Many years ago I was attempting to romance this very smart, fit, young girl whose passion was horse riding. She asked me if I liked horse riding so in an attempt to impress her I said yes, often rode horses (well it was not strictly a lie as I had at least two times sat on the old nag that one of my local farmer friends kept). Anyway she said if I turned up next Saturday at a certain small Lake District Village we could go riding together. Great I'm in there thinks me. So I turn up next Saturday only to find out that I am expected to take part in the local hunt and a so called "gentle" horse has been picked out for me to ride. Not being a fan of hunting but the chance of a leg over won out over my dislike so up I get onto this "gentle" beast and off we all trot. Next thing some zzhole blows a trumpet and the whole pack of us set off at a gallop across the fields with me and my horse bringing up the rear of a bunch of "tally hooeers". Going across on field I could see all those ahead of me leaping over the hedgerow but just off to starboard was an open gate through to the next field so I was trying to get my nag to go through that opening. No chance, my bloody nag was just going to follow the pack so up and over the hedge it leapt and on after the rest of them it galloped. It had however lost its rider ME as although I had trotted across a field previously I had never galloped or even attempted to sit on a horse going over jumps. I was left muddied and on my **** as my ride disappeared into the distance along with any chance of a leg over from the girl I was attempting to impress.
Fox hunting... a passion killer and a waste of good drinking time in my view and was happy to see it banned.
rgds
JA
p.s. used to go Hound trailing a lot when young. This is where hounds follow a scent laid by a runner dragging a sack doused in scent over fields for hounds to chase. It was quite big business when I was growing up with regular meets and bookies taking pots of money. Still goes on to this day if I remember
