Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2008 | Page 88

New
Huntsman

life

EQUESTRIAN

Rick Dolphin – and no, it’s
not short for Richard, and it’s
Dolphin like mammal - is the
newly appointed kennel huntsman
to the Isle of Wight Hunt. On 1
May, Rick took over from Stuart
Trousdale, who has now taken up
a position with the Jed
Forest Hunt.
Born in Yorkshire, but spending
most of his childhood in Sussex,
this quiet, unassuming man
is happy to talk about horses,
hounds and hunting, the most
important things in his life next to
his family that is, and sits happily
in the sparsely furnished sitting
room of the cottage adjoining
the hunt kennels in Gatcombe.
Married to Caroline, Rick (39)
has four children whom he adores.
“My 40th birthday is just a few
days after opening meet,” he says
happily. “That should be a good
day.”
Rick’s job is to run the Kennels,
working to the new Mastership of
Susie Sheldon, Malcolm Purcell,
Anthony Blest, and Liam Thom
who will hunt hounds. Rick will
whip in for Liam on hunting
days. “Everyone is welcome at the
Kennels,” says Rick who clearly
intends to get to know anyone
who is interested in hounds and
hunting. “Hounds have settled
down well and so has the beagle
pack which is now also kennelled
here. It has been a difficult time
for the beagles, so I am very
pleased it is working out so well.
At the moment I am getting to
know hounds. They’re like people
really, you always get to know the
naughty ones first,” he laughs.
Rick came to hunting through
his love of horses. “I should have
been at school really,” he says. “I
left home and went to live with
my uncle in West Sussex who
was head lad for top trainer, Josh
Gifford. I was riding out two lots
of racehorses each day when I
was 13,” he says, as if this is quite

88

the norm. “I didn’t get paid of
course,” he adds.
At 15, he had a plan to ride in
point to points, and went to a
training yard in Herefordshire, but
he was too young to ride legally.
Bob Davis, the trainer, made all
his lads ride regularly witho ut
stirrups and reins. “Bob used to
shout at us, ‘you look like a toad
coming down to roost’. He didn’t
want ‘his’ boys riding in a race
looking for reins and stirrups, one
fence from home.
“I took an interest in hunting
from qualifying the pointers [a
point-to-pointer has to hunt
a set amount of days through
the season to ‘qualify’ to run
in a point to point which is run
by the Hunt], so I came into
hunting from the horse side, not
the hunting side which is quite
unusual,” he explains. He went
on to ride flat racers, but got too
heavy and found himself back at
Josh Gifford’s yard in West Sussex
this time as a paid lad, where he
met and married Caroline, who
came from Worthing.
With a wife and family, it was
time to get a ‘proper’ job, and he
became the manager of a hide
and skin company. “It was a
proper job, with proper money.
We bought a nice house and the
kids went to a private nursery. I
stuck it out for three years, but I
hated it. Really hated it. ‘I can’t
do this,’ I said to Caroline and I
went round to the Chiddingfold,
Leconfield and Cowdray Hunt and
offered myself up as stud groom. I
was told to ‘come back tomorrow,
when the Masters will be here’ and
so I did and the job of stud groom
was mine. Caroline was a groom
too. We managed the hunt horses,
getting them fit, turning them out
for hunting, riding second horse
and educating youngsters in the
field.
“Mr Cersham, the Master
Huntsman said to me, ‘how is it

Rick that you are always in the
right place at the right time?’
and I said: ‘Luck Sir, just luck.’
Mr Cersham asked me then to
organise the stables so that I
could be out hunting all day every
time hounds went out. I did two
seasons as first whip.”
Rick’s love of hunting really
began to take hold and he learned
more and more about hunting
through watching Mr Cersham.
“It’s all your fault Sir,” he says,
and the way he says it confirms his
gratitude and respect for the man
who was, and still is, his mentor.
“You learn from good people,”
says Rick, who’s tanned face
and workman-like clothes speak
volumes. “You learn a lot if you
just watch them. My uncle was
bloody good too.”
The mastership changed and,
after 30 seasons hunting hounds
Mr Cersham retired. Rick and
Caroline moved with their family
to the Monmouthshire Hunt
where Rick was first whip for a
season and then huntsman for
four seasons. Two of his juniors at
that time were Sam Thomas, who
went on to win the Cheltenham
Gold Cup, and Amy Parsons

who became the leading flat race
apprentice in Ireland. “When
you’ve got 14-year old kids like
that following, you feel very
proud. I once jumped a huge iron
gate and when I looked behind me,
from the field of 70 or so, it was
only Amy that had followed me.”
He then applied for a job with
the Cotley Hunt. There were 40
applicants and Rick was one
of two final candidates. Paul
Williams, the man that former
Isle of Wight huntsman Stuart
Trousdale has taken over from
at the Jed Forest Hunt, got
the job, and so, with Rick and
Caroline finding their way to the
Isle of Wight, the circle has been
completed.
“Hunting holds no fears for
me. I am looking forward to
the season and getting to know
people, especially the farmers and
the keepers with whom we will be
working closely. But, you can’t do
it without your family. I couldn’t
do this on my own, no one could,”
he concludes. And with that, Rick
wanders back towards the Kennels
and his hounds and one feels that
all is in good order.

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