BSV point-to-point and the sponsors risking their reputations

The Blackmore & Sparkvale (BSV) Hunt has a reputation for animal cruelty, disregard for animal protection legislation, violence and general thuggery. But that didn’t stop a whole host of businesses from associating themselves with the BSV by sponsoring the hunt’s Point to Point (P2P) fundraiser in March 2025.

Protect the Wild shines a spotlight on the businesses risking their reputations by being complicit in the BSV’s violence – and gets an inside peek into what actually goes on at a P2P.

So what’s all the fuss about the BSV, and why shouldn’t businesses have anything to do with them? Well, the BSV’s recent and not so recent history is a catalogue of flagrant breaches of the Hunting Act, and convictions for intimidation and violence. Protect the Wild has gathered reports from hunt saboteurs and monitors who have witnessed the BSV killing two foxes this season, and chasing foxes a staggering 57 times. As if that wasn’t enough, the BSV tampered with no less than nine badger setts this season too, in flagrant violation of the 1992 Protection of Badgers Act.

Dorset Police Rural Crime Team has said that it is investigating two reports of illegal hunting by the BSV in February 2025.

The BSV has a long history of ignoring the Hunting Act. In fact they were suspended from hunting by the Hound Sports Association in 2024, after shocking footage of their hounds killing and ripping up apart a fox in a private garden was captured by North Dorset Hunt Sabs (NDHS) and shown on Channel 4 news.

A year earlier, in August 2023 the BSV had been filmed allowing its hounds to kill a fox, and then tear up her corpse. BSV members didn’t intervene at any point. A few days earlier the Hunt had been caught blatantly cubbing (trapping and killing young fox cubs). In September 2023, NDHS caught the BSV killing one fox, and digging out two others – all in the space of one week.

A history of violence against humans too

The BSV also have a long history of violence against humans who object to their illegal activities. In 2021, BSV member Charlie Mayo hit a hunt sab from North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs (NDHS) over the head with a whip, causing a 3cm laceration to his head. Mayo was convicted of actual bodily harm in April 2024. In 2014, the BSV’s Mark Dogrell trampled hunt saboteur Nid Warren with his horse, leaving her with major injuries. In 2020, a monitor from Somerset Wildlife Crime was knocked down by another member of the BSV. And this year, police were called after a BSV member rode into a sab from NDHS while in pursuit of a fox.

Last year, Dorset Poice arrested two members of the BSV over attacks on sabs from NDHS. One man was charged with assault and theft. The arrests are thought to relate to an assault on two female sabs by three masked men in October 2023. On that occasion, the women were pushed and shoved and their cameras were stolen. This assault was followed by attacks on the homes and vehicles of several hunt sab

The litany of violent incidents goes on. Just over a week ago a member of the BSV was filmed threatening a council worker with a spade, while causing havoc on the road. Protect the Wild wrote at the time:

“In the footage, the hunt’s riders and hounds are causing pandemonium on a road where works are being carried out. One of the hunt members, which NDHS identified as a whipper-in, then attempts to snatch a spade out of the hands of a worker. Footage taken from a different angle, which one of workers shared with NDHS, shows that the whipper-in is yelling something like “come on then, come on then!” as he confronts the worker.”

 

So what’s a Point to Point anyway?

So, if you’re convinced by now that the BSV are a bunch of violent animal abusing thugs that businesses would be better off having nothing to do with, you might still be wondering what a P2P is. Basically, a P2P is a type of horse racing for amateur riders on hunting horses, which includes jumps over fences. Hunts often organise P2Ps as large fundraising events which they invest a lot of resources into in order to raise a lot of money.

Action Against Foxhunting (AAF) sent an undercover member into the BSV’s recent P2P at Charlton Horethorne in Somerset. They wrote:

“In a genuine effort to find out what really goes on, I went along to the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt’s Point to Point meet on Sunday 9^th March 2025. Pro hunters always tell us “you know nothing about what we do”, so I thought I’d challenge that by finding out for myself.

I’d only been there a few minutes before I realised what P2Ps are all about. They are not about family fun. They are about ruthless competitiveness, trophies, opportunities for jockeys, and betting. They are also, of course, fundraisers for hunts.”

Raising money to fund the BSV’s violence

The P2P was held on private land, and occupied several fields. Businesses held commercial stalls where they would have made money themselves, but also paid a stall fee to the BSV. AAF made a rough guess that the event could have made tens of thousands of pounds for the Hunt. That’s money that will help them to keep on murdering and menacing wildlife, and terrorising local communities.

