Going home

After the Hubertusjagt in Dyrehaven people head for home after a few great hours in the autumn clad park. Among them a happy winner of the ponies run-up.

Two winners

The winners of the Hubertusjagt run-up 2011 for horses was Kamille Dumong Erichsen on Harry Potter, seen here with trophy and winner's blanket respectively.

A winner

At most parforce hunts there's no winner, but at the Hubertusjagt they've got a run-up for both horses and ponies, so here they can have a winner, or rather two. The trophy is here presented by HRH Prince Henrik to the winner of the pony run-up, Caroline Utzon-Rødbro on Mørkbaks Doth.

To make a buck

Whenever crowds gathers for an event the money sits loose in their pockets, and so the entrepreneurs gather as well. At the Hubertusjagt in Dyrehaven they know that people here are mostly families and that they like horses (or their kids do). So the local carriages, called kapervogne in Danish, are ready to transport people around for a buck or two.

How to catch a horse...or not

Not all the riders in Hubertusjagten stays on the horse all the time, so a horse with no rider is not out of the ordinary. In this instance this spectator didn't catch it, but he didn't get run over either. Horse and rider were united a few minutes later, though, as the horse sought its mates in the front of the pack.

A sport for spectators

With 30.000 to 40.000 people watching the Hubertusjagt this has turned this annual parforce hunt into a spectators sport, with the people flocking to the more spectacular obstacles. If the weather permits it, lunch and hot drinks are brought and the whole family can enjoy a day in the park among the deer.

Fly with me

The riders in the Hubertusjagt are in two packs, the regular horses first and the ponies behind them. But they mostly jump the same obstacles, so the ponies almost have to learn how to fly to get over.

How to jump a fence

The traditional parforce hunt, the Hubertusjagt was the event of the day last Sunday as it always is on the first Sunday in November. It is held in one of my favorite places, Dyrehaven, just north of Copenhagen and it's a brilliant way to spend an autumn grey Sunday, especially if you like to watch the world through a view finder.