rural pursuits

I attended a point-to-point horse racing meet yesterday and what fun it was. Not just the sight of galloping horses, the fun of betting and walking the course before hand but also a chance to watch terrier racing, which must be one of the great unknown sports around. Terriers are great in a straight line and terrier racing involves using a bicycle wheel and pedals with a circulating line running about a hundred metres between this and another wheel. It's a bit like one of those washing lines you operate from a balcony with the line running over two pulleys. The race master pedals with his hands on the pedals and a sock filled with sawdust and tied to the line, shoots along down the middle of the course. Four terriers in an individualised starting cage are released and they go for that sock like...terriers after a rat. It is drag racing for dogs, in effect, and very easy to operate on an amateur basis. All the dogs involved were just the pets of interested race goers, and of course the dogs loved it as much as their owners did. It just made me laugh to watch it- rural pursuits, you can't beat 'em.