IN early summer I was invited to take part in ‘The Grand Cross International des Amazones’, a ladies’ side saddle race over hurdles at The Hippodrome de Croan in France. The invitation came from the organiser of the race, the legend that is Antoinette de la Bouillerie who is a member of the Co Wexford Codd racing and hunting family.

Antoinette and her husband Olivier are masters of their own family pack, The Rallye des Grands Loups, that are kennelled at their home Chateau Lathan in Briel in the west of France. She frequently hunts side saddle and buys mainly Irish-bred horses. Recently, Antoinette provided her hunters to Irish Masters of Foxhounds Association chairman Pat Hayes and David Lalor, who were attending the International Masters of Foxhounds AGM in Paris and took in a day’s hunting in France.