FOX HUNTING por Andrés Pérez

 

Fox Hunting

 

Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase,fox and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of unarmed followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follows the hounds on foot or on horseback.

 

Fox hunting originated in the United Kingdom in the 16th century, but it is practiced all over the world, including in Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

 

The sport is controversial, particularly in the UK, where it wasfox2 banned in Scotland in 2002, and in England and Wales in 2004, though shooting foxes as vermin remained legal. Proponents of fox hunting view it as an important part of rural culture and useful for reasons of conservation and pest control, while opponents argue that it is cruel and unnecessary.

 

Social rituals are important to hunts, although many have fallen into disuse. One of the most notable was the act of blooding. This is a very old ceremony in which the master or huntsman would smear the blood of the fox onto the cheeks or forehead of a newly initiated hunt follower, often a young child.

 

Mounted hunt followers typically wear traditional hunting attire. A prominent feature of hunts operating during the formal hunt season (November to March) is hunt members wearing ‘colours’.

 

This attire usually consists of the traditional red coats worn by huntsmen, masters, former masters, whippers-in (regardless of sex), other hunt staff members and male members who have been invited to wear colours as a mark of honour. Ladies generally wear coloured collars on their black or navy coats. These help them stand out from the rest of the field. The traditional red coats are often misleadingly called «pinks».

 

Boots are generally English dress boots. For the men they are black with brown leather tops, and for the ladies, black with a patent black leather top of similar proportion to the men.

 

All members of the mounted field should carry a hunting whip (it should not be called a crop). These have a horn handle at the top and a long leather lash ending in a piece of coloured cord.

 

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