Great craic

There’s a welcome for eventer Ben Hobday at the Middleton, where whisky flasks and lad rivalry abound

BEFORE I met my wife Emma, I’d done a little bit of hunting here and there, but mainly with owners of my horses or customers. The Holcombe Harriers were our local pack, but I’d had a few days with the Wynnstay and the Cheshire over the years. However, going hunting was really about business for me.

Emma has hunted all her life — her father, “Sir” Ian Carmichael (@carmichaelcrew5), was joint-master of the Morpeth, and she loves it, it’s in her blood. I’ve learnt much more about it since we’ve been together and it’s a good craic with a real community feel — and it’s great for educating our young horses.

Although I will always love the jumping side of it more, I like watching the hounds work to appreciate what’s involved.

Emma has started doing some field mastering for the Morpeth this season — I joked in the beginning and said I’d like a go, but only for the red coat! #AllTheGearNoIdea.

Emma puts in a lot of hard graft behind the scenes, ringing farmers and clearing country as well running fundraisers for the hunt. I’m happy to leave hunting as “fun” and just support Em, as I can easily be “rained off” whereas Emma is hard-core to the end.

She gave the speech at the Morpeth’s New Year’s Day meet in Morpeth town centre this year; it was amazing for the general public to see young people from different backgrounds stepping up and showing that this is for everyone. I was very proud of her for doing it — there was a huge crowd and she absolutely nailed it.

AN OFFER TOO GOOD TO TURN DOWN