I'm still continuing my inquiry into the curious nature of our local hunt.

Here is an image of the hunters gathering in a local town square on Boxing Day.  They pull a good crowd; it really is quite a celebration.  Before they go off for the day the riders, horses and hounds spend an hour or so standing in the square and folk come along to see the spectacle, pet the animals and say hello.

Over 300,000 people took part in the Boxing Day hunts across the country. The occasion feels both gloriously anachronistic and a signifier of tradition and community - there is a sense of heritage and lineage in all of this. In this image I notice that the town square hasn't changed much in a few hundred years and it seems like this sport hasn't either. There will continue to be more riders literally taking up the reins...

And... I always feel a little edgy with this stuff.  OK, I know I'm carrying big cameras and I'm not just part of the crowd.  And I do feel that a sport like this is probably inappropriate these days (but, hey, I think the same about football ;-).  

And then a picture like this presents itself....