, but I think you are being a little generous. Boxing Day is ALL about standing around at the meet so the master can thank everybody who has come to support the hunt, and a good many people will retire 30 minutes out when the going gets a bit faster. Nobody ever claims it is a good day for following a scent. i just think that complaining about people who have made the effort to turn up is a little ungracious.

But on another subject I love the Brownbread Highland ponies and hope to be able to visit whenever there is next an open day - to eye up potential stallions

 

[livetoride]

I think its fantastic that so many non-hunting people turn out to show their support. We should be grateful for it, even if it does cause some inconvenience a few times a year.

--------
Sarah

 

[lydiaandmiffy]

the_watcher yes i agree i probably am being a wee bit generous lol! and i can understand not taking your pony/ Horse there, but obviously it great to see so many people supporting and i think if you dont want to take your horse than you should also go on foot for support. on to the subject of highlands though i did work experience at brownbread in may and its a fab place and theyve got some wonderful stallions, do you have highlands?

 

[Eagle_day]

"Luckily, our local hunt is very friendly and welcoming, and wise enough to realise that all support should be welcomed."

Mine too.

And the support we received again this year was phenomenal: 70 mounted, and hundred upon hundreds on foot in the Market Square and along the roads

 

[RunToEarth]

Well actually I relish in supporting my hunt, I am there at every damned fund raiser, hunt ball, auction, despite my other commitments and general lack of time, I will always support my hunt, and my family offers but 800acres of farmland for them to hunt on throughout the season, so yes, I believe I give over my fair share of support from my hunt, but I will always keep in mind this simpler times when my father was a whip. Times when hunts worked around their members, and we did not have to work around them, times when newcomers were well informed and well researched and a good day can be had by all. Just because there are large numbers out does not mean it will be a bad day, looking back over videos from yesteryear hunting up here on boxing day used to be absolutely fantastic and very enjoyable.
The reason why I chose not to go out on boxing day was not one stemming from spite, but my absolute devotion to do the best by my full time hunter, and judging by the hustle and bustle of last year, the large novice field and above all my own rather unsociable horse I decided it was safer for by myself, my horse and fellow riders to steer well clear. I went later on on foot, and of course I paid cap, how dare any body suggest otherwise, as I have said I will continue to support my hunt, but I just dislike the unorganised free for all that boxing day has become, squeezing the pleasure from its regulars and members such as myself and allowing such a large field without many people to oversee it is a safe and enjoyable day- for someone such as myself who hunts mostly twice a week, the thought of nakering a horse up on such a manic day is chilling.

 

[RunToEarth]

Well said. During the long drawn-out parliamentary campaign to have hunting banned, hunt members went to extraordinary lengths to make out they weren't toffs or snobs, but just ordinary people who enjoy the tradition and fun of hunting, often on a shoestring. Posts like the OP and others agreeing do nothing to support that stance, and smack of snobbery and a desire for exclusivity. Luckily, our local hunt is very friendly and welcoming, and wise enough to realise that all support should be welcomed. When there are no Boxing Day meets at all, hunt members can congratulate themselves on having weeded out all the idiots and plebs.

Tha is in no way what I meant, if you believe manners and common courtesy are elite then that is where you and I differ, and is it not a common misconception that "snobs" as you choose to name them are themselves labelled as rude with little manners. As I have said above my support will forever remain with my hunt, as it has done with my family for many generations, but as someone who goes out every week, often more than once, is a member, pays a sub and always supports fundraisers and social events that the hunt lays on, I find boxing day a huge dissapointment. Manners cost nothing, the basic hunting etiquette is written on most hunt's meet cards and websites, it takes but 5minutes to read around the genral gist of things and I would like to think I am a helpful member of my hunting community at the worst. Boxing day is such a difficult day, and of course we should celebrate the fact that boxing day is such a big day where the non hunting community can come out and support the cause, if perhaps worded my post extremely insensitively, I do not wish for non hunting community to not support us, I wish for them to be a little more well informed, which perhaps is a fault of my hunt, but as I have said before, learning that younger members, such as myself, are expected to hop off and open gates, to allow collars and longer serving members to go in front of themselves and to move aside for hunt staff, and of course general things such as cutting eachother up into fences, which did, two boxing days ago cause my horse to jump a barbed wire fence.
I appologise if my views came across elitist, I just think boxing day would run so much better if everybody who did come out would take a little bit more care, for example if people choose boxing day for their first meet, they should put a green ribbon in- often we treat there as red and it gives us a warning that your horse is new to the game, this way we can steer clear and avoid possibly kicks, which I'm sure no one will think is a snobbish attitude to take. Big hunting days are great and can run so smoothly if everybody just learns to respect eachother a little bit more.

 

[Sooty]

Fair enough - I can see how you must find lack of manners frustrating; I would too! I can see how you find it different from the rest of the meets, and your choice to boycott it is probably a wise one. Bad manners are annoying in any area, but where horses are concerned they can be dangerous as well.

 

[Starbucks]

Well - all i can say is you missed a bloody good day!!

Sure there were tons of people out, but everyone did really well, no one pissed me off anyway. Best day I've had this season and they had put in a big effort for it, I think it was enjoyed by all!

