Miss Emily du Luart
On Foxhounds
Emily du Luart
My name’s Emily du Luart. I’m 17 years old and am currently in my last year at school studying for my A-Levels in History, Geography, French and ICT.
I have grown up with horses and have ridden for the past 15 years. I have always had a very strong link personally with horses and hunting.
My mother rode at Badminton, my uncle is Sam Butler, who was heavily involved with the Countryside Alliance ‘Campaign for Hunting,’ and is still MFH and a Field Master for the Warwickshire Hunt and my stepfather, Lord Willoughby de Broke, is chairman of the Warwickshire having taken over from my grandfather, Sir Adam Butler.
I was luckily enough to be given my first pony aged three and since then there has been no looking back. Hunting with the Warwickshire has always been a passion of mine, alongside competitive eventing, show jumping and dressage. My heart, however, lies strictly with hunting and eventing.
Nothing fazes me: I have been jumping five-bar iron gates, rails and hedges since the age of seven, possibly even younger, but that’s the first I remember. For me a good day out hunting consists of jumping as many fences as possible, socializing and watching my sponsored hound, Goodness, working and enjoying herself with the rest of the pack.
I recently set up my own website: www.horsemind.com - a social network for horse riders and am looking forward to working with TMV, writing my own monthly column, and doing whatever we can to help repeal the Hunting Act.
Hi Everyone: welcome to my first column for TMV.
As I write this I have just got in from the wettest, muddiest day I’ve hunted this season. The meet was at a lovely pub called The Fox and Hounds in the village of Great Wolford, and it was so great to be out again after a two week break as a result of the snow.
As we live right in the heart of the Warwickshire ‘Saturday country’, which is largely the south area, my stepfather and I rode to the meet which took us nearly 45 minutes but we were well warmed up by the time we arrived. It was a fun day which I personally judged mainly on the fact that we jumped two very large hedges, an enormous set of rails, and an iron gate.
The Warwickshire Hunt, who I have hunted loyally with since the age of four, covers parts of Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. The country is 21 miles north to south and approximately 24 miles east to west, with our kennels located centrally in Little Kineton, where they have been since 1839.
They were built by the current Warwickshire Hunt chairman’s great grandfather, The 18th Baron Willoughby de Broke. The Warwickshire hunt three days a week, with a fourth day every fortnight, but sadly I have only had about five days this season due to school, revision and competing my horses. I try and hunt whenever the meet is near to where I live, as these for me are the best days. We have some huge grass fields and large fences all over our farm, and the surrounding areas of Todenham, Stretton on Fosse, and Great Wolford.
But I don’t think there are many people who hunt with the Warwickshire who would deny the greatest day of the season is the Christmas Eve meet, generously hosted by the Davies family at Admington Hall. We jump about 50 fences within the first 40 minutes; eat great food and watch lots of people falling off everywhere, hoping that you won’t be next.
My whole family hunt; aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, cousins, sisters - you name it - they do it. We get referred to as ‘The Butler Clan’ and there are never any excuses if we wimp out at a fence, or fall off and don’t want to carry on. I only have one horse which I hunt called Miss Piggy, as my mum will not give up hunting my young horse Danny.
I have hunted ‘Pig’ for three seasons now and trust her with my life. To date, she never given me a fall and has always looked after me - no matter what I ask of her. But the best thing about her is I never have to take a lead from anyone; she is completely independent and will jump anything from anywhere. In fact today was a great example of her brilliance.
My uncle, Sam Butler, was field mastering and jumped a large hedge next to an open gate and of course I decided to follow him completely oblivious to the ditch on landing. Pig saw the ditch two strides before take off, side stepped to the left and took me over a big set of rails which were completely ditch free. So I’m very grateful to her, as I had not ridden well enough to avoid both of us landing in the ditch.
Sadly my sponsored hound, Goodness (’06), wasn’t hunting today so I couldn’t take a photo of me and her. She was whelped in 2005 and sired by Duke of Beaufort Goodson (‘03) out of Warwickshire Bonus (’03).
I spoke to our hunt master, Mrs Charmian Green, who has been hugely involved with hound breeding in Warwickshire for many years, about the reasons Bonus 03 and Goodson 03 were chosen for breeding. Warwickshire Bonus 03 was an extremely good bitch in her work and her lines go back to another brilliant bitch called Old Dominium Gorgeous 1968, who was given to the late Captain Wallace by the late Mr William Brainard who was master of the Old Dominium who are based in Virginia, USA. The reason for importing this bitch was to help improve the scenting ability in the English hound. Bonus also goes back to Blencathra Glider 1976. This dog has been a huge influence on the modern foxhound with his agility and fox sense.
In order to try and strengthen the line of Old Dominion Gorgeous, Martin Scott suggested that Mrs Green send Bonus to Duke of Beaufort's Goodson 2003 who traces back to her through the Tiverton and College Valley. The result has produced hounds that are extremely low scenting and very good foxhounds.
Goodness 06, however, was described by our huntsman Mr William Deakin as “a nice hound but not one you would pick for your first XI!”
Warwickshire Goodness '06
The ‘Sponsor a Hound’ scheme was set up as a way to raise funds to help the Masters and Hunt Staff keep fit and healthy Warwickshire hounds in the kennels, and out at walk. Hunt supporters are invited to sponsor an individual hound for the duration of its life. As a ‘hound sponsor’ I have received a mounted photo of my hound signed by the huntsman, and four of the joint-masters. I am also invited to the annual Puppy Show, and can visit Goodness whenever I want.
To me, hunting has always been a way of having fun, meeting new people and enjoying the fabulous countryside, thanks hugely to our very welcoming farmers who let us gallop all over their land no matter what the weather does. I was given a fox’s brush at the age of ten, and since then I have been much more interested in the hounds and how they work. Although, I will admit to still knowing very little about hounds, even seven years on.
Unfortunately, due to some 18th parties and more revision, I only have one day left this season which is also the last day: the meet is at another pub The Farriers Arms in Todenham. I am taking the day off school as this meet will be good fun. I waitress at the Farriers Arms, and so I feel committed to hunt when they are generous enough to have us. It is always a nice day and definitely worth missing quadruple History, double ICT and double Geography for. I wonder if my tutors will agree?
Emily du Luart