‘Hold hard!’ But will they?
“THE ugly ladies can go ahead; the pretty ones must stay with me.” This was one of the legendary shafts of humour used by Major Algy Burnaby, a Quorn field master in the 1920s.
He was also inclined to exclaim genially: “Here comes a loose horse with a lady on it!” Despite such jokes he was anything but a misogynist, and was highly popular with all Quorn followers.
Sexist humour is thankfully out of fashion today, but occasional shafts of wit are still useful weapons for a field master; far better than anger and threats to send people home, although that is the ultimate sanction which may be used on rare occasions.
The field master’s greatest risk is followers who ride too closely on his heels and may jump on him when he falls. His biggest fear is being left behind when hounds go away on the far side of a covert where he cannot hear the huntsman blow “Gone away”!
The field master
