I had yet another interview with Prolog and am now due to start working in the broadband retention department – have to say I can’t wait to engage my brain once again.

I’ve also applied for an assistant website editor position within the civil service. The role could prove to be an excellent opportunity to get into the civil service as I had planned and in a capacity that would make use of my degree which would be a bonus!

Being in Suffolk also means that things start to revolve around horses once again, with this afternoon seeing me helping Livi with Tich and also poo picking Nigel, Peggy and Tango’s field.

I believe I can hear the sound of approaching hooves which suggests that the girls have returned from their hack

Nigel’s owner, Lucinda, and her neighbour Jenny have a company that raises pigs for meat. The day after I arrived they were undertaking a hog roast for a meeting of the local chamber of commerce.

Given the higher profile nature of their clients, they had decided to get some business cards designed and made for distribution at the event. This is where I came in!

I created a number of layouts based on their specifications, adding in a few alternatives with different colour options. Given the timing, the chosen design was simply printed out on a photo-quality printer on some very nice card and then hand trimmed with a guillotine.

I must say that I was also impressed with how well they came out, it was really satisfying to see a physical stack of work that I had created – especially as most of my work is purely digital.

I’ve yet to take some nice images of the cards in order to add them to my portfolio, but I will wait until I have completed the other printed items that I’m working on for them (letterhead, price lists etc).

After spending a little too much time in the local pub that evening, I cycled back up to Jenny’s the following afternoon to create another run of cards and also to get copies of the existing documents that were to be re-styled.

Shortly after sorting this, Jenny’s husband Bruce turned up along with George, Lucinda’s son. With them came the revealing of Bruce’s shotgun, a box of clay pigeons and a few boxes of cartridges. My eyes lit up!

After setting up the trap from which to launch the clays, I observed Bruce taking a few shots and obliterating the clays. He then handed me his shotgun.

Shooting is something that has always interested me but has always been something that I had never been able to pursue. A few shots later, managing to hit a number of clays, I was certain that this would not be the first and last time that I fired a shotgun.

Every aspect of it was fantastic! Feeling the weight of the gun in my hands as  I tracked the clays’ flight, the impact of firing the shot, seeing the clay explode and then the smell of the spent cartridge, all added up to leave me absolutely certain that this was indeed something that I will continue to do in the future.

Livi had told me that she would get me a shotgun for my 25th, an offer which put a rather large smile on my face!

I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people for me to get to know thorugh Livi! As well as Bruce, Jenny, Lucinda and Nick I also got the chance to have a conversation with Pete a local gamekeeper. I had followed the New Years day hunt with Pete and had discussed the prospects of me getting into shooting at that time, but this was obviously something that couldn’t be followed up due to my commitments with university.

The offer still seems to be there for me to go and help out on a few shoots with him, allowing me to get into that scene from the ground level. It was good to have Pete’s enthusiasm regarding me shooting – seeing it as the much needed young blood to get involved with the sport in order to continue it through the years.

I plan on treating myself to a shooting lesson at the time when I start to have regular money coming in once again. Although I may use some of the money generated from making websites to pursue this endeavour

Needless to say, this visit meant that I spent a lot of time helping Livi with the various horses that she now tends to. Nigel was the same as ever, acting like a big dog as he was led from stable to field and vice versa.

He even followed me around the school with Livi just letting him go where he pleased. It was quite sweet really, as I walked around the outside of the school and then across the middle to change the rein he casually walked just a few paces behind me.

The latest horse that Livi has ‘taken on’ is Titch, his name being one that is rather sarcastic as Titch he most definitely is not! I can’t remember how tall he stands but he is not only tall, but wide too!

It seems that he was mistreated in the past leaving him to be somewhat nervous, especially when being led into his field. But of course, me being me, I wasn’t phased by the big lad and helped Livi to muck him out and gather up his rather large hay net!

After a few days of getting to know him I helped Livi take him out to his field, a task that was somewhat difficult as he had to be led 2 other fields with sliding posts before we could get him to his allocated field.

Livi had opted to put the head collar on the mare in the middle field, hoping to tempt Titch in quietly – it seemed to work! As Livi had hold of the mare, I wandered back over to Titch, who calmly allowed me to get his lead rope back on (albeit looped through, rather than clipped to the head collar – allowing for quick release should he deicde to canter away) and guided him up to the middle field. To my surprise, and Livi’s joy, he seemed to allow me to keep hold of him and lead him to the final field – at which point he casually walked in rather than trotting.

He really does seem to be a gentle giant at heart, it is only his past that leads him to get a little agitated at times.

Livi and I couldn’t help but think that he is very much like Nigel used to be, although for different reasons. It would be great for him to be in a similar frame of mind in a years time, allowing him to show his abilities.

It seems that he is already a brilliant show jumper, a talent that allowed him to jump from one field into another during one of his more agitated moments!

