Its been a really busy week with work and 'social' engagements - It was the Grafton Hunt Ball on Saturday night - a group of us (Bicester lot) met up and went in a couple of mini-buses. A really great night with lots of people we knew and didn't expect to see,, which is always a nice surprise - very rural and very friendly. The next day we all met up again in a pub for Sunday lunch.
On Tuesday we took Jake and Leon out hunting to freshen them up again. They found a fox immediately and the hounds screamed after it. Leon was so excited by the whole thing and loved watching the hounds work. He was incredibly strong and we did a four mile point before I thought that we had done enough and managed to get him away from the rest of the field much to his disgust. This is after we had witnessed a horse and his poor rider ( a teenage girl) fall into the canal. The fox had cleverly crossed it and the hounds had followed so the field went on the tow path which was horribly narrow. We were lucky there was only one casualty as there could have been many more. Fortunately the girl was rescued (she had started to sink as her boots and heavy riding coat had got waterlogged) and the horse was pulled out but seemed to have injured his hock - hopefully he will be alright.
In the evening Nicola and Sam Burton who had hosted the hunt had supper at their farmhouse. I was expecting it to be just snacks and drinks but Nicola had prepared a proper sit-down meal for 22 people - this is after hunting all day and having tea for the older people in the late afternoon. It was a lovely meal and very funny as she had organised all sorts of daft party games - I just don't know how she finds the time as she has two young children and a farm to run. I feel very inadequate!