special report
Picking up the Can anything replace fox-hunting for the sheer thrill of the chase? Not really, says former master of foxhounds Rory Knight Bruce, but polo offers a gripping alternative and is ready to welcome newcomers
he bewilderment in the equestrian world which has arisen from the British government’s decision to ban fox-hunting has reverberated the length and breadth of the country. But such is the relationship between an Englishman – and woman – and his horse, that it will take more than a spiteful law to dampen its ardour. While most hunts have now adapted to ‘line-hunting’, in other words hunting the drag of a fox, there is general agreement that this is not a satisfactory alternative to the ancient art of venery. At best, all
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it can offer is a fast gallop over open countryside. Yet what do hunters do now that the season has ended? Certainly, some – those without farms needing attention – may use their hard-earned winter fitness to do battle with the slopes of Gstaad, Meribel and St Anton. ‘I thought you should know that a mountain elk has just crossed the slope in front of me,’ the renowned skiing writer Alisdair Scott telephoned to tell me recently. ‘I thought you would appreciate that as a hunter.’ While the sound on his mobile of sleigh bells, an aperitif being
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