This is the merit today of a new generation of riders: not only to continue to survey our countryside on horseback but also to have fully taken into account the cultural and environmental aspect of this activity (the youngest member at twenty year). Because if the first traces of the crew date from 1814, the practice of Drag is imported by theDuke of Wellingtonand his armies then encamped at Pau.
The crew was created in 1839 and has not ceased to be active since.  

The Pau Hunt, faithful to its origins, practices English-style hunting: Le Drag. 
The fox here is an excuse to ride a horse and it is the "Drag" that matters because it is a false track, traced the same morning by Dragueurs on foot, which will then be followed by the pack of dogs and riders. . The course of about two hours, is extremely varied: embankments, ditches, road crossings... natural obstacles follow one another at an accelerated pace. 

As wrote theBaron d'Ariste, Master of Pau Hunt from 1959 to 1976, 
"If in the French vénerie one rides a horse to hunt, the Pau Hunt hunts to ride
on horseback» 
… and this is where the word “hunting” is usurped, because there is no game!

The crew of the Pau Hunt, a nugget of our Bearn cultural heritage, aims to obtain for the activity of Drag its registration in the "Intangible Cultural Heritage» French in 2023.

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Guided tour

By Eric Gormand, Pau Hunt Field-Master