In the late 1800’s in England some failed attempts at racing hounds on a straight track were aborted but the seed was planted as man marvelled at the speed of their hunters it was inevitable that one day man would race greyhounds.
Hare coursing in 🇬🇧 UK Australia 🇦🇺 and Ireland 🇮🇪 plus other areas fills that gap 1780-1920 .
Private coursing where 2 dogs competed to catch the hare in a fenced off area, not to everyone’s liking but this competition was fierce the dogs were judged on speed agility and catching the hare for the kill .
Public coursing was introduced where the hare could escape and the dogs were judged against each other for agility speed and turning the hare 1st in the chase , this became popular and the breed exploded.
The Waterloo cup in the UK was considered the blue riband event it ran from 1836 to 2005 at Great Altcar Lancashire in England annually , 10000 people or more would gather to watch and gamble on the matches , it was a very emotional time when pressured to cease as the hardcore patrons found it hard to come to terms with , there is a famous photo a fleck of Hare fur from the final Waterloo cup .
The beautiful landscape and the mist along with the craft of the Slipper , (they claimed that only 1 in 10 Hares was caught in the modern day)the brilliance of the breed constant improvement.
On YouTube you can find “The last Waterloo cup “ it’s a fascinating watch when you add the mystique of something occurring from 1836.
In Australia 1860’s in South Australia Naracoorte to be exact was a recognised coursing meeting .
13 wild Hares were sent from Europe by wealthy landowner Thomas Austin to be hunted in coursing events they roamed free on he’s property the rest is history.
The hounds were called Kangaroo dogs and coursing was born down under ,funnily enough Australia adopted the same name for its event The Waterloo cup .
So today in Australia 🇦🇺 the cup still runs . 1868 -1985 the Hare baffled the dogs , but in 1985 20 yrs before England the change came in Australia they decided to persist with a wire drag hare that darts through the grass to simulate a hare .
Victoria coursing club1873- present day .
Lang Lang coursing club – Great community who enjoy outdoor spacious nature and the love of their coursing hounds competing.
While Prime Minister Tony Blair put an end to the Waterloo cup in England there are still 89 clubs coursing in Ireland 🇮🇪 under the Irish Coursing Club ICC .
The dogs are muzzled in a 500 yard run the Hare is given a 100 yard start the hounds pursue ,Hare gets away in the escapes provided as the dogs catch up .
The Irish have always had an affinity with the breed ,coursing is still very popular.
So that’s some insight into coursing and its history next time we chat we’ll be onto how racing started see you soon Hounfrenz 💜
My Houndbound life 