It’s been some time since I last did a blog and I really should do more but fitting them in with limited time is challenging, however I will do my best to keep you all up to date.

Recently I have been attending Rockwood Harriers Hunt meeting’s (before you all get on your high horses this is drag hunting - no animals or foxes hunted)



A little background information on Rockwood Harriers and Drag Hunting.

The Rockwood Harriers were first established by Walter Norton of Denby Dale in 1867, who was a keen sportsman, he was master of the harriers for many years. The kennels are situated in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside.

The hounds hunt a pre laid trail, (a rag doused in scent and dragged on the end of a rope by a rider or runner) across miles of varying terrain which includes a variety of fences/hedges to jump.


In drag hunting, a pack of hounds follows a scent laid by a human rather than pursuing a live animal. The line is laid over a pre-determined route to take advantage of the best jumping opportunities. 

Drag hunting was developed in the UK in the early 1800s to test the speed and agility of hounds, by laying a scent trail over a specified distance.

click image to go to link for images

Anyway, back to the story: Bored one Sunday morning late October 2022 I turned up with my best mate (Chrissy, now nicked named the Wife by some of the hunt helpers) at Rockwood Harriers Hunt meeting, to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect or how we would be greeted, it seemed a very tight knit event and obviously people are wary of new people just attending. We sat and waited a while just to see what was going on around before we took the plunge and made our way to where it looked like all the action would start from.


The First person I bumped into was Loren who is one of the whips but was laying the trial on this day (The Whip assist the huntsman during the day's hunting, particularly in keeping the pack together and resolving any problems) and partner to one of the hunt master’s Danny Carroll. From there it was straight forward I introduced myself to Danny explaining what previous photography experience with horses I already had, then Danny talked me through the proceedings and welcomed us to be involved as their previous photographer had recently moved on. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

.We had a vague idea of their route and hoped we would be able to keep up with them. It was an exciting challenge, and we just threw ourselves into it, loving every minute. The weather that day began glorious, but the sky turned black, so we made our exit just before the heavens opened, once we had downloaded the images of the day, we were pleasantly surprised with what we had shot.