@foodlesnoodles
I don't really know, or associate with anyone that would deny some hunts, or their members, behave badly or illegally. But just because you personally haven't witnessed, or have turned a blind eye to sabs behaving badly to people, being cruel to animals or breaking the law doesn't mean it's unusual. It really isn't. I have no doubt some sabs join under the illusion it's a genuine cause, and then either are too ignorant to recognise it isn't, get swept up by the cult, or leave to pursue a worthy group.
No, of course not everyone can afford a horse and the associated costs. But the more experience you have, the cheaper they are and many people with small disposable incomes own horses. Certainly, both as a child and now, I know plenty of people that would scrimp to pay for a weekly riding lesson in a city, but successfully had horses or rode because that was their background. Of course, that doesn't mean the child of a factory worker can access pony owning on the same budget a farm labourers child can, or that a novice city dweller on a low wage can afford it when an experienced person could. And of course many don't have any disposable income at all. But it doesn't require extreme wealth either. And once you've managed to beg, steal or borrow a horse to hunt, nobody gives a flying fuck what your background is. Except the sabs and the media that like to pretend we're all landed gentry.
I didn't grow up near a fox hunt, hence drag hunting. I was raised mainly with the philosophy the hunt got the weak and injured and the healthy escaped. And the kill was the same as a terrier killing a rat. So not a bad thing at all, a much quicker and kinder death than starvation or any other man made method of culling. And being country born and bred, I always knew why culling some populations was necessary. And why shooting isn't as easy or instant for every species.
The only reason I didn't ever fancy trying it was because the ridden aspect wasn't as appealing, or guaranteed as a drag hunt. I certainly didn't have any doubts about whether it was the kindest way to manage foxes.
I wasn't convinced otherwise by adults shouting abuse at me or my friends when we hacked, or even one occasion walked in a shop in an area the hunt was expected or recently passed. I certainly wasn't convinced when my friends horse snapped his leg in a hole dug by bastard sabs. I wasn't convinced when her local hunt kindly and mercifully shot him, to the jeers of sabs, presumably they were hoping to admire their handiwork for the time it would have taken to get a vet pre mobile phones. I wasn't convinced by townie fuckwits, however polite, telling me the cutesy wutesy foxes didn't need to be managed. I wasn't convinced by the hyperbole and emotive bollocks about all hunts ending in the fox torn limb from limb from people that were oblivious to the size difference between a hound and a fox, let alone how a pack works. I wasn't convinced by the ignorant drivel about just shooting them instead, from fuckwits that had no concept of the practicalities or what dying of gangrene entails.
What convinced me pre ban was a conversation with someone that had grown up hunting regularly, and did so for many years as an adult. Until the day they witnessed a kill that went wrong, and was neither quick nor kind. Even though they knew from personal experience that was rare and unfortunate, and not the fault or intention of hunt staff, it was enough to change their mind, and in turn mine. Once is too often.
But it's highly detrimental to animal welfare, and indeed insulting on a personal level for those of us that are against illegal hunting to be lumped in on the same side as the sabs.