Island Life Magazine Ltd April/May 2008 | Page 76

life EQUESTRIAN - Sponsored by Brickfields and Froghill Tack Huntsman seeks pastures new Stuart Trousdale (Huntsman) has been with the IW Hunt for over five years - he has now decided it's time to make the move up to bonny Scotland. H untsman Stuart Trousdale is leaving the Isle of Wight Hunt after five years. For the first two years he was Kennel-huntsman, and has subsequently held the post of Huntsman. Now he is due to take up the post of Master Huntsman for the Jed Forest Hunt, in the Scottish Borders. It is quite a major leap, geographically and climatically, to go from the Isle of Wight to Scotland. And for someone who “loves the summers here, the boats, the fishing”, surely a bit of a wrench? “Yes,” says Stuart, “I’ve got good friends 76 here. But becoming Master Huntsman is an upward step, of course; and the law in Scotland is far easier to work with.” Naturally the 2004 Hunting Act had a huge effect on Stuart and his colleagues. What it didn’t do – surprisingly to some – was to wipe out hunting. “That was only down to the sheer bloody- mindedness Island Life - www.isleofwight.net