IT’S interesting the number of overseas visitors who come to Ireland to hunt. Many of them purchase horses and tack to take home, hire cars, stay in hotels and guest houses, dine out and frequent the many bars around the countryside. This season, I have met people from Norway, the UK, France, Germany, Austria, America, Holland, Italy and there is an increasing number of Irish hunt followers visiting packs in some of those countries also.

We don’t get many New Zealanders hunting in Ireland - perhaps because it’s so far away - but I recently met three New Zealanders, Rik Van Miltenburg, his son Frank and grandson Jordan, who after hunting with the Louth and the Meath Foxhounds were visiting the South Tyrone Foxhounds, who were hunting on the shores of Lough Neagh. They were here at the invitation of the joint-master of the Meath Foxhounds, Dr Cathal Cassidy.