Horse_amp_amp_Hound__06_February_2018
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HUNTING<br />
BEDALE<br />
13 January<br />
Kennel-huntsman Mikey Francis, who<br />
will take over as huntsman next season,<br />
walking out hounds before hunting<br />
‘If you worry about the future of<br />
hunting, a visit to this part<br />
of North Yorkshire should allay<br />
your fears’<br />
The next generation: a litter of hound puppies at the kennels<br />
that the “thruster” gene is present<br />
in the next generation.<br />
We piled on due east through<br />
Ian Carlisle’s farm towards<br />
Thornton Lodge and caught<br />
up with Tim. The hounds had<br />
checked and he was casting them<br />
in Ruswick Gill on the farm<br />
belonging to Thomas and Angie<br />
Fall, who was out with their<br />
daughter Kate. I chatted to the<br />
new hunt chairman and retired<br />
headmaster, Robert McKenzie<br />
Johnson, and we discovered<br />
we have a friend in common,<br />
Miranda Osborne. Minutes later,<br />
we saw Miranda standing outside<br />
her house waving as we trotted<br />
past. Susie Penrose, wife of<br />
joint-master Matthew Penrose,<br />
came up to introduce herself —<br />
she works at the family sawmill<br />
and has taken up hunting since<br />
meeting Matthew.<br />
Meanwhile, Tim had gathered<br />
his hounds and was taking them<br />
back through the farm buildings<br />
to hold them on to a nice grass<br />
farm called Thornton Lodge,<br />
where they hit the line off again<br />
and took us back across the lane,<br />
jumping off it this time, towards<br />
Marriforth where the trail had<br />
started. The roads in this area are<br />
not busy, but there were masses<br />
of car followers, most of whom<br />
seemed to be women in Frimble<br />
bobble hats.<br />
There had been a sense of<br />
anticipation all day about going<br />
back to Rookwith, where a<br />
steeplechase of several hedges<br />
were beckoning. Fortunately,<br />
when we got there, hounds found<br />
a couple of trails at the Pages’ Wild<br />
Duck Carr and they took one that<br />
headed south towards the River<br />
Ure, providing the opportunity<br />
everyone wanted for a bit more<br />
jumping. Johnnie Furness and his<br />
wife Grania were talking about<br />
going home, but when they saw<br />
everyone gathering in front of the<br />
first hedge, they thought better of<br />
it and headed over to join them.<br />
I’m afraid I had spotted an open<br />
gate, plus a couple of people down<br />
on the road, so I headed in that<br />
direction with a view of the field<br />
as they sailed over the hedges in<br />
Ed’s wake. There were still plenty<br />
of people out.<br />
Down on the road, I was<br />
greeted by Cherry booming, “Why<br />
aren’t you up there? Phoenix<br />
would have loved those hedges.”<br />
Master and farmer Matt<br />
Penrose appeared.<br />
Steven Tweddle looks neat over a decent set of rails<br />
“They’ve got to come back<br />
because we’re drawing this next,”<br />
he explained, “and we can’t go<br />
where they are heading.”<br />
Matt joined the mastership<br />
last season and is enjoying it,<br />
he says, but he couldn’t do it<br />
without his joint-master and<br />
landowner Robert Ropner (a<br />
cheerful character in a red coat<br />
out today) who does so much to<br />
keep the show on the road. Matt<br />
also reiterated the big part the<br />
Page family play in the success of<br />
the hunt.<br />
Nicky Morrison, former<br />
master of the Zetland, had also<br />
joined us when Tim and his<br />
hounds reappeared, having<br />
changed horses.<br />
“Come with me if you like,<br />
Tessa,” said Tim, as he hacked<br />
past, so I joined a gang that<br />
included kennel-huntsman<br />
Pictures by Peter Nixon<br />
44 <strong>Horse</strong> & <strong>Hound</strong> 8 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2018</strong>