Melton Hunt Club Rides 2024 – Preview

Posted on 1st November 2024 in Horse Event Photography, News, Racing Photography. So far there are 0 comments.

Melton Hunt Club Ride

The courses may be walked from Saturday 2nd November.

Barrowcliffe Farm Cross Country – Lorry Parking – ///dissolves.blatantly.spiking

The Melton Hunt Club and Quorn Foxhunter cross country rides will take place on Sunday 10th November with the rider starting at 12pm. The Foxhunter will follow the main ride.

PLEASE NOTE – there has been a small change which adds two more efforts to the end of the MHCR. The ride will no longer go through the gateway out of the woods and will instead take the same line as the Foxhunter, round the red marker. The preview has changed accordingly.

Melton Hunt Club Ride (Kindly sponsored by The Fox & Hounds, Knossington)

PDF Version

The Melton Hunt Club Ride starts in a field approximately half a mile East of the lorry park, just South of the South Croxton Road. The first fence is downhill in a southwards direction.

Fence 1 approach.

Then continue downhill to Fence 2

Fence 2 approach.

Then turn left to Fence 3 and Marker 1.

Fence 3 and Marker 1.

Continue Eastwards.

Fence 4.
Fence 5. All gates will be closed unless they bear a sign saying otherwise e.g. the road crossing and some others.

After Fence 5 the course turns back uphill around Marker 2.

Fence 6 and Marker 2.
Fence 7 has many options but there is a hunt jump in the centre on the racing line.
Fence 7
Fence 7
Fence 7 showing hunt jump.
Marker 3 which must be rounded before heading back downhill.
Fence 8 is Fence 7 backwards, leaving Marker 4 to your right. Fence 9 is the hedge at 90 degrees.
Fence 8 to left of trough.
Fence 9
Fence 10
Fence 10.
Fence 11 in distance showing more direct route to left of
Fence 11 shorter route with one more effort.
Second effort for shorter route showing Marker.
Fence 11 slightly longer route (one effort).
Fence 12 is Fence 1 uphill.
Fence 12.
Road Crossing. These gates will be open and the gap trimmed.
View after road crossing. Fence 13 is visible left of centre.
Fence 13 from landing side. Marker to left of shot.
After Fence 13 there is a choice of routes. Most direct is to turn immediately right and jump this hedge (extension of Fence 12) which has a ditch behind.
Ditch behind.
Slightly longer option is straight downhill to hedge pictured.
Same hedge from side (approach)
Same hedge (landing)
After the downhill hedge turn right to jump hedge where ditch has been filled on landing, as shown more clearly below.
Melton Hunt Club Ride

Then turn left downhill to next hedge.

Downhill hedge at bottom of hill.
Same hedge from landing side.
Course then turns right over this hedge which has a trimmed area, shown below.

Then continue straight across the field to the next fence line.

Next Fence (approach).
Another view showing uncultivated strip of grass leading to next fence.
Here the course turns left around the Marker.
Then across a grass field to this gap to cross the stream.
Stream crossing.
This hedgeline is the most northerly corner of the course. Ride competitors must leave white marker to their left
Then turn left and head backwards, again leaving white marker to your left.
Head slightly right handed across an undulating field to this fence in the far corner.
The course then turns left and heads out of the woods over a hunt jump next to the red marker.
Over this hedge in the opposite direction to that taken earlier on the course.

Then proceed across the field and turn left to go uphill:

Approach.

Then turn right to where the ditch has been filled on landing.


After this hedge the course turns uphill towards the finish at the house.
Last fence. Left of gate is closest to finish.
Finish line (left).
Finish line (right hand marker on tree).

The Quorn Foxhunter (kindly sponsored by James Mossman)

PDF Version

The Quorn Foxhunter (sponsored by James Mossman) starts from a field East of Barrowcliffe Farm in a southerly direction.

The first hedge is a friendly opener with lots of different sizes options.
More of Fence 1.

After Fence 1 the course heads uphill in a southwesterly direction around the edge of the woods and back to Fence 13 from the Ride.

After this the course turns right, downhill.
The next fence is directly downhill.
Another view from the approach…
…and landing.

Now there is a choice.

Route 1 is to take the same route as the Ride over the hedge to the right where the ditch has been filled in.

Approach, limestone on landing visible.
Melton Hunt Club Ride
Landing.

Then turn left, downhill, to jump the next hedge:

Downhill hedge at bottom of hill.

Alternative Route 2 is longer but more straightforward. Continue downhill to this fence from the Ride, and jump it backwards:

Then turn right.

Whichever route you take the next fence is this one:

Before turning right, uphill to this hunt jump:

After that the next hedgeline has a couple of options.


After which the course goes around the tree in the middle of the field. Note Marker.

Before heading back over the Fence 1 hedge in the opposite direction.

The next hedgeline downhill has a nice crossing point in the corner.

Note the water trough which gets in the way if you jump where the post and rail is most viisble.

Continue downhill and cross this fence which is also in the Ride:

Then left to this gateway which will be open for the Foxhunter.

From here continue parallel to the hedgeline.

Note from the marker here that the Foxhunter allows you closer to the tree where there is a hunt jump.

Then hard left before crossing the same hedge further down to the right of the Blue Marker.

Now a right turn and a long gallop across an undulating field to this corner fence.

After which the Foxhunter course turns left:

Jump the hunt jump and turn right to jump this fence backwards:

This is now the landing side.

The rest of the course is the same as for the ride.

Then turn left uphill to this last hedge:


ad the finish.

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