THE letter from D Sheppard (You Say, January 5) is a perfect example of how little knowledge the anti-hunt brigade have about the countryside.

They have glib answers to problems they don't even understand and, worse, they think they can solve problems that don't even exist.

D Sheppard thinks that lurchers are the best dogs for controlling foxes. They're certainly good, but not the complete answer. If they were, foxhound packs would have finished years ago.

Owning two working lurchers, I think I am the better judge of the matter.

So many anti-countrysports people are obsessed with the idea of people riding to hounds and wearing red jackets, always trying to make them out to be wealthy and snobbish. My own experience is different to this.

I know three people who hunt on horseback. They're employed as a van driver a farmer and a sheet metal worker. These sort of jobs don't really attract many snobs, but that doesn't fit in with that particular anti-hunt myth.

ALAN COOK,

Bishops Frome,

near Worcester.