Anyone who believes hunting foxes on horseback with hounds has actually stopped is very naive, it's alive and well countrywide. I do not condone it, but realize stopping it will probably never happen. It's deeply entrenched in European history, and like many such things as badger baiting, dog and **** fighting, remains surprisingly prevalent in the same underground way pedophiles ply their trade. If the hunters were honest enough to say they enjoy the social side and an opportunity to "ride recklessly" in flamboyant clothing, I'd have more respect for them. It's an incredibly inefficient way of dispatching a fox, a good man with a rifle and night sights, in a good location, can shoot many in one night.
But to those that take a class stance my experience of hunts in Cheshire and Shropshire suggests the hunters are from all walks of life from(the odd) landed gentry down to working class lads and lasses who scrimp and save to buy, feed and maintain a suitable equine. Most are perfectly reasonable people in and out of the saddle. The New Year hunt will take place soon, very nearby, and it's usually the saboteurs who create trouble, some appear to have no knowledge of hunting or its procedures, but are the sort who will attend any potentially violent protest for their own kicks, the same people may be found at similar protests on any subject that allows them to group and become violent under the guise of any moment in time cause.
When they claim the love and protection of animals is their cause, yet deliberately try and spook horses or even do them physical harm, their true cause of an excuse to become violent becomes apparent. Most of their ululations are based on a perceived "them and us" class difference and often that appears to outweigh any real desire to stop the hunting in itself. From an unemotional standpoint a fox hunt on horseback is stupidly inefficient, if they were a bit more savvy they should listen for the rifle shots of a night and tackle the man with a regular two figure kill. but that's not as much fun as going "toff hunting"
I remain pragmatically neutral on the subject.