Forrad on to a brighter season

While languishing in lockdown, consider how you can lend support – and make a bucket-list for brighter days

- SARAH KATE BYRNE

Some believe the phrase ‘best foot forward’ originated when ladies looked for a well-turned leg in a man. Or that it signified the most elegant way to make a curtsey. In 1595, Shakespeare wrote in King John: ‘Nay, but make haste; the better foot before.’ Whatever the etymological origins, we’re firmly planting our best foot forward when it comes to planning for a sensational next season in the saddle, thoughts turned from the frustrating nature of the past. Here are the men and women to follow, and the places and packs to plan for, along with some inspiration from this season’s indomitable spirit.

FOLLOWING NIMROD

The predecessors to our contemporary Nimrods have for centuries set hearts aflutter. The Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, had as her pilot the gallant Captain William George ‘Bay’ Middleton, who steered her through the best hunting country England and Ireland had to offer. Were I in need of a pilot in the Duke of Beaufort’s enviable country I would surely swoon at the prospect of not one, not two, but three handsome Lewis chaps riding alongside. Patriarch Tristram is a talented equestrian sculptor and painter, and I await with anticipation the release of his biography of Sir Alfred Munnings. His equally dashing sons, Wilfred and Gabriel, look as though they have ridden straight out of a Munnings scene, decked out in proper breeches and with natty pocket squares when spotted on the hunting field. Their brotherly hunting ambition is to one day share the mastership of a pack.