Hunt-ride heroines

It takes a special blend of bravery and skill to succeed in the world of high-octane hunt rides – and it is the ladies leading the way

- Catherine Austen

AT A TIME when health and safety, risk assessment and insurance issues are pressing down ever harder on anything that requires a bit of bravery, the idea of 40 or so riders galloping hell for leather together across hunting country, hurling themselves over hedges, ditches and rails for three miles simply for the fun of it seems both thrilling and slightly outrageous.

Hunt rides are races but were traditionally referred to as 'rides' because the lack of formal rules and regulations meant the officialdom of formal National Hunt and Flat racing wanted no association with them.

They are run by hunts, and staged and built by volunteers to showcase the best of their particular country.

Although it took the success of jockey Rachael Blackmore to put an end to female riders in races under Rules being a talking point, the first winners of the two most established and famous hunt rides, the Melton Hunt Club Ride and the Harborough Ride, were both women. Pat Newton, later Pat Hinch, took the first two runnings of the Melton in 1956 and 1957, and Rosemary Cadell, later Samworth, won the first Harborough in 1971. By that time she had, remarkably, won the Melton five times in succession, beginning in 1964. Since then, the honours have been fairly equally divided between the sexes, although the multiple winners have usually been women.

Hunt rides vary. Some require competitors to jump between two flags at every obstacle, as one does when eventing, while others (mostly in Leicestershire) only have a few markers to which one must jump to either the right or the left. The latter can be as much of an intellectual challenge as a physical one, and the real test is in understanding your horse and how to get the best out of him or her. Perhaps this is an element that has allowed women to come to the fore over the years.