Picture by Sharon Thayer

2010 Starts with great support at Avington Park
Following a long spell of snow, frost and ice, we were all keeping our fingers and toes crossed that we would not lose this great meet at Avington Park. In the end, the ground was just rideable and the meet went ahead. Not only is this a delightful setting for a meet, it also panders to our Senior Master's delusions of grandeur, in that he can pose outside this beautiful house and dream that it is his! The hounds were delighted to find the front doors wide open as they arrived and were only seconds away from sniffing out the kitchen, before the doors were quickly closed! As usual, Charlie and Sarah Bullen laid on some very generous refreshments, which were very much appreciated As well as our dedicated Quarry, Nick Hudson, it was nice to see Jeff Lynn back out with us, as well as a number of first timers, including some youngsters.

Scent was surprisingly poor and hounds struggled a bit at times. On the first hunt, three kamikaze roe deer ran straight in front of the hounds on three separate occasions, however hounds were kept well under control. Minky Kelk had the opportunity to whip-in again as her father was press ganged into being Field Master while Alice Geaves MBH and Johnny Cowper-Coles MBH were away. My spies tell me that Stephen (Kelk MBH) clouted one of the jumps very hard and nearly came out of the saddle - Jeremy is offering a reward of £10 if anyone got this on camera!

Sharon Thayer's (photographer) website.          Kevin Milner's (photographer) website.

Picture by Sharon Thayer

From: richard monaghan
Sent: 01 January 2010 18:35
To: guestbook@southdownsbloodhounds.com
Subject: New Year Meet, Avington Park

Just a note to say thank you for a wonderful day - thiswas my first attendance at a meet and I was impressed by the hospitality, the friendly atmosphere and the organisation! Even the sun turned up and contributed to a superb day in the English countryside! I especially enjoyed learning about the hounds and I will keep an eye out and support your next planning application to provide kennels for those magnificent and gentle animals!

Richard Monaghan

Picture by Sharon Thayer

Snow disappears just in time for Boxing Day at Warren Farm
With snow lying on the ground for nearly 10 days before Christmas, there was a distinct lack of horses for the Boxing Day meet at Warren Farm, the slippery ground having made it very difficult for people to keep their horses fit enough to hunt.And on Christmas Eve, Jeremy said "while I would like to hunt, we will need a rapid thaw." And luckily enough, that's just what we got! It would have been a tragedy to lose this meet, not least because Stephen and Val Batten are such generous hosts.

It was good to see Chris Lee join Nick Hudson as our Quarry for the day. Obviously Nick and Chris had a lot to discuss, as they used a bit of Quarreratic licence on the first hunt! But they stayed within the bounds of our planned country so Jeremy, being sure the hounds were right, let the hounds hunt on. Chris ran the second and third hunts on his own, and let's just say that map reading doesn't appear to be his strong point. It was a good job hounds caught Chris on the boundary of our planned country, as god knows where he would have ended up otherwise!

Sharon Thayer's (photographer) website.          Kevin Milner's (photographer) website.

Picture by Sharon Thayer

Minky Kelk


Sultry with puppies

Minky's Story
When I first started hunting my pony, Ginge, was badly behaved as he didn't know what was going on as he hadn't really been hunting before. When we got him he was very slow and sluggish but after he had been hunting it all changed. Now I have to try and slow him down!
The ring tone on my phone is the hunting horn and every time it goes he pricks his ears and looks for the hounds, so every time we go to a competition we make the horn noise and he starts prancing.
One day I came out with the bloodhounds when they were at Westwood House. At the meet Jeremy had asked me to whip-in as Kim wasn't there, (I bet she is glad it wasn't her.) The hounds hunted the first line beautifully. On the second we went out the back of Joan's acre towards Bramdean. About halfway through I saw Sultry turn and go back the way we had come! So off I went after her. It took about 4 or 5 fields to stop Sultry by this time I was a bit hoarse. We then made our way back to Jeremy but then again Sultry being Sultry, just when the field was in sight turned and went for another wander. She went off at a fast lollop down this horrid, old track then she disappeared. I called and called but she didn't come back. Then I heard a splash and a shout. Out of the garden came a man with Sultry. "Please can you keep your dog under control," he shouted "She has just jumped in my new £10,000 pond and might have put a toe through the liner." At that moment Sultry shook all over him and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. I had to then explain that we were with the hunt and that Sultry was a hound because he thought I was just on a hack! Luckily when Jeremy went back in the evening it was all right and so was the liner. This was an experience with the bloodhounds I will never forget!

Sadly Sultry died this year but she has gone to the big pond in sky where she can paddle about as much as she likes. She has one whelp left from her last litter- Faithful. Faithful looks very like her but I just hope she is better behaved.