Smugglers Equestrian Centre (Gwent)

“Smugglers Livery & Equestrian Centre is the base for Smugglers Riding School and is situated in rural Manmoel…We are committed to environmental stewardship, and our efforts extend across various fronts.” We’re wondering how that  ‘environmental stewardship’ might relate to the local foxes, because Smugglers owner Melissa Burles rides with the Gelligaer Farmers Hunt (which is based in Treharris about a 30-minute drive away), a hunt which her father David Burles spent many years with as a Master of Foxhounds, a role he took up in 1992 – long before the Hunting Act, and during a time when the only ‘stewardship’ foxes saw from hunts came from being chased and killed by hounds. Times change, but we’re not in the least convinced that remote hunts – which almost never see a sab or monitor – change with them…Mr Burles has also been a Director of Modplan, which sells a “comprehensive range of windows, doors, and conservatories will help you to grow your business” since before 1991 (according to Companies House) so his two roles appear to have overlapped considerably.