Northland Hunt Club season starts

With horse sports largely over until the spring it's time to go charging around the countryside trailing the hounds as the hunt season begins.
Master of the Northland Hunt Club Andrew Duff said they are looking to get a bumper season underway with anyone welcome to bring their mount along and take part in the the club's first hunt this Saturday at Kokopu Rd.
Next year, the Northland club will celebrate their 60th year and if it's anything like the 50th - when people travelled from all over the North Island to join in the fun - it will be a good one.
Duff said hunting attracts all sorts of people - particularly families who like riding together.
"It's a family-orientated sport, we have mums and dads and kids out there and it's non-competitive - it's a big group ride really with people at all different levels," he said.
"Some people like the adrenaline rush of jumping all the fences, while others are quite happy to ride through the open gates."
The club organises 40 hunts a season from the end of March to the end of July, so there are plenty of different farms to ride on - there are also mid-week events. Hunts are normally three hours long and generally start at noon.
"It's a good activity to catch up with your friends and ride all over the lovely properties that you don't normally get to ride over," Duff said.
He said people often have the misconception it's a dangerous sport because you are jumping wire fences but that's the main preparation for the hunt - lowering the top wire and putting alkathene on the fence so it is visible to the horse and rider.
" People always help each other out - there's a friendly atmosphere on the hunt and we'd like to encourage people to come along," he said.
Anyone who wants to come along to the Kokopu Rd hunt this week will be a guest of the hunt - the first hunt is free - but after that you need to join or pay a capping fee.