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Guess what we're doing today?
Hunting!
My name's Nicky Sadler and we're out with the Ledbury Hunt.
It doesn't need big houses, it doesn't need lawn meets, most of the fun is getting horse,
hounds and followers together at a pub. And what could be more appropriate than the Foxhunters'
Inn at Buckbury?
It's a farmer's pack, it's been hunting this area for all of my life and my parents before
me. It's two days a week. We hunt on a Monday and a Friday. We have 100 subscribers. Today
we will have probably 60-70 mounted people out.
And many people following on foot?
Yes, there'll probably be 200-300 people following on foot. They are the people I would call
the salt of the earth. They are local people - a lot of retired people as well. It's the
foot followers which make it for me, because with all the markets closed around a lot of
farmers don't see their friends as such.
I noticed the pub obviously is very popular.
Oh yes. We had a ball there last year. It's a good, proper hunting pub. Everyone out hunting
today will most likely be there tonight talking about their day's fun. It's just a great social
thing. We all do it. If we have a good day's hunting it's a bonus, but we are out here
to enjoy ourselves.
Roger is a beef farmer. Out today the field includes a nurse, a civil engineer, a dentist,
a welder and lots and lots of farmers. There is also a school near here which lets the
children go out hunting as part of their physical education curriculum.
Lavinia Westlake used to whip in she. Now has fun following on foot.
Hopefully next season I will get on a horse, but this season I have written off, just take
her on my back and see how we go.
It's just as much fun following on foot though isn't it?
Yes, earlier on in the season was a bit more fun, I could keep up with them, but now it's
a bit too much ground for me on foot.
Fridays are quite a fast day.
Yes, Fridays are usually set sail fairish. It's a bit more difficult to see as well.
Some of the Monday country as a foot follower you can see a bit more. The ground is easier
to see. On a day like today as a foot follower it is ideal. Might not be for the horses.
The Ledbury has a reputation for fast and hard hunting types on a Friday. Its Monday
country is aimed at hunters who like lower hedges. And here is one of hunting's most
spectacular characters.
I notice you have got a badge on there, on your hunting coat, can you tell me a little
bit about that?
Felix he is still there, still hanging on, just, been a few years now. I was one of the
eight that went into the House of Commons on the hunting protest and the ban was set
up after that and every day we go out with a pack of hounds there is a risk that we will
be prosecuted for hunting unlawfully and as long as that is the case we are putting undue
pressure on our staff and for me that is a critical thing. These guys they work day in
day out. Talk about Will - he probably works an 18-hour day willingly because it is his
way of life. He loves it. But the one thing I don't think we can continue subjecting them
to is the risk of prosecution. And the problem is when you have a pack of fox hounds, something
they have been bred for centuries to do they are not going to forget it and if they happen
across a fox they will hunt until you can pick them up and accidents do happen and that
puts a huge amount of pressure on the staff and apart from the fact that we are not doing
the job we are supposed to be doing, certainly not to the degree that we are supposed to
do it, which makes a mockery of the thing. We can't put our staff through that anymore
and that is the reason why repeal is critical.
Like all hunting, foot followers spend much their day just looking for the hunt.
They ran as far as Gotts which is on Elderfield Marsh and now they have gone back to the Mitre
which is up Course Lawn and it's on the left before you get to the crossroads.
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Even members of the field can get a bit lost, but if you have a horse and if you like jumping
there is enough action for a whole website dedicated to Ledbury hunt jumps. It's run
by Vicki Ross.
They look at the video as much as they look at the website where people all over the world
are looking at my photos on the website.
Fantastic. And do you think that is because they are interested in hunting or because
they want to see people falling off.
[Laughter]
It's the hunting, the whole thing. Lots of ex Ledbury - we have people in Australia who
log onto the site every Friday and a lot of the subscribers come back after hunting and
go straight on to the website and if they are not on there I get text messages saying:
when are you putting the photographs up?
Lovely, and you stream some of the videos onto the web as well, on to YouTube?
Yes, some of the big jumping. If I've got somebody with me they'll video it.
Brilliant.
We are having fun today, but it will be much better when the act is repealed.
This hunt is right at the very heart of its community, in the three counties of Herefordshire,
Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. The Royal Navy has a Hunt Class destroyer named after
this hunt. Its record crowd for a Boxing Day meet in the market town of Ledbury is 6,000
people, and Top Gear chose the Ledbury in order to ‘hunt' a car.
The Countryside Alliance is working for hunts everywhere. For more information visit www.countryside-alliance.org.uk
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