Teaching Horses To Hunt

Beanie Sturgis, four-star event rider and field master to the Duke of Beaufort’s, is an expert in introducing horses to the hunting field. Here she offers some tips for doing it successfully

WE get many young or tricky horses here to get going out hunting. They come for a myriad of reasons: to freshen up, overcome napping, get braver or just to see more of the big, bad world. The majority of problems seem to stem from the same reasons — boredom, not enough work and too much food.

Ideally I like to have two weeks minimum to concentrate on each new horse. It means they can go out hunting three or four days a week, just for an hour or two, quietly getting to know the form. Going straight out and galloping about on a Saturday usually ends in tears.

Personally l never like to take a nanny horse — they need to be independent from the start and not rely on a “mate”. In the long run, this is better but can prove quite a palaver to start with!

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