....First of all, next season's hunting. Our huntsman/kennelman received an unannounced inpection visit from DEFRA. He told the man that he would fetch a baseball bat and kneecap him if he did not go away, and that if he ever came back again he would blow his brains out with a shotgun.
DEFRA's response to this, not surprisingly, was to remove the Hunt licence to slaughter animals and render the carcasses. Our Huntsman, not surprisingly, is now unemployed while he seeks alternative employment, not of his own volition.
The hounds had to be removed from the kennels because the Huntsman lives there in a tied cottage and people were too afraid of him to go there and look after them. They were in such poor condition when they were picked up that several had to be put down, 8 were returned to the packs who had lent them to us and another died in a fight caused either by the upset of being moved or being hungry, or both.
So, our pack is no longer able to provide hunting this September.
Meanwhile, the other pack has been split in two by a key member who has found funding to set up a bloodhound pack and a drag pack. Bloodhounds hunt the scent of a man, not any artificial scent, and go slower but boy they are cute!! That pack is going to hunt Sundays but currently has no meets arranged and is still negotiating with farmers.
That leaves the original hunt with insufficient subscribers to survive. The upshot of all of that is that our Hunt and the Hunt that I said I would never go with again have been forced to merge for at least two seasons.
Meanwhile, SH has taken season tickets to our local football club this year, and it will no doubt suit me from time to time to hunt on a Sunday with the bloodhounds instead of on a Saturday.when there is a match on.
Which brings me neatly to Saturday dressage. My plans for Ace are in a heap. The only venue that I consider near enough to make it worth my while to compete at dressage has precipitately stopped the Wednesday competitions, leaving dressage on Saturday only. That means that in the Footie and Hunting seasons, I can only compete dressage for June and July and part of May and August. And there are only about four more that I can get to this year.
It's going to take that many to finish despooking Ace, and then we will have to stop for the year and wait until next May to see if he starts it again. Always assuming that I can be bothered to compete at all for such a short time.
So now I am all in a quandary what to do about that. A big part of me is saying that I should just accept it as a sign that Ace is not meant to go out and compete and that I should simply enjoy him at home.
Blimey, you couldn't make this lot up for a soap opera, could you?
C
No hunting, no competing, you'll be taking up cross stitch next ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, what a pain, no suggestions but hope you come with a plan B
what on EARTH was that huntsman thinking? or not? he'll not work again, one assumes!
ReplyDeleteAll in all - gutting. What a pickle to be in. Aren't there other weekday dressage competitions around?
ReplyDeleteAs for the hunt mess - doesn't reflect very well on the Masters who should have been more aware of what was going on about the welfare of the hounds. Sounds like the Huntsman was a weirdo and everyone was frightened of him.
I daresay that there will be something better coming out of this debacle, it just seems awful at the moment.
Lynda I think I will be hunting, but who with and where is still very much up in the air.
ReplyDeleteClaire, it beggars belief, doesn't it? He'll never get another job in hunting, it's a really close knit community. He has two small boys, as well. I suspect that the demon drink may have a fair bit to answer for.
C
He seemed to adore his hounds Judith, it was ha real shock to all of us to hear of what a state they had got into only a few weeks since we had seen them healthy and hunting :-(
ReplyDeleteThere are two midweek dressage venues, both a lot further away, and they run one a month each. I just don't feel it's worth the time or the diesel if Ace is going to spook or have to do a piddling low level test. Competing never was my thing anyway, so I have contacted a trainer to see if we would have more fun spending our money on her instead.
C
So many foreign phrases - a classic case of being divided by a common language. What's a tied cottage? Does that huntsman only derive income from slaughtering animals? Who actually owns the dogs? I thought the huntsman but I guess not? He seems the British version of the western cowboy: independent, hard headed, wary of strangers, rules and regulations...
ReplyDeleteTaking lessons away from home will help despook Ace, though probably not as much as a busy show scene would. Might be a nice interval though until shows and hunts are back in your area.
In our case, ML, the hunt has a limited company which owns the hounds and employs the huntsman to hunt them. Again in our case , but not always, he was also the kennelman and he used to shoot injured animals for farmers (and me, he did Jazz) and butcher the carcasses to feed the hounds with.
DeleteA tied cottage is one which goes with the job and must be vscated when the employee no longer does the job.
I hope that helps :-)
C
In our case, ML, the hunt has a limited company which owns the hounds and employs the huntsman to hunt them. Again in our case , but not always, he was also the kennelman and he used to shoot injured animals for farmers (and me, he did Jazz) and butcher the carcasses to feed the hounds with.
DeleteA tied cottage is one which goes with the job and must be vscated when the employee no longer does the job.
I hope that helps :-)
C
What a horrendous situation with the starving hounds. Of all the story, that is the worst of it.
ReplyDeleteNot hunting every week will be sad for you and Radar, of course, but hopefully something will work out. Don't know how many hunts/packs we have around here or how often they hunt. I never had a horse I'd take out, even as a guest. I suspect it's a rather expensive pursuit in my area.
Guess the weekday shows were not financial successes? Ace might well be more fun in lessons anyhow. Then, with time, you can reconsider the competition arena.
There's a lot to work out here, but at least SH is set for a season of good fun! *G*