Punch and Bernie doing what they did best.
© Sally H Photography
In early January 2018, the hunt community farewelled the champion Clydesdale cross hunter known only as “Punch”.
Punch was owned by Bernie and Heather Rice; he completed close to 300 hunts in over a decade of hunting, and 231 of these were at Tocumwal Hunt Club. Punch and Bernie also visited Barwon, Hume, Yarra Glen and Lilydale, Oaklands, Murray Valley and Southern Tablelands Hunt Clubs.
Bernie purchased “Punch” in late 1997 and he attended his first hunt on Saturday 2nd May 1998. He was Bernie’s main horse for 12 years and during this time was used as Bernie’s Master’s horse, for Whipping In and also as Bernie’s Huntsman’s horse for two years in 2014 and 2015.
Carolyn Grinter riding Punch in the Alice Laidlaw Memorial in 2012.
© Derek O’Leary
Punch was renowned for his success at the Royal Melbourne Show; Carolyn Grinter showed him on behalf of Bernie and Heather in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Punch had amazing accuracy, pace and a huge heart over the hunt panels and it was clear that this is what he loved doing best, he wowed the crowds by taking only four strides between the panels where most other horses took five.
He won the Noel Mason Memorial Plate three years in a row, was the lead horse in the winning Trio Team in 2011 and 2012, and (despite not competing in any flat classes) won Overall Champion Hunter in 2012. Punch was a no nonsense, no fuss horse that loved hunting and soaring over the panels.
Punch was part of the winning Trio Team at the Royal Melbourne Show in 2012.
© Julie Wilson
Punch was versatile and was also used as a break horse in harness in the hunting off-season. He will be remembered not only for his success at the Royal Melbourne Show, but also for his reliability, honesty and his super-fast paced walk that hunters from all across Victoria will remember as being impossible to keep up with whilst hunting in the field at Tocumwal!
RIP Punch
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