FOXGLOVE

Getting a horse up from grass and producing it on the hunting field ready to perform is quite an art, and like many arcane skills, is in danger of being lost.

Weeks of road-walking are not as easy as they once were now that roads are so busy, and people are busier too. Riding one horse and leading another is not seen as often, and you need quiet roads and sensible motorists if you do that.

Sussex grass is far too rich for horses, being more suitable for fattening cattle and sheep, and this year the grass is even richer than normal, the warm weather and plentiful rain being ideal for it.

Therefore, the grazing for horses has had to be restricted, or they would become ill, rich food being just as bad for them as it is for us. Sussex grass does make exceptional hay if only the weather allows, but this year it will be a lucky farmer who has dropped hay at the right time, and a luckier stable yard that can buy it.

All these thoughts, and others, occupy our minds as horses start their preparation for the hunting season. Feet and teeth will be checked by professionals skilled in this care, saddles will be found that go around a wide grass-fed barrel until such time as equine waistlines reduce to their usual diameters, and exercise will be gentle to start with if the horse is unfit and if the horse allows.

Horses that have been in work all summer, with a show here and a pony club camp there, will move on to more demanding work that is designed to improve cardiovascular function, and does the same for the rider as well, albeit unintentionally.

It is sometimes hard to find enough riders capable of directing the more flamboyant expressions of joy delivered by the horse that is supposed to be having steady exercise. But that is half the fun of it.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette August 8