 

[weevil]

Well I'm very glad I didn't come across attitudes like yours when I went out on Boxing Day. I have never hunted before so didn't have any of the gear but was staying with friends so went out with them (on a very experienced horse) and everyone I met was lovely. The Master came up to me, shook my hand, gave me a kiss on the cheek and a cup of mulled wine and thanked me for supporting the hunt. Everyone there accepted that it was not going to be a "proper" hut because boxing day never is (their words not mine) and they all just made me feel really welcome and I had a lovely day. There are many opportunities for proper hunting but particularly at this time good PR is equally important.

 

[severnmiles]

Dr W, really nice to hear you had a nice time and everyone was pleasant - thats hunting as I know it!

 

[Ferdinase514]

Interesting that a lot of the snotty comments on this thread are coming from the younger HHO'ers.

Some humility is required. Stop condescending to others and realise that one day you might not be in the positions you are now.

 

[RunToEarth]

NB- I have said nothing about turnout or dresscode in this thread, as far as I am concerned boxing day is a day where a lot of the non hunting community turn out, and I personally wouldnt justify buying the "correct" kit for one day of the year, my problem with boxing day is one stemming from a lack of manners, which I find are, universally, free...

 

[kirstyhen]

I have to say that although i went out boxing day and had a fantastic time, i understand completely what rosiiepudding is saying.
I dont hunt often, I know few people who do and so have learnt what ettiqutte i know by myself. I think its lovely that hunts are so well supported and do not believe that anyone should be stopped from joining in.
However there are certain things you dont have to be a regular hunter to realise.
I had my horse ploughed into numerous times by people who would speed up as they saw the back of the field, even though the field was stopping, and then be unable to stop when they caught up.
I saw people with red and green ribbons in tails riding in the middle of a large group, i know the ribbon is a warning but surely if you know your horse kicks keep it out of the way. Whilst queing for fences i was constantly carved up, whilst having to deal with a rearing horse.
These are things i would expect anyone who rides to understand.
I would not however swap these for the pleasure of seeing so many people out supporting our cause!
I would not have taken my horse if he was not as sensible as he is (the rearing is just a general hunting response and hes always careful not to go to high!!!) and can understand the point of not taking a regular wizzy hunter to a boxing day meet which is a pretty frantic meet!
I am also sure that there are many things which i do wrong, there should be hunting ettiquette classes!!

 

[Haniki]

I support Rosiiepudding's decision not to hunt her horse on Boxing Day. Despite being a member and subscriber of my local hunt I only went out on Boxing Day once. My horse got kicked by someone on an unruly horse who backed into her in an open space. Luckily although she was lame and off work for a little while she was alright. I won't say Boxing Day is a 'free for all' but the usual etiquette seems to go out the window - probably to do with over fit and over fed horses at this time of year.

 

[SueAllen]

I'm surprised by some of the comments here about Boxing day hunts. I guess it's very different with different hunts. Luckily I have a very sane, well behaved horse who doesn't much care who is out and how many - he just gets on with it - hunt with a lovely pack who are universally delighted to see so many new people out on Boxing day (and if they weren't, wouldn't say anything) and this year was able to invite some friends along who know very little about hunting but have been impressed by it following the Boxing Day meet. I usually travel to meets with one of the field masters who would be pretty disgusted if I chose not to go to the biggest, best PR meet of the year unless I had some terminal disease. And even then, I think she would think I was being lightweight!!!

I am a real newbie (only hunted the last 3 seasons) and as my family haven't done it for years and I don't have several hundred acres of land to offer to the hunt I know diddly and just get out there as often as possible to learn and experince. We all have to start somewhere. I had to learn all my etiquette by watching and asking (the websites are out there but not always pertinent to the times) and like to think I am a useful member of the hunt. I know to stay clear of green and red ribbons, chat nicely to new people (I was there so recently) and accept that I can't always have the best day out always if a bit of hunt pr is required.

I can't afford to go to many of the fund raising dos - balls, suppers etc all cost a fair bit by the time you have paid for a ticket and transport - but I do want to be able to afford to hunt and keep the horse!. However, I can afford to give my time to the effort of fund raising.

On balance, I think it is a real shame that the Boxing Day meet is not seen by all members of the hunt as a chance to get out there, talk to all the one off hunters (good and bad) and encourage the children and educate the bad mannered people, using it as a very valuable opportunity to support the next generation. We need one. And a totally committed one at that.

 

[Lill]

Fortunately not too many stupid little children come out with us on Boxing Day either.

Were you not one of those years ago? Don't know much about you but think that that comment is quite rude really.

 

[RunToEarth]

I'm sure CastleMouse didn't mean it like that, Lill. She is quite a regular member and has hunted since she was younger, I think she simply picked the wrong choice of words. The hunting field was the only place I was quiet when I was younger, because I understood I had to be.
Again I think it boils down to an understanding for the sport, and the very small minority (kids and adults alike) who don't quite understand what is expected of themselves and may accidently cut wiser hunter up into fences and be quite loud, which is generally not appriciated, but a quite word in children's ear and a worthers orignal from the field master usually sorts that out

 

[The Virgin Dubble]

Well actually I relish in supporting my hunt, I am there at every damned fund raiser, hunt ball, auction, despite my other commitments and general lack of time, I will always support my hunt, and my family offers but 800acres of farmland for them to hunt on throughout the season, so yes, I believe

Ahhh, jolly good effort - just as long as you don't have to come into contact with any of the plebs eh? ;o)

 

[antiantianti]

lol ONLY 800 acres?