Experience is the best teacher
“Hunting definitely gave me the balance to achieve what I did”
HUNTSMAN AND SHOWJUMPER GARETH WATCHMAN
IT was over supper in Herefordshire with former Four Burrow master and amateur huntsman John Williams when he said, with his customary modesty: “I had a famous father and a famous daughter; whatever happened to me?”
He was referring respectively to Percival Williams (legendary Four Burrow master and huntsman from 1921–64) and the successful National Hunt trainer, Venetia Williams. The answer, of course, quite apart from his own Four Burrow mastership (1955–77) is that, in 1988, he wrote Riding to Hounds. In short he offers the following advice: pay attention, walk rather than canter when you can, have “an eye for the country”, and the courage to jump what has to be jumped.
That is the theory, but in practice, how did so many who hunt actually learn to ride to hounds? For myself, it started when I won by Martin Diggle, published in 1987 and full of practical advice for achievable improvement.
