Second Horse

[Irishcobs]

Was reading my local hunts subscriptions page and it says

'Grooms riding second horses and not continuing in the hunt field do not pay anything.'

I guess this is the grooms of the hunt staff riding their second horses but how does it work? If they are covering the same ground and doing the same as the first horses how are they not as tired as the first horses?

 

[NuttyTB]

I think it means the groom just hacks the second horse to the meet, where the rider will then change horses and continue hunting?

Thats what I do for my boss sometimes anyway!

 

[k9h]

Any horse in the field will not do anywhere near the amount a staff horse does. The whips horse does the most then the Huntsmans.
If they are following on from the beginning it maybe to settle the horse & they will just sit at the back & not jump the horse.

They may not follow from the meet but come out an hour before 2nd horses are needed to warm them up. All depends on the individual hunt & the terrain & horse!

Oh the luxury to have a 2nd horse!!

 

[Irishcobs]

Ah great, thank you. I don't think I have ever seen any of the hunt staff change horses but I haven't been out on tough days.

So I guess they then take the first horse home or back to the lorry?

 

[Ravenwood]

I used to second horse for the Staghounds, we all used to go to the meet and depending on where the hunt went, we would either wait at the lorry and bring on the pack when they were ready and then follow slowly from a distance. When the person you were riding for needed his second horse message would get back to us and then you would have to find him poste haste! Depending on the state of the first horse and where you were - you would either hack it home or back to the lorry.

In those days we had to wear bowler hats and a stirrup leather across our jacket so people realised who we were and would get out of our way or do gates for us!!

 

[LCobby]

guess this is the grooms of the hunt staff riding their second horses

If they were the Hunt's horses, they would not have to pay anyway?
. Some subscribers have second horses.
I used to sometimes take out second horses in school hols from the yard where I kept my pony. Good tips!
Sometimes second horse would wait on the lorry, if they knew where they planned to be drawing early afternoon, or be brought out on a second load, then lorry took first horses home, then came back for second horses.

 

[Tinker_Belle]

As has been said, with second horses they will either wait at the lorry or will be kept at the back of the field & not jump. I've known some grooms to have driven to the meet, wait & then drive to where the hunt was on instructions (if not too far away obviously) & swap horses once there.

Don't hunt now so methods may have changed.

 

[piebaldsparkle]

When I groomed for a fox hunt (many moons ago), we used to box out a couple of hours or so after the meet (depending where the meet was). We’d drive as close as we could, then unload (by which time the hounds had invariably picked up a scent, and the whole field had buggered off at speed), catch up with, then ride through the field to swap horses (which was always interesting as my feet would be tucked into the stirrup leathers, so the stirrups where kept at the whips length). We would then hack the 1st horses back to the lorry.