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Friday 5 December 2008

Red Letter Days

In the blood

Melissa Kite on Rory Knight Bruce's new book

In truth, I only hunt because the Labour Party told me not to. I must declare an interest at this point. Knight Bruce says in his introduction that hunting has been his war and I know how he feels. There was a time when I wrote little else but articles about the ban. But I always found it difficult to convey just why the sport matters so much. In capturing not only the pursuit itself but the eclectic characters who thrive on it, Knight Bruce illustrates perfectly why hunting is such a noble cause and one which inspired us ‘happy hackers’ to take it up when we’d much rather be pootling.

As he explains, venery, or the art of hunting, is a singular thing. There is only one way to learn it and that is to go hunting. There is nothing like the feeling of a horse bolting. Why else would you decide, at 25 miles an hour, to ‘bale out’ — throw yourself off voluntarily to end the terror. And it is a strange thing for a rider to learn the principal skill involved, that of not interfering. ‘Any horse of reasonable intelligence and ability will know its job … leave the horse alone.’

I learned much from this book, but most of all I will treasure Knight Bruce’s description of riding with one stirrup leather longer than the other as ‘the Italian way’. I do this too and am heartened to hear it has something to do with my Latin heritage. The next time my instructor orders me to shorten my stirrups I shall assume a superior air and repeat Knight Bruce’s mantra — ride long, live long!

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