This meet was the second of our two forewarned 'problem' days with the Surrey Union and initially, it lived up to expectations. The meet is a private racecourse previously owned by the Shah of Iran. There are footpaths around it but not through, and badger setts all along the back boundary. The hunt always try to dig out in the gorse coverts in the middle of the course which have seen some right bundles over the years. The police always get uppity here for some reason, so it would be nice to know who owns it and why they are so influential - they are probably chair of the Police Committee!
Anyway, I got the first taste of the hunt's attitude when first the police were ordered to evict me by Sprake, and then he tried it himself by attempting to ride me down with his horse - all for being 10 feet off a footpath! Ignoring him and his servants (the mounted police), I managed to spy the huntsman trying to sneak away down a small valley out of sight of the main group of sabs, so a quick call on the phone to the sab van ensured that he would not be alone for long! On turning around myself, I found that the hunt and police had gone, leaving me surrounded by about 20 real bumpkins - obviously here to do Sprake's dirty work. Fortunately, they must spend a lot of time on their fat arses in their Toyota hi-lux's because there was no way they were going to get near me!
The hunt took the route through Juniper Valley on towards Hydon's Ball where they got onto a scent away from one of the badger setts there. By this time, the fog was coming down very fast and we were able to keep up easily with the riders, as they couldn't see where they were going! At this point, Sprake summoned his henchmen, notably Noel Cahill - supposedly banned from this hunt by the police for being too much trouble, but able to come and go as he pleased. His job was to try and stop the sabs going across the uncultivated fields. This backfired somewhat as the police ended up taking a complaint from one of the sabs after he was threatened on video and in front of the police - something even they couldn't ignore!
Their tactics didn't bother us at all and in fact meant we stayed around for the huntsman's return loop just as he thought he'd lost us! From here, they hunted the rhododendrons at Burgates and Breakneck Hill. This was great for us as the hunt galloped off into the distance while the hounds hunted back towards us and then stuck with our hornblower and whips for the next 20 minutes in the fog. It was now getting on for 2pm with the fog getting even thicker and the huntsman having lost all his hounds to us. They decided that they would go home at this point, but they had to get their hounds back first, so we watched with great interest as the huntsman went redder and redder trying to regain his scattered pack. It took at least 1/2 an hour - not very impressive.
Shortly after this, they did indeed end a very lacklustre day with their tails firmly between their legs. Their attempted confrontation went off like a damp squib and they lost all their hounds to us in front of the riders and the police. Oh dear!