I may not yet be strong enough to foxhunt, but I don’t want to miss all the fun. So, today I followed the meet by car. This was a territory I’ve never ridden, and I will not deny the feelings of jealousy that streamed through me while watching, but I also enjoy taking pictures and at least I was part of it.
While I often take photos when I ride, when you’re in the field you never have the chance to get up close to the hounds. At least, not unless you’re galloping behind them. So this set of photos is for them.
I did not know that…that a horse is forbidden to kick a hound. In retrospect, I can see the reason why, it just never occurred to me, as I’ve never hunted (or evented). Forgive me for being a bit stupid, but I am assuming that in America, a fox is not killed, right? Here in the West, the ‘prey’ is coyotes, and I don’t believe they’re killed. I hope not. I can see the fun involved, but I wouldn’t want to see the prey killed.
There are places where they still hunt “live” but not where I live. We have human foxes spread scent before the hunt and the hounds follow that. I agree. The fun is in the chase. I don’t need to see an animal killed. Interestingly the scent is either fox pee, aniseed, or a special chemical crystal that is diluted with water. On Saturday we could see the “fox” laying the scent right before the fields were hunted. So I guess we “caught” her.
Oh, I’ve read about the Brits playing the fox. I bet that would be much more fun than actually running down a fox. I bet it also makes the hounds better. Well, I am glad you didn’t rat your “fox” out. The dogs don’t know any better. Or else they think, hmm, there’s human scent and fox scent…is someone out walking her pet fox?
Beautiful photos! I’ve never hunted either but it looks like a good fun. And the hounds look so happy! 🙂 -Nicky