Hound shows and hunting people

H&H's hunting editor Catherine Austen has fun at two major hound shows, and has one eye on the approaching season

- Emma Earnshaw

Is it really uncool to admit that I do love a hound show? When our hounds are showing, the burning competitive streak that I do my best to hide at all other times (mostly through laziness) leaps out, sparked by my friend the lady master's much more blatant competitiveness. It's about the winning, not the taking part. Obviously we coolly deny this at all times, but...

In our defence, we love our hounds and the people who breed, hunt, show and look after them so diligently, and it is pride – the good sort – that makes us want others to put them at the top of the tree too.

If our hounds aren't showing, hound shows are just as fun, in a different way. You don't have to concentrate so hard on what is going on in the ring; more chatting with the other saddos (our mates) who gather from points north, south, east and west – more trips to the bar, a longer lunchtime picnic by the hunt lorry.