Is this the last hurrah for the fox-hunters?

[capt_buzzard]

The countryside was covered in a cold, hard frost, which turned trees, grass and hedgerows to glistening white. It was Boxing Day, and a bright winter sun rose in a clear blue sky at the dawn of the most traditional and eagerly anticipated meet in England's hunting calendar.

With an hour to go before the off, two teenage girls were messing about with their horses in lean-to stables at the back of a small Warwickshire farm. The horses were peacefully munching through their breakfast of boiled oats, as the girls grappled with the dried mud which ran through their manes. "Do you realise", said one, "that if we do this in two or three months' time, we will be preparing to commit a crime?"

The proposed ban, is set to come into force in February or March subject to legal challenges, has been closely monitored by Ireland's pro and anti-hunting communites.

Rumours of Ireland being flooded by displaced English hunters and antis abound, "Tally No To English Fox Hunters' wrote one Irish daily.

The Hunters were heard recently that they were prepared to come to Ireland. Hunt Master, Robert Waley-Cohen said "We want to look after our own animal weffare and, by that, I mean the walfare of the fox population or the deer or the hare, and we want to ride our own animals in our own country with our own hounds. We appreciate the support we have got from Ireland, France and the USA, and many other countries".

He was speaking to over 2,000 supporters and 150 riders gathered in front of Upton House, a beautiful cream-coloured Cotswold stone mansion owned by the National Trust.

As the crowds drifted away from Upton House and into the winter sunshine. A local policeman asked "Were there many people? Were there any protesters? Was there any touble?

I can see the Hunt continue for another year, and maybe the next and the year after.

[valerie]

I sure hope it's not the last. I've never hunted, but I have done jumping in

the past. I would love to someday ride to hounds.

I know the animal rights people don't like it but there's something about it

that I guess I would like to still see. I know they can "drag" a scent so they

don't REALLY have to go after a fox. But that just doesn't seem to quite cut it.

BTW, whenever I watch the Grand Prix on tv, there are almost always very

good riders and or horses from Ireland!!