FROM HEREFORDSHIRE HUNT SABOTEURS WITH THEIR REGULAR DIGEST OF HUNT BEHAVIOUR

𝗙𝗼𝘅 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗱, 𝘀𝗮𝗯 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 '𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁' 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘰𝘯 / 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘸𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢, 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 8𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 2025 𝗧𝗟𝗗𝗥: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘆 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. 𝗦𝗮𝗯𝘀 𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲. Joint meets are usually grand affairs with lots of riders, huntsmen from both hunts riding up with the hounds and lots of jumping to keep the field amused. Saturday's joint meet of the Herefordshire and Clifton and Vale of Clettwr didn't meet expectations judging by tensions at the end of the day. A visiting whipper in, attempted to strike a sab with a whip as the hunt headed for home, two other riders kicked our vehicle. Earlier in the day H and C joint master Rob Parsons had aimed his horse at sabs (again), while later joking about how he “does his best to be violent.” It's safe to say that despite Parson's unwise attempt at bluster, sabs presence ruined their day. The hunt clearly had hoped to have a sab free day, taking various measures to prevent us finding the meet, including H and C huntsman not taking his horse to the meet, and not riding for the first part of the day. Very odd behaviour for a joint meet, where the two huntsmen usually hunt the visiting pack in tandem. Have no fear, dear reader, despite their efforts, sabs located the hunt near Ganderland, Thornbury shortly after 11.30am, and it was game on for the rest of the day. Hounds were starting to speak at the southern end of Rowden Coppice as our foot sabs arrived, and huntsman and another redcoat (it was redcoats galore) headed off at speed towards Ganderland. Two of the many H and C joint masters, Jo Martin and Jon Rudge, prevented sabs from heading inland here as we normally would. Long story short, sabs headed inland further down the road and soon had eyes on hounds, hunt staff and field. The hounds were no longer in cry, having lost the scent they were picking up on in Rowden Coppice. Hounds were cast along a dingle in between Ganderland and Rowden Station, but drew blank here. The hunt came out onto the road by Rowden Mill House (some of the hounds were seen jumping out of the garden here), before heading inland a bit further up towards Great Wacton. Sabs followed and (more by luck than judgement) were well positioned to spot a fox fleeing the hounds. They sprang into action to cover their line with citronella, and then rated the hounds back towards the huntsman, in what was a text book example of successful sabbing. Shortly after, the huntsman brought the hounds along the disused railway line towards where the fox had crossed, and sabs anticipated that the hounds were being taken round to be put back on the fox's line. Hounds were rated, they checked at first but then crossed a swollen brook, and cast around for the scent. Sabs continued to rate the hounds and they did not get back on the line. The Vale of Clettwr come with a reputation for violence, so we weren't surprised when both the huntsman and whipper in, lost it at us. We stood our ground, and suddenly the huntsman changed tack and started giving us a lecture on how they were hunting trails. This was not convincing as 1) we'd just stopped the hounds hunting a fox and 2) we'd watched the huntsman deliberately put the hounds back onto the line of that fox 3) the hounds had just crossed a swollen brook, so deep none of our sabs were up for wading through it (and we are pretty hardcore when it comes to fording rivers), so no one had laid any mythical 'trail' across there. This time last year the Vale of Clettwr visited H and C country. Sabs were with the Radnors that day, but acting on information received, the following day one of our sabs checked out the area where the Vale of Clettwr/ H and C joint meet had taken place. They discovered a recent, huge backfilled dig out in a blocked badger sett and evidence that a nearby artificial earth had been used (presumably to contain then release a captive fox). The huntsman shouldn't have wasted his breath; we are under no illusions as to what the Vale of Clettwr hunt. Hounds were in and out of cry all day, but sabs did well to keep eyes on hounds for the majority of the day, during what is always a tough meet due to challenging and landlocked terrain. We did lose them for some time after they got booted off Butterley Court (“the DOGS are welcome but the horses are not”), but once we realised they had crossed the road at Fencote Abbey, we found them again at favourite haunt, Hongar Grove. From here the hounds ran towards Golderfield, and we don't know the outcome of this chase. This was the first time we had seen H and C huntsman Will Hanson on horseback all day, and he wasn't up front with the huntsman. Very odd. As light began to fade, we followed the hunt along the road towards Rosedale, thinking they might end the day there. But no, they continued on towards Leysters, and the huntsman took the hounds in on foot to land to the left of the road where the hunt have no permission to be. We made it very clear to the hunt that we knew they were trespassing and after some moments they reluctantly brought the hounds back out and headed for home. It was nearly 5pm and it had been a long, gruelling day, with many miles covered on foot. Thanks again to Welsh Border Sabs again for their company and thank you to everyone who has donated recently, especially the large and hugely generous donation we received this week (you know who you are), so much appreciated. Our supporters' donations, whether large or small, literally keep us out in the fields week after week.