A difficult report for me to write, firstly
because it was the first meet, in collaboration with Liz Pooley, that I have
organised and secondly because I was thoroughly fed up at not to be able to
ride. All my horses were dead of their feet with a virus. Of course I will say
that it was a spectacular meet with fantastic ground and glorious fences! In
reality, I believe all of those statements to be true!All day I had Roger Palmer, our founding Master and, until his death, organiser of this meet, looking over my shoulder. The ghost of Remembrance Day Past! Did we manage to live up to his high
expectations and standards? Certainly, Tsa (his
widow), who generously provided mulled wine for all at the end of the second
line, when reminded that we were already 39 minutes behind Roger's meticulously
kept schedule, could only laugh and reply that draghunting ought to be a
self-determined sport!A major accident on the M4 looked likely to disrupt the day but hounds arrived an hour early and huntsman and field master arrived shortly after. For those who know Robin, a first by a marathon! Time to show all the lines, new start, new hedges and ditch and re-assemble at the new parking. Luckily none of the field seemed to have been caught in the motorway closure.
This is a big jumping meet, in places with smaller alternatives and therefore
negotiable by the less confident. A cracking dun pony and young rider showed how
all but the biggest hedges should be jumped -
definitely where the future of our
sport lies. A charming little coloured 5 year old mare showed amazing maturity
and ability, scaring the Mum and Grandma of the rider at the height of the
fences she took on so effortlessly. "I have a photo to prove that the hedge was
level with my shoulder!" Mum declined to walk over to the last hedge, which I
believe was bigger! The whole family clearly had a great day out. A new
subscriber asked if the meticulously cut hedges in Tsa's garden were prepared
for us to jump. "Yes, us and only us, once a season." "But they are massive!" I
just wish that more people would come and enjoy them... and that my horses
hadn't been sick.