Cumbria hound trailing association backing future of the sport

Hound Trailing is one of Cumbria’s oldest and most popular sports, dating back almost three hundred years.

According to the associations website It’s origin can be traced to disputes between local farmers claiming to have the fastest pack of hounds and in turn drag hunting was formed allowing farmers to race their hounds over designated trails in order to discover who had the fastest packs.

Over the years Hound Trailing gained popularity within the local Lakeland communities, and in 1906 the governing body, the Hound Trailing Association (HTA) was formed under the direction of Robert Jefferson, a Whitehaven man. Since then the sport has grown under the Association’s guidance and at present has more than five hundred members.

Now the sport continues, with the dogs trained to follow a paraffin and aniseed blend around a course as long as 9 miles. No wild animals are involved in the event or in the laying of the scent.

The association has faced difficult times recently though, with people seeing the dogs and assuming that fox hunting is taking place.

Fox hunting is illegal in England, Scotland and Wales. It is still legal in Northern Ireland.

Fox hunting was banned by the Hunting Act 2004 in England and Wales, and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 in Scotland.

Andy Horn takes part in the races, he said: "Police have attended our events and we've had to explain to them that we are a proper organisation.

"It's all down to education. People believe that even though they are following our paraffin mixture that if another animal got up in front of them they would follow that animal. This isn't the case.

"It is a problem that we've got and we've got to be very careful with what we put out there. We do try to educate people that it is a sport that's gone on for hundreds of years and we're not doing anything wrong."

Lee Wall is also a member of the association. He's also keen to stress that the dogs are well looked after in the process of racing after some people raised issues over how lean the dogs were.

He stresses that this in fact just how the breed looks, and that they are built up with muscle with very little body fat.

He said: "These are hardy fell running animals that are specifically trained for this.

"They don't carry additional weight, that would be a penalty to them. They would become tired and slower while they run because they wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace.

"There's a lot of effort that goes into the caring and training of these hounds."