{Photo courtesy of RFM Equine Photos, all rights reserved }
In my last blog post, I asked, “what do you want me to blog about” and what a great response I got. One of you wanted to know how Hunts get kids involved in Foxhunting. Hopefully, this post will get you all chatting about the different things your club does. Children are truly the future of Foxhunting, and we’re sure most Hunts are getting creative trying to bring in more Junior Members. We came up with one idea, maybe some of you are already doing this.
You could schedule a monthly Junior’s meeting, kinda like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Each meeting could have a different theme and perhaps each month could be led by a different member of the Hunt. Invite your kids to bring a friend along. Even if they don’t hunt, maybe they would like to after getting involved. There are so many important things for the kids to learn, here are some examples of monthly themes.
- Hound Work
- Safety in the Field
- Land Conservation
- Attire
- Hunting Etiquette
- Traditions
The list goes on and on, some of the meetings could be hands on and others in the clubhouse with snacks. Having monthly meetings will build camaraderie with the Juniors and turn them into educated little foxhunting machines.
Don’t forget to nominate your Junior riders for the Fairly Hunted Award, given by the Masters of Foxhounds Association. http://www.mfha.com/foxhunting-fairlyhuntedaward.html
We came across this video of what they did in the old days to make the kids feel like part of the hunt, just kidding, but so funny!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ydLO7wFD0rM%3Frel%3D0frameborder%3D0allowfullscreen
We want to know, what does your Hunt do to encourage more Junior riders and memberships?