The signposting at the P2P wasn’t clear that the proceeds were going to the BSV, but members of the hunt were present in full hunting regalia.

Abusing horses

AAF estimate that about 700 people turned up. A big part of the event’s appeal was gambling, the proceeds from which would have gone to the BSV organisers. The races themselves were cruel affairs. AAF wrote: “The course was one mile long, with six birch fences and one ditch. The horses ran for three laps, meaning they jumped 21 times.”

Horses fell several times during the event, endangering their lives in the name of sport and betting. According to AAF:

“Each fall risks a horse’s life. I was astonished that there weren’t more. Both horses fell towards the end of the race, when the jockey has his eyes on the prize and is whacking the horse so hard with the whip that you can hear it from the sidelines. The leading horses are bunched together at this point, with the riders “jockeying for position”, so it’s no wonder some of them crash.”

One of the fences that caused a horse to fall dangerously was sponsored by Clarke Willmott, a solicitor’s firm based in Bristol.

Several horses were forced to wear a tongue-tie during races, a piece of equipment used to prevent a horse from getting their tongue over the bit. The RSPCA is currently advocating to end the use of tongue-ties in racing.

So who were the businesses and charities taking part in the BSV’s P2P?

These businesses and charities should hang their heads in shame for associating themselves with the BSV. Why would any of them risk their reputations to associate with this hunt? There will be money to be made for some of them, no doubt, but as the saying goes, ‘If you lie down with dogs…”

(Links below go to the listing for the business on our bloodbusiness.info website which now lists well over 900 businesses associated with hunting with hounds or bird shooting. bloodbusiness.info is a database of businesses complicit in hunting and shooting of birds and mammals. The website lists well over 900 businesses that support the blood sports of hunting with hounds or the commercial shooting of birds, and is helping raise awareness of business sponsorship and involvement in abusing wildlife. Help us make events like the BSV’s P2P toxic for any business that values its public image.)

Charities:

• Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance – many hunts ‘greenwash’ their reputation by funding Air Ambulances. Sadly the charities take the money on offer…

Vets:

• Friars Moor Vets – Veterinary services with offices in Shaftesbury, Blandford and Sturminster Newton.

Solicitors:

• Clarke Willmott – listed as headquartered in Southampton on Companies House but with seven offices around the UK. Unsurprisingly Clarke Willmott specialises in wealth services, but the firm also deals with conveyancing and civil law cases.
• Knights – listed as headquartered in Staffordshire on Companies House and specialising in services for wealthy individuals and business clients.
• Church House Investment Management – Wealth management firm based in London and Dorset. Also provides legal and financial services to charities.
• Greenslade Taylor Hunt –  chartered surveyors, auctioneers and property specialists with premises all over Somerset.

Equestrian:

• Will Biddick Breaking & Pre Training – specialises in P2Ps, based in Queen Camel in Somerset.
• Wincanton Racecourse – racecourse in the heart of BSV territory in Somerset.
• Equine Products UK Ltd – based in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
• Tattersalls – bloodstock auctioneers based in Suffolk.
• Paul Nicholls OBE – jump racing trainer based in Somerset.
• Connolly’s Red Mills – international feed company.
  

Farming:

• Pearce Seeds – agricultural business based in Sherborne, Somerset and owned by the Tuffin family (see Symonds and Sampson).

• Duffields Animal Feeds – feed suppliers based in Norfolk.

• Ruralis – provides insurance services for rural businesses, based in Dorset.

• Cowsfeet – provides hoof trimming products, based in Somerset.
• Alec Jarrett – meat processors based in Bristol.
• NFU Mutual – National Farmers’ Union insurance company, based in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Estate agents:

• Symonds and Sampson – estate agents, auctioneers and surveyors working in the south west. One partner, Andrew Tuffin, is a former BSV Director.
• Hopkins Estates – based in Wincanton, Somerset.
• Wooley & Wallis – auction house based in Salisbury.
• Mogers Drewett – provides legal and financial services, with offices in Bath, Frome, Wells and Sherborne in Somerset.
• AssetSphere – rural property and planning consultancy, based in Sherborne in Dorset.

Shockingly, Hazelgrove School in Sparkford and Brue Farm Day Nursery in Castle Cary also took part in the event. According to AAF, Hazelgrove School even sponsored a fence.

For more information about the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt: