THE BIGGEST MISTAKE

Sir — In response to Andrew

Sallis’ opinion (12 April), I’d like to point out that many hunting people in the south-west of England and in Wales — including landowners, farmers and those who run point-to-points — are against the idea of centralising the point-to-point subscriptions through Weatherbys.

Andrew is right — no system will keep everyone happy, but centralisation is likely to reduce the number of horses that run in point-to-points. It is also far more likely to damage the bond between hunting and point-topointing than strengthen it.

I regard the decision to state that qualifying point-to-point horses by hunting them is no longer necessary to be the biggest mistake of our generation. It has already had undesirable repercussions on the sport, so let’s not make this decision without facts, knowledge and democracy. Polly Walker

Ottery St Mary, Devon