While following the West Waterford Foxhounds on foot last weekend with hunting photographer Siobhán English, fellow hunting enthusiast Tara Stockwell from Scotland was delighted to bump into one of their joint-masters, Lorna Ward.

Lorna has been based in Ireland for the past number of years but previously hunted with the Vale of Aylesbury in the UK. Tara noticed Lorna was wearing a tawny yellow collar on her hunt coat. This was the livery of the Old Berkeley Hunt. It was then Lorna and Tara discovered they had some mutual hunting contacts back home.

Tara’s aunt Laura-Jane Bowdler is one of the secretaries of the Kimblewick Hunt which was formed in 2002 by the amalgamation of the Vale of Aylesbury with the Garth and South Berks, themselves amalgamations of the Garth, the South Berks, the Old Berkeley, the South Oxfordshire, and Hertfordshire Hunts in earlier times. It was renamed Kimblewick Hunt in 2010.

Lorna was awarded her hunt buttons some years ago whilst hunting with the Vale of Aylesbury. This also entitled her to wear the tawny yellow collar which she continues to sport today.

The Kimblewick hunt staff still wear the tawny yellow livery of the Old Berkeley Hunt.

Tara herself is a keen rider and hunted regularly with her local pack, the Fife Foxhounds in Scotland, before taking up a post at Coolmore Stud in February for the busy breeding season.

At home Tara, 20, was successful in point-to-point pony racing and also notched up winners on the senior circuit, including some for her former employer Lucinda Russell.

Tara’s connection with Siobhán came through her mother Alice, whom she met when she was in Ireland assisting pony club members on the International Foxhunting Exchange in 2016.

Alice is a regular on the hunting field with various packs across the UK, as is her sister Laura-Jane, and Laura-Jane’s son Simon who is whipper-in to the Vine and Craven Hunt.