Hard to understand the full context of that situation, and since I wasnât there and I am missing key information I wonât try to speculate. But without a doubt I feel bad for that poor horse. Have a stranger hanging on the reins like that would certainly upset most horses, and the rider whacking the whip around next to his face while that guy just hung on harder.
Looks like self defense, but sheâll get dragged through the courts and it will end up costing her a lot of money. Thatâs the way they play it; provoke hunters to do something like this and try for prosecution. They were trespassing in the first place.
The saboteurs film the incidents, and you can bet youâll never see the rest of the story. Only the stuff that makes them look like victims.
A Countryside Alliance spokesman said:
âThroughout the hunting debate, those opposed to hunting from Ministerial level down, asserted that it was wholly an animal welfare measure and that they wanted hunts to continue hunting an artificial scent once the ban was in place yet it becomes more and more obvious that the primary aim of the anti-hunting movement is to get rid of people who hunt, rather than to improve animal welfare.â
I donât know the law in England but AFAIK in the US itâs illegal to wear a mask in public.
Heâs lucky he just got horsewhipped instead of having the horse rear up and knock him down with a hoof. What if she hadnât whipped him and he had scared the horse into rearing and going over backwards and killing her?
The UK hunting debate rouses the most intense emotions, both for or against. The majority of the population are mildly anti but probably think there are more important issues to worry about. The politicians respond to the most vocal group.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) was recognised as a terrorist organisation several years ago and the anti-hunting groups slide down the scale of aggression. Some are regular followers and are just part of the landscape. Hunt members are not always angels but most react to provocation - a win for the antis. Hunts openly carry on their activity in public. Sabs target a meet, arrive by the van load, dressed in black with faces covered and then behave in threatening ways. The police largely look on. The police do have the right to require the removal of masks in times of public disorder or potential disorder but this requires written authority from a superior officer and, unsurprisingly, isnât used.
The 2005 Act has not stopped hunting (more people now participating) and I suspect that has taken the antis by surprise. Just a few weeks ago a motion to ban legal trail hunting on land belonging to the National Trust, a major landowner, was defeated at its AGM.
What the video doesnât show is the time when the hunt sab grabbed the horseâs reins. In determining if the whip use was reasonable, that would be crucial I would think.
One would almost think that a camera would be just as important equipment for a hunt as wire cutters.
Foot follower with cameras would be more practical.
In the second video, the sab grabbed the reins when the huntswoman was seemingly attempting to herd the saboteurs back onto the road. Again, I donât feel like I have enough context from the articles that are being posted, but the saboteurs were accusing the huntspeople of ârunning them down with their horses.â
I can understand her reaction given that he was grabbing onto the horse, but I didnât understand what was stopping her from going around the saboteurs. But again, since I am missing that context and all the articles Iâve seen on this seem to be a bit inflammatory, I donât want to condemn her.
Half the problem is the way the press present these incidents in print;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5104785/Husband-huntswoman-repeatedly-whipped-saboteur.html
Notice the âRich folk beating the poor folkâ references. This doesnât have anything to do with animal welfare.
Given that the âwhipâ used is a bat and not a proper hunt whip, calling her a Huntswoman is likely an overstatement. She looks to me like a member of the field and not a hunt servant. The Daily News is a sensationalist rag,
In the US, the sab would be liable for assault when he grabbed the reins. Even if she was using her horse to herd them without touching them.
I canât see the second video with this OS.
Another version; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/20/huntswoman-whips-masked-protesters-anti-hunt-confrontation-caught/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDI0YOVlvcA
Here are the two videos. I looked up more hunt sab videos on Youtube and all of them show the sabs trespassing, tying gates closed, blocking roads, firing shot guns overhead, and screaming about being abused when property owners chase them from private land. The sabs claim it is their job to make sure hunters arenât breaking the law and they want to end any hunting period, even drag hunting for the safety of wild animals. I saw one person ran down by a horse, but the horse was galloping around a corner and the person (who was trespassing) was hiding and attempting to spook a horse while her friends were trying to barricade a gate. I saw another video of someone shoved down by a land owner when she refused to leave.
It is beyond me how these people can manufacture violence against them while they clearly video themselves firing shotguns over the heads of children on their ponies and claim it is their right to call the police.
OK admittedly I donât follow this closely ⊠wasnât hunting outlawed in England some years ago? And after that they only hunted dragged trails?
I could search these law changes, but for the education of the thread readers, and the much better information from horsey people who are in the know than I will ever find on the web, I ask here. 
It seems they were trespassing as well as grabbing the horse⊠Idiots.
You can still drag hunt but hunt sabs claim that people just say they are drag hunting and are actually killing foxes, and of course sometimes a dog finds an actual fox even when drag hunting. For lots of sabs they think the galloping of the horses is also abusive so basically they want people to not faux hunt or fox hunt or even ride.
Ah! I get it now. Nothing will satisfy such people.
Thanks for the explanation.
This was posted in another forumâŠI thought the horse was very well behaved give all the craziness going on.
According to the report on an English hunting page, the woman was accompanied only by a boy whose pony would/could not jump a fence and would have been left on his own as the field rode on. She stayed behind to make sure he was ok, and was set upon by the sabs. In that situation, Iâd have done whatever it took to stay safe and on my horse! Pretty sure it would be a very intimidating situation for her.
