Hunting: A Health and Safety Hazard!

The HSA can exclusively report that a member of the public has been seriously injured by a North Yorkshire hunt.

On the 5th of November 2022, Gabrielle Jagger was walking down a bridleway when she saw the Pendle Forest & Craven Hunt coming in the opposite direction. She moved off the bridleway, leaving the hunt metres to pass. As they passed Gabrielle, a horse called Duke kicked out, hitting her in the pelvis and throwing her into the air. The rider, Bryony Fearnley, fled the scene, leaving no contact details, but other riders stopped to give assistance.

The hunt had no first aid equipment – the best they could manage was a dirty horse blanket. Although hunt horse boxes were only 800 metres away, none of them carried first aid kits. Nick Bannister, Joint Chairman, Director & Joint Master of the hunt – also at the time Chairman of the Countryside Alliance and a Vice President of the Association of Masters of Harriers & Beagles – arrived in his 4×4, having been contacted by members of the hunt. He also failed to bring any first aid equipment.

Gabrielle’s injuries were devastating. She suffered a double open fracture of the pelvis and a large wound, which caused severe loss of blood; her surgeon stated that she was fortunate not to have bled to death. She also suffered significant tissue damage, tendinitis of the hamstring, hypermobile SI joint, permanent bowel muscle and nerve damage. These injuries have caused life-changing physical and psychological changes and Gabrielle, a teacher, will be unable to work again.

The hunt could produce no risk assessments for any of their activities and their insurers did not contest the liability that the pain, injury, loss and damage were caused by a breach of duty of care of the Pendle Forest & Craven Hunt, in particular, the negligence of the hunt and its riders.

The British Hound Sports Association and the Countryside Alliance were both contacted regarding this failure to protect public safety. They failed to respond with any measures they would take to prevent a similar incident. As far as we can tell, no efforts have been made to inform the wider hunting community in any effort to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence.

Simple measures such as advice to give pedestrians a wide berth, the carrying of a first aid kit and the training of key members of the hunt in first aid have not been suggested; these would protect their own riders as much as the general public.

The horse which caused the injury was loaned by a local trekking centre, of which Bryony Fearnley was an employee. Riding an unknown horse on hunts is very common, with people renting a horse for the day. This increases the chance of the horse being out of control, and there are no checks on the ability or experience of the riders.

The Parish Council wrote to the hunt regarding this incident, concerned for its constituents, asking the hunt to publicise when it would be using public rights of way. The hunt did respond but failed to make any promise on this suggestion.

Around the same time as this horrific incident took place, a two-year-old girl died after falling from a pony at a Bedale Hunt meet. Also, at the end of 2023, a woman, aged in her 20s, died after falling from a quad bike at the Beaufort Hunt, with the driver allegedly fleeing the scene of the incident.

An HSA spokesperson commented:

“Hunts have an appalling and cavalier attitude when it comes to health and safety. Many even have a so-called ‘tumblers club’ where people who fall off are expected to donate to the hunt. This is bad enough when those risking injury and death are their own participants, but the Pendle incident shows that members of the public are also at risk.

The hunt’s governing bodies perpetuate this attitude with their disregard for anyone’s safety, hunting members of anyone unfortunate enough to come across them. We urge Councils and the Health & Safety Executive to take a serious look at their activities and impose penalties where appropriate.”