As I had suspected, the food was better than the last time – which itself was better than the first! The night led to us sampling the 2 local pubs in Boxford and then relaxing in possibly the cosiest room in the world with some wine.

Despite not going to sleep until about half three in the morning, and sleeping on a couch that was a little shorter than me, Livi and I got up and headed home from Ben’s just after ten. Within an hour we had been home, changed, eaten and made our way to Higham racecourse.

Once again, I had no idea what to expect. Livi had told me that Nigel, the thoroughbred that she rides, was an ex point-to-point racer that had made a good few thousand pounds in winnings in his career. I also knew that it was a race around the course which had jumps throughout it rather than a simple flat racecourse.

It cost £10 each for us to get into the grounds, and we may have ended up spending money on more Joules clothing (they had a tent there!), on some light refreshments and of course we also spent some money with the Countryside Alliance; a booklet on hunting laws, some hilarious postcards and I got a book on the various aspects of hunting in the UK.

The races themselves proved to be thoroughly enjoyable. Each of them covered just over 2 miles, which seemed to equate to about 2 and a half laps of the course. The addition of the jumps also presented the potential for drama as riders got thrown.

The first jump that I seen horses clear was also the first jump that someone was thrown. The poor guy was lying on the floor for a little bit too long and the paramedics had made their way towards him. Fortunately he was on his feet by the time they got to him. Livi pointed out that above all else, they would be immensely winded after their fall.

The races occurred  every half hour or so, with each horse being presented in the paddock before their race.  Oh and the winner of each race was presented with a fine bottle of Adnams champagne and an Adnams hip flask.

I have to say that the weather helped a lot, it was a gorgeous frosty morning and the sun was high in the very clear, and very blue sky. This combined with the thunderous rumble of the horses galloping around was just perfect!

Quite obvious what this is, the race card with the details of each horse and rider in each race

I had been experimenting with my phones ‘BestPic’ feature in order to capture the horses as they passed us. This was one of the times where I managed to press the button after they had cleared the jump

One of the jumps at the far end of the racecourse, still frosty – the position of the horse reminds me of Muybridge’s studies of movement

One of the occasions that I did manage to capture some of the horses going over the jump

Whilst selecting the BestPic mode on my phone, I kept seeing this on the screen – I thought it was quite a nice image

The sun was against me for this one, but it was the only attempt I made at a picture of the jockeys just after a race

Just a general view at the back of the other watchers, I loved the homemade scaffolding platform used by one family – look to the left of the picture

Another ad-hoc viewing platform, the back of a Defender!

A flat cap, Tweed Jacket and a dog – the uniform of the day!

We managed to get a bit closer to the side of the jump for this race

Not sure if this was from the same race or not, but I did manage to get the horse whilst still airborne over the jump

Having never seen fox hunting for real, I was a little unsure of what to expect. On arriving at the meeting place, it was a magical sight; so many beautiful horses, all neatly clipped and looking their best, all the riders in their hunting gear were also looking very smart.

Upon finding Livi and Lucinda amongst the other riders I was dragged right into the experience as I was requested to go round into the field in which the horses were gathering to help Livi by adjusting the length of her stirrups. Not a greatly involving or difficult process, but one which left me among all of the horses.

The girls moved their horses over towards the back-end of the crowd, giving them a little more room to run some of the excitement from the horses. I was snapping pictures left, right and centre on both my phone and Paul’s – whilst enjoying a tasty glass of port that was handed out by a kind old gentleman.

Eventually the riders were ready to set off, which looked amazing as they left the field at the lower end and then proceeded to take another climb up and into open land. I’m sure I could see Livi on the climb and felt so proud to see her doing so among the leaders!

The following of the hunt took a bit of a turn for the worse at this point as we couldn’t actually catch sight of them from the road, despite Paul’s best efforts of navigating the vicinity.

Eventually we met up with another follower that Paul knew and who successfully managed to guide us towards the hunt. At this point we seen a larger Police presence, as it seemed that the anti-hunt protesters/saboteurs were out in force.

The hunt was not stopped however, and carried on with another scent.

We retired from the following not long after this, although managed to meet up with Livi and the others before doing so.

With any luck I will get to join Livi and Kerry for another hunt sometime in the New Year, this time I should hopefully be able to join Pete, Kerry’s boyfriend, and follow with him. This will allow me to kill 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak. Not only will we be following the hunt, but Pete is a game keeper and should be able to inform me about the whole shooting scene, one which I am eager to get into as my interest in country pursuits increases.

Livi, on Peggy, enjoying her Port

The master and the hounds, and of course more Port being drunk!

As Kerry and Livi pose, Mickey and Peggy seem unimpressed.

It was such a lovely day weather wise, bright sunshine and very cold too.

One of the Masters of the Hounds

A few of the anti-hunt saboteurs, following the Master

The local police; making sure everything is legal with the hunt, and ensuring that the saboteur’s presence doesn’t cause tempers to flair on both sides.