IT WAS a spectacle of horses, dogs and riders that they thought they would never see again on a Boxing Day.

Last year members of the Portman Hunt feared that new anti-hunting legislation would deprive them of their annual Christmas outing.

But with the legislation falling through earlier this year members of the Dorset hunt were able to come out in style on Friday, starting off as usual from the Crown Hotel in Blandford.

A small crowd of anti-hunt protesters also took up their familiar places at the start of the hunt, as did protesters at other hunts across the country.

Andrew Cook, spokesman for the hunt said: "It was the usual, miserable Boxing Day as far as the weather was concerned but there were about 60 riders and a lot of people on foot."

The hunt took place in the wake of the publication of a Countryside Alliance survey, which claims that out of the 1,000 questioned in the research only one out of every 50 Britons think banning or curtailing hunting with dogs should be the government's priority.

The government has been trying to get a ban, or some form of tight regulation, through parliament for some time. But the last attempt was kicked out by the House of Lords in the last parliamentary session and there was no mention of new legislation in the Queen's Speech in November.

However ministers have said the issue will be "resolved" soon and the anti-hunt lobby is still convinced it will be banned within two years.