It was good to be
back at Baughurst again after a gap of a year. The lines had been somewhat
revamped by Ian Balding with the help of a brand new last line, courtesy of
Patrick Chammings, who also provided off-road parking for all the boxes. It made
a pleasant change to hack to the meet. A good field of some 50 odd turned up,
red poppies to the fore, on a lovely sunny morning.
The meet was at the
beginning and end of the first line, giving ample opportunity to eye up the last
hedge and ditch - warm up for Highworth next week, as Ian pointed out!Hound control was improved from last week and we uneventfully put them onto all three lines. Line one started over an inviting, small hedge and then crossed two quite steeply banked streams with rails at the top of the bank on the far side. Even hounds left foot prints in the, initially, beautifully green fields around these streams, while a blind man, short of feeling in his stick, could have tracked the horses! Yes, it was holding!! The line then ran around the inside of a wood with several interesting fences, before
emerging over a drop fence, to
another four nice fences before "The Big Hedge". If attacked with a bit of pace,
it rides well and gives a great feel, with a bit of a drop on landing. If ridden
tentatively, the ditch with a slightly rising lip, catches its victims! And
there were quite a few!! Andrew Rickman showed how to remain onboard a
significant peck, as his horse crumpled on landing and stayed on its knees for
the next three strides! Others were not so skilled and almost the last pair to
tackle the fence came in so slowly that it was inevitable they would land in the
ditch. Both horses gracefully keeled over sideways in quick succession! It is
not often we can stand and get a grandstand view of the field jumping! And of
course the foot followers can too.The second line came in two parts, the first around a hunter trial course - where
hounds followed the line perfectly, instead of short circuiting a loop as
we had feared they might, from remembrance of where they had been in years gone
by - and the second, taking in a truly big hedge (more practice for Highworth!),
before returning to the starting point of this line. A pleasing number of people
took on this giant and got a great buzz for their courage. There was a very
jumpable rail, also used by the hounds, for those not up it. Andrew, when asked
if he had jumped the massive hedge (there was a slightly lower, but not
narrower, version on offer) replied, "If you are wearing a red coat, you
....ing-well have to!!" - the coat maketh the man? - and "No, I don't think
there is anything as big at Highworth" (for which he is jointly re
sponsible,
along with Ian Balding). A hack, mostly back to the parking, led to the last line and possibly the best going of the day. This had an unusual selection of fairly upright fences, mainly constructed using show jumping wings and an assortment of fillers, with a couple of ditches thrown in.
Some repaired to the Wellington Arms for tea, totally overcrowding a table and the front half of the pub, to relive the day and plot for Highworth. (I can thoroughly recommend the chips here, more like roast potatoes!) Two journalists from "Horse" had been out with us so there will be an "unbiased report", as seen from the ground instead of mounted at the front of proceedings, to read in a future issue.