Weekend Fun with the Belvoir Hunt

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear for this weekend's "hound exercising" (formally known as "cubbing" for about 40 members of the Belvoir (pronounced like "beaver") Hunt at a meet in Garthorpe, a small racecourse kept up by the local Hunts as a venue for point-to-points, team chases, and hunter trials during the year. Since I don't yet have a horse to ride I had to be satisfied with my invitation to join the hunt members for breakfast "in a brown hut in the middle of a field," as the hunt secretary described it to me in an email. I had no idea what to expect of course. This village, which is only a 15 minute drive from Harlaxton, was unknown even to the taxi company! I told the driver who picked me up that I had a map but didn't know exactly what he was taking me to.

After a beautiful drive through the Linconshire/Leicestershire country (thank goodness for GPS), we turned into the race course and saw the horse lorries, cars, and a group of people who assured me I was in the right place for the hunt breakfast. I have no idea what they must have though seeing a taxi pull up but they were very welcoming and nice. They were waiting for various spouses and children to get back from the ride.

A few of the riders got back and put their horses away and then we got the word that breakfast was ready. I walked into what was a brown hut in the middle of the field...more like a camp cabin really...to find three ladies, all aged 70+, each with thier own camp stove, frying eggs to order, sausages, and bacon for sandwiches. There were two tables with nearly 20 (home-made by these ladies) berry and apple pies on them for pudding! We washed it all down with tea and coffee and sat outside in the sun enjoying the weather can talking horses and hunting as more and more of the hunt got back.

Everyone was extremely nice. They all wanted to know what the Traders Point Hunt was like and how hunting at home compared to here. My standard reply was that our hunt had a field of forty people on a very very big day, say at the opening meet, but it was rarely that many people. Also, I told them our territory didn't reach from where we stood to the sea on the east coast of Britain which is the territory of the Belvoir. Those first pictures were two views of the race course where the BH would host their annual teach chase and hunter trials. There were 23 fences all together across all of those fields. Just a little bigger than the handfull of jumps in front of the TPH clubhouse!

The next day I was back for the team chases and hunter trials. Unlike yesterday, the weather turned cloudy and the wind was almost biting but everyone soldiered on and the day was great provided there was a tea break every hour or so.

I walked out onto the course to watch the first class of riders in the team chase. You can see from this picture of the riders going over fence ten, this was an easier course and the teams seemed to be made up of either an adult and child (12 or over) or pairs of siblings or friends.

Back on the main grounds, there was an equestrian "boot" sale where people could sell old tack and other riding accessories from the boot (or trunk) of their cars. There were also other vendors as well selling wonderful hunting books and antique prints as well as vintage hunting clothes. I bought a wonderful dark mustard colored vest for cubbing and a pair of string gloves for more those formal meets. There were also food vendors grilling bison burgers and lincolnshire sausages, and of course, despite the much cooler weather, there was a bar offering wine, ales, and of course, Pimm's! By 3:30, my taxi arrived to carry me back to Harlaxton after a great day with the Belvoir. They all want me to join them soon so I am back on my mission to find a horse to hire.