Love that. Actually, since I have a 30-year-old, I think of him as my senior, but I also have my 25-year-old whom I still ride, and he’s not an anything either. I’m lucky. Though my 13-year-old is on Equioxx, so it balances out, I guess!!
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Since we are talking about old horses here, I think it is worth mentioning that hunt horses typically remain sound and healthy much later into their lives compared to horses in other disciplines. It’s not unusual for a good proportion of the horses in the hunt field to be sound, happy horses that you’d never guess are in their late teens or twenties. Also, compared to other disciplines, hunt horses once they are settled in their career seem to often stay with the same owner (or within the same hunt) for the rest of their lives.
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I think it’s worth noting that is your perception based on your lived experience. I haven’t encountered any population level data to support this conclusion.
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This is the opinion of one of the sabs in our area on FB last night, thinking it might be okay to shoot a hunt horse in the eye with a crossbow to punish the huntsman riding it, that’s the level of insanity that hunts deal with over here in the UK …
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Well that just shows it’s true that it never was about the animals. It’s a class issue
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I was unfriended by a guy years ago (a friend of a friend, from the UK) as he looked to condemn a woman for whipping the person reaching into her bridle. ‘She could make it rear and endanger the guy’
Nope, friend. Grabbing a horse by the bridle like that makes for a dangerous situation.
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Actually no - since a lot of the land that’s “hunted” is farmland. It’s a dying sport due to many things - lack of open space and being a professional huntsman or whip is not exactly up there in terms of a career path
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To further encourage foxhunting, I’m one of the organizers of this upcoming event and it looks like we’re going to have a grand day!
Entries are full at 100 riders!
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Weren’t there regulations about disposal of horses due to fear of “mad cow disease” in GB? At some point before it was known that horses did not get the disease.
not sure, there was a very real Hoof and Mouth period a while back. BSE as well. It is more likely an issue of safety, sanitation and inspection in general , rather than issue of horses infection.
I have fox hunted for twenty years, live hunts, and fortunately have never er seen a fox killed. We just chase, never kill
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same here. I haven’t seen any foxes killed but i have seen quite a few coyotes. I’ve seen more dead foxes on the side of the road 
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I rode for years with a kill hunt. Sure, we all told outsiders that we did it for the sport of the chase and not to kill. We even told each other that. I think most fox hunters use that line for justification. Lots of coyotes, gray foxes, the occasional bobcat, and the rare red fox. If you performed well on the chase, at the site of the kill the field gathered for the blooding, where if it was your first kill of that type of quarry, your forehead was marked by the huntsman with the animal’s blood and the master might honor you with the carcass. It was expected that you would take it to a taxidermist to be mounted for display in your home or barn tack room. Sometimes there were so many animals in the freezer at the club house there was not enough room for food, and folks were implored to take their prizes home.
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I agree. Some need to tell themselves that to make it ok. I think some actually believe it. It doesn’t matter what you’re after, if the hounds catch it they’re killing it.
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Was this in the UK or the US? And how many decades ago was it?
FWIW, the MFHA no longer endorses blooding.
The one time I was at a kill in the late 80’s, 35 - 40 years ago, no one was blooded because of a transmissible disease in foxes. People were offered awards, but none accepted as it was not a healthy fox.
I haven’t seen people being awarded masks or tails in the intervening years, as kills have become increasingly discouraged and rare.
Yes, if the hounds catch game, either coyote or fox, they will kill it. That’s true. And foxhunters should be honest with themselves and others about that. But it is rare, because the odds are all in the quarry’s favor. I choose to look at all the land under wildlife conversation easement because of foxhunters, and think that the enormous benefit to all wildlife is worth it.
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US, 10 years ago.
All I can say is that shocks me, and it’s entirely outside my own experience.
I can somewhat understand if the club was in an area where landowners wanted coyote eradicated, but it’s probably not a club I’d enjoy hunting with.
I hope they have amended some of their practices.
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Interesting read;
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