Albrighton Hunt – Davenport House Meet
Took an age to get the right Hunt Coat (thanks to eBay), but the day has finally arrived. I haven’t hunted for over 20 years and Finn has only hunted once before, where she managed to jump Ian off three times before retiring home!! I was a little nervous but looking forward to the day ahead……..
It was a bit of a foggy to start the day, but it soon turned into a beautiful warm and sunny day – for mid February. Got to “The Beasley’s” for bacon and sausage sarnies and a nice glass of port to settle the nerves. We hacked the 10 minutes to Davenport House and arrived before the Hounds. Finn was a little overexcited but managed to contain herself – even when the Hounds arrived.
The turnout was good and the food from the Murphy Family hosting the Davenport Meet was exceptional. Chris came to support me as this was my first hunt in a long time – and even the townie was impressed!!!
The jumps came pretty early and Finn was keen to get going – she put in what felt like a huge jump over the first couple but was in control and trying to listed to me. We jumped the first 3 or 4 without much trouble but then jumped into a wood where the ground was pretty heavy and there were low hanging branches, she pecked on landing after the second jump in the wood and stumbled to regain her balance – unfortunately I was leaning forward to miss the trees and came out the side door. I managed to hold to to her but she trod on my arm (note to self: just let the horse go in future)!!! As the ground was so soft my arm just sank into the mud and I was thankfully unhurt. Although I have well and truly “christened” my new Hunt Coat….. Someone caught her for me and Jess helped me get back on. We then had to jump out of the wood, which we did without further incident.
We had a few good runs and some lovely jumps which Finn jumped perfectly. She was happy to go in front, in the middle or at the back and I was so impressed with how she settled into it.
The rest of the day was fantastic and we stayed out til about 3.30 before saying goodnight and hacking home. A really good day and we’ll definately be hunting again – I absolutely believe that it will help with our Eventing and will make us both a bit braver across country.
Finn woke up on Sunday morning feeling quite well – we went out for a hack to stretch the legs and she really enjoyed it – quite chipper! On the other hand I was a little bit stiff – but we lived to fight another day!