Don’t touch my horse!
Fury of huntswoman as she uses crop to thrash masked saboteur who grabbed hold of the reins
CAUGHT on camera, a furious huntswoman whips a masked protester with a riding crop as he hangs on to her mount.
She screams ‘get off my horse’ while repeatedly lashing out during a clash with anti-hunt activists.
Saboteurs later claimed the demonstrator was hit 17 times as he clung on to the animal’s bridle. They say the woman also charged at a group of saboteurs.
However, the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance said the activists were only there to ‘ intimidate and harass’ Saturday’s hunt in the Pevensey Marshes, East Sussex. The ugly confrontation between South Downs Hunt Saboteurs and members of the East Sussex and Romney Marsh ( ESRM) Hunt Club was filmed and posted on Facebook.
Sussex Police says it is aware of the video and has appealed for witnesses to come forward. Footage shows the huntswoman riding towards the saboteurs, shouting at them to ‘ get back to the road’. She then appears to spur her horse into a man recording the incident, pushing him back several feet.
As another masked activist rushes in front of the horse and grabs hold of the bridle, the huntswoman yells, ‘get off my horse, get off my horse,’ as she whips him. He desperately hangs on, trying to shield his face, while warning the rider to stop using the animal ‘as a weapon’.
The saboteur is finally pushed away by a hunt steward who shouts: ‘Get off the f****** horse. Don’t grab f****** horses.’
However, the huntswoman appears to take a swipe at another protester, forcing him to jump out of the way. Warning they are filming, the hunt saboteurs shout: ‘Don’t charge horses into people. You cannot ride people down.’ A second clip apparently shows the same huntswoman charging her horse at the demonstrators from behind.
Brighton Hunt Saboteurs, who were also at the meeting, said the two groups of proand
‘Extreme provocation’
testers were there to make sure no illegal hunting took place. They insist they were the victims of an unprovoked attack and claim the huntswoman simply ‘lost the plot’.
Activist Martin Shaw, writing on Brighton Hunt Saboteurs Facebook page, said: ‘Needless to say, we stood our ground will no doubt be seeing the ESRM again very soon.’
South Coast Hunt Saboteurs said the activist grabbed the bridle in self-defence after the horse was deliberately ridden at the group.
A spokesman for the ESRM Hunt Club said: ‘We do not condone any form of violence even when faced with extreme provocation, personal harassment and other offences.
‘ The hunt acts lawfully within the confines of the Hunting Act 2004 and takes every measure to ensure the law is adhered to.’
The Act bans hunting and killing with hounds, but allows drag hunting with a scented trail or for the dogs to flush the fox out to be shot. The Countryside Alliance said hunts are still ‘ plagued by balaclava- clad animalrights activists who intimidate and harass hunt supporters and landowners’.
A spokesman said: ‘ As we have always known, the reality is that the anti-hunting movement is far more about the hatred of people who hunt than the love of animals. Debate about the footage raged among online commenters. Glennis Rogers said: ‘She started whipping the sab before he touched the reins.’
But Kaye Hunter wrote: ‘I’d have done the same if someone had grabbed my horse’s reins.’ Sussex Police said an investigation had been launched following a ‘third party’ report of an assault using a riding crop.