Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2013 | Page 87

EQUESTRIAN

Hunting - but
without hounds
The IW Hunt’s annual Boxing Day
and New Years’ Day Meets went ahead
even though the hounds could not
attend because of kennel cough. But
the IW Foot Beagles were out for the
New Year Meet (pictured).
It is the first time the hounds have
gone down with kennel cough for
some five years, but this latest bout has
been particularly serious, having lasted
nearly three months.
Malcolm Purcell, Joint Master of
the IW Hunt, said: “We have had
80 hounds under the vet and on
antibiotics. It has taken a long time

for the cough to go right through the
pack, and we are unable to take the
hounds out until 10 days after the
coughing has stopped. It has virtually
written off our whole season, which
ends in mid-March.”
The absence of the hounds meant the
riders who attended could only go out
hacking to keep their horses as fit as
possible.
*The eagerly-awaited IW Grand
National and IW Scurry will take place
at Ashey Farm on March 24, with the
first race starting at 1.0pm

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