What
a difference a few days make! After the cold and fog at Brockhurst (23rd Dec),
this was a mild, overcast day with excellent visibility. Rockley Manor made a
wonderful
backdrop for the Boxing Day meet and the Rickman family put themselves out in
their hospitality - three members riding and both non-riding sons taking
responsibility for heating and delivering the tea (various curries and their
accompaniments) to the stunning entertainment barn at the conclusion of sport."Romford is out today," said Richard, "that will put a smile on your face!" Well, he was right. In subtle reversed psychology, Richard had suggested leaving Romford in kennels for a meet and the result was that he (Romford) got the plot and became one of the pack. "I'm blowed if I'm going to be left behind again and miss the party" was obviously going through his head!
There was a large gathering at the meet with a lot of foot followers of all ages enjoying the spectacle. Allowing the foot followers time to get
into
prime viewing spots for the first line, we moved slowly up the road to the
bottom of a gallop. Hounds, as keen as ever, broke early, crossed the line at a
right angle and had to cast about. It is always fascinating watching them at
work. All bar one picked it up quickly but Gradual, definitely a workaholic
bitch, caught a whiff of the already laid second line and hunted it alone! She
is always at the front of the pack, often by tens of lengths, so she probably
didn't notice or care! Ian and Richard picked her up at the end of the line
while the rest of us hacked away from the end of the first one. Needless to say,
she rehunted the second line at the head of proceedings! Hounds were now very
thirsty and diverted to a water trough before the last fence line. It took a lot
of persuasion to get them out of the trough and over the last fence, before they
regrouped
in the next trough rather than going on to Ian and Richard. By common consent,
the end of the line had just moved!
The Rockley lines continue to improve in jumping experience with the addition of
about 20 portable fences. There is a
good mix of substantial timber jumps in fence lines and cross country style
island fences, great galloping ground and on the third line particularly,
excellent viewing of our black and
tans
streaming away. Andrew, field mastering, cleverly engineered that most of the
field could experience what is often only the privilege of huntsman and whips.And so to the excellent tea. A log fire burning and enough space for everyone to sit down. Mind you, if you vacated your chair for a refill, you were likely to lose it! This just added to the conviviality. "You are such a friendly hunt", I was told.