Hunting ReminiscencesPease, Alfred E. (Alfred Edward), Sir
General
Hunting Reminiscences
Pease, Alfred E. (Alfred Edward), Sir
Hunting
Now this run was an extraordinarily long one; it cannot be made less
than 19 miles, and is more like 21. It was 11 miles from point of find
to Ingleby Landslip; but where I think it tops the record is the pace.
I believe the whole run to have occupied 1 hour and 45 minutes--1 hour
and 20 minutes to Baysdale, and 25 on to the landslip. I know that it
will not be credited by most hunting-men, but it must be remembered
that it was mostly over open moorland, with few obstacles to check
hounds, and, except the solitary ploughman in Baysdale, no sign of
humanity all the way. Three hounds died of exhaustion, and the other
lost ones were only got back by degrees during the week following.
In connection with this run I think the following performance of
Bob Brunton’s worth recording. He had hunted all day, being at the
meet at Ayton some miles from his home, and I found him at Ingleby
at night. He remounted after he had attended to the hounds, and
rode to Guisborough, say 8 miles, where he looked in at a political
meeting which was being held; he rode on the same night to the
Kennels at Warrenby, 8 miles more, and found the huntsman sitting up
disconsolate and refusing to go to bed without his hounds. He started
before daybreak (3 a.m.), and, riding the same horse, accompanied
the huntsman, Will Nicoll, to Ingleby (12 miles); hence he helped to
collect the lost hounds on the moor and in Bilsdale; and the following
afternoon I met him, still on the same horse, now more like a gigantic
grey-hound than anything else, escorting the hounds back to Warrenby
from Ingleby (16 miles); and when this was accomplished, he rode home
to Marton (7 miles); so that if we put down 40 miles for the long hard
day’s hunting, we have
To the meet and two long runs, and to Ingleby 40
Ingleby to Guisborough 8
Guisborough to Warrenby 8
Warrenby to Ingleby 16
Collecting hounds 10
Ingleby to Warrenby 16
Warrenby to Marton 7
―――
105
―――
a total of 105 miles, 65 of which were undoubtedly ridden after the
day’s hunting by Mr. Brunton on the same horse that he had ridden hard
(for he was among the hardest riders ever seen in Cleveland) during the
longest and severest day the Cleveland hounds have had in my lifetime.
As for the horses, Faraway was at covert side again within three weeks.
Sligo, with whom it appeared to be a case for an anxious hour or so,
came up to time as well.
Finally, a few words about the hounds that led the van. Two couple were
to the front the whole time, and Wrangle led throughout.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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