As things seem a bit quiet on my favorite COTH forum, I thought I would tell you of my fun last Sunday.
The local Drag Hunt had their meet very close to my home. I can not hunt this season and consequently I am suffering from chronic hound deprivation: I had to go to watch.
It was a really frosty and misty day and the landscape was glinting white and silver, lovely along the river and in the meadows. The house itself, a red brick Georgian building, provided a bit of color. About 30 - 40 mounted followers were out, standing on the lawn, all plaited up, carrying hunting whips, with hunting ties etc. But somehow the details were all slightly off, like the 15 polo players out from the local club who were in their polo boots and with stirrups more polo than hunting and their ties were highly individual at best… Lots of port and sausages passing around, with our generous host being very jovial in the midst of an amiable confusion. Hounds were four and half couple of foxhounds drafted from another local pack. I propped up a couple for several minutes while they had their ears rubbed and they smiled at me. Desperate hound deficiency in my life! The Huntsman had forgotten her horn and had to be lent a battered antique by our host. She then could not blow it as it was bent out of shape. The hounds were bouncing all over the place, among the horses, looking for sausages, sniffing any dogs on leads. They paid absolutely NO attention to the Huntsman and only moved off because her horse did. I think they knew the horse.
Once hounds and horses moved out of sight, we pedestrians walked to a good viewing spot. The annual Drag meet always takes the same route around the Hall. There were distant views of leaping horses in the silver mist and frost in appropriate romantic hunting images before they vanished into the foggy air. On to another field and a gateway where we spectators waited for several more minutes. Then one hound comes out of the mist and stops at the human crowd and sort of looks around, hopefully, before deciding to sort of wander off back towards the start… then the Huntsman, another horseman and a child on a cracking pony appear and leap the rails… followed soon after by the other 4 couple of hounds who were just running along, with their heads in the air and most certainly not on any line, just, well, running because everyone else was running around… followed by a clump of riders who also jumped when the spectators pointed out where the jump was… and a few more… and then some others who went the wrong way until they heard the yells redirecting them. Everyone ended up back at the start beside the house.
It was the most shambolic hunt I have ever seen - but all the riders had massive smiles after their run, a surprising number of polo ponies had managed the jumps, no one fell off and only one horse went down to roll as it was very hot and sweaty and could not get up again without human help. The hounds, one feels, were more ornamental than essential.
