My view of hunting with the Borders Bloodhounds

By Kirsty Allan (11 years old) Feb 2004

I have really enjoyed hunting with the Borders Bloodhounds – first of all I must tell you that I have the most brilliant  pony, who some of you probably know, called Molly.  She is a 12.2hh Dartmoor and Hunting is her favourite thing and she is just soooo good at it and she really looks after me. My first day was last season at the Children’s Meet from Marigold.  I hacked up the road to the Meet with Mum and could feel the butterflies inside me – but I needn’t have worried.  Everyone was really friendly and kept asking if I was OK. There were lots of special jumps put in for the children, which Molly and I really enjoyed – I was  hooked!! There are some nice jumps out hunting, but  if you don’t want to jump them then you go through the gate or go a different way.  The amount of jumping usually  depends on the area we’re in that day.  And there’s lots of different country including heather, grassland -and there’s still even some stubble. I think the bloodhounds are quite funny looking, but are still quite cute!  They may look as if they’re not very fast, but I can tell you they can shift on a good scenting day ( especially if my Granny’s been exercising   them, like over Christmas ) Molly isn’t the speediest of ponies, but we always manage to keep up. It’s good too because at the end of each hunt there’s always a stop for the runners  to get sorted out and possibly for some of the  hounds to be changed over which gives you a chance to catch up if you’ve got a bit left behind.  Obviously this is made possible because we have great people who run for us called “The Quarry” ( and no they don’t get eaten by the hounds !! ) I have managed to have 15 days with the Borders Bloodhounds so far, and all 15 have been extremely enjoyable because they’ve all been different. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of having a go.