# adults hunting ponies....



## Toffee44 (21 July 2011)

Does any one on here hunt a pony rather than a horse? Not this season coming but defo 12/13 I want to be back out. I have a 14.1hh Welsh x @moment. My local hunt is cowdray I have a feeling I'm gonna look a bit silly on a pony?

Show me pics of your hunting ponies please and what comments do you get?


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## asmp (21 July 2011)

Took our 14.2 cubbing last season and he might have been the smallest there but he was the most embarressing!  I didn't know a horse could go backwards so fast!  As long as you fit  the pony and it can easily carry you for a few hours, then go for it.


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## Suziq77 (21 July 2011)

I don't see the problem, my mare is only 15hh so she's a "little one" in horse terms anyway.  My 14.2hh was a fantastic hunter and there's no way I'd have stopped riding him once I got over the age of 21!  As long as you're both comfortable with each other that's all that matters,


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## Christmas Crumpet (21 July 2011)

Crikey - don't worry. I hunted a 13.2hh pony a few times for a friend last year with the Portman who are quite smart and noone blinked at all. I did have a few laughs from friends who are used to seeing me on big horses but that was it!!

I've gone from hunting big horses to little ones/ponies and love it. Don't worry a bit - just go out and have fun.


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## Weezy (21 July 2011)

I hunted a 14.2hh Welsh Sec D last season, I am 5ft10 and a half!  I had the pee taken out of me for fun from my friends who are hunt servants, but other than that I had a brilliant time on him and he loved it - just go do it and enjoy 

Photo...not my pony so no comments on him please, and yes, he can carry me easily, he is broad and strong


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## Devonshire dumpling (21 July 2011)

Theres a lady who hunts with us who rides her Exmoor!!!!  They look fantastic!!  Everyone admire them!  (It's shod) x


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## Clava (21 July 2011)

I hope to take my 14.1 haflinger out with the SouthDowns bloodhounds this year.


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## TED2010 (21 July 2011)

Several years ago now my mother took on my 14.1 Welsh sec D x TB jumping pony when I outgrew her and had many fantastic days out hunting, she is about 5'8 and slim build but certainly didn't look too big on the pony.  Depending on the country you hunting, can be advantageous to be riding a pony as they can be quicker in reacting and more sure footed. I wish I could still ride ponies but it just doesn't feel comfortable anymore!!


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## arizonahoney (21 July 2011)

I will be hunting the 13.2hh this season... I only hope and pray that I have brakes!! But it's not too far to the ground anyway


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## marmalade76 (21 July 2011)

I used to hunt a 14.1 when I was 21-22. This is us at a bloodhound meet.














I now have a 14.2 which I hunt now and again, don't have any pics of him hunting, but this is he & I in a novice WH class, which he won beating plenty of bigger animals!:-







He seems to be very popular on the hunting field, I've even had folks asking me to let them know if I ever want to sell!


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## Devonshire dumpling (21 July 2011)

Clava said:



			I hope to take my 14.1 haflinger out with the SouthDowns bloodhounds this year.
		
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HEHE we took baby haflinger hunting end of last season!!  (hes 15hh)  be prepared for many many comments on how gorgeous yours is!  Everyone was amazed at ours out hunting, saying things like ohhhhhh is he an Exmoor cross??    So many ppl wanted to buy him!  We plaited ours, will you be plaiting yours?? xx


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## Addicted to Hunting (21 July 2011)

No you won't be laughed at, I'm normally on a pony or at least a small horse, alltho being only about 5"2 I don't look that big on them. My top hunting horse is my 14.2 spotty one, as I can trust her to jump most things, she has also been ridden by the master. My new horse is only about 15.1 as well. The only time I was laughed was when I was hunting a pony that was about 12.3 and that was only by the hunt staff who were friends, prop the same as weezy. And the best way not to be laughed is offer to do the gates etc, as alot easier to jump on and off the smaller ones, annoying but useful!


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## Addicted to Hunting (21 July 2011)

http://www.evespics.co.uk/2009 Events/VAGSB Green Dragon, Flaunden/HTML/img_9815.htm

My 14.2 out hunting last season, sorry no idea how to paste photos on here!


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## Clava (21 July 2011)

Devonshire dumpling said:



			HEHE we took baby haflinger hunting end of last season!!  (hes 15hh)  be prepared for many many comments on how gorgeous yours is!  Everyone was amazed at ours out hunting, saying things like ohhhhhh is he an Exmoor cross??    So many ppl wanted to buy him!  We plaited ours, will you be plaiting yours?? xx
		
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I can cope with being told how gorgeous she is , I just hope she behaves like a gorgeous horse as I only backed her in March (she is 6yr old), so far so good, she's going really well , (I rescued her looking like a toast rack last September). I do plan on doing a sewed in running plait and her tail fully plaited and tied up (will hide the fact it is slightly short from the foal eating it). Do you have any pics of your haffy out hunting - I would LOVE to see them


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## Clava (21 July 2011)

Duplicae post.


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## chestnut cob (21 July 2011)

I used to hunt my 14.2hh Sec D - I am 5ft4, weighed about 9.5st and was in my mid 20s!  I had loads of fun hunting him, he was so much easier than the 17hh monster I have now who can be a bl00dy nightmare!  Give me a pony any day!


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## icemaiden113 (21 July 2011)

You will be fine! I hunt my 12hh exmoor pony. Everyone loves her! And she stays out all day and whips in!


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## Devonshire dumpling (21 July 2011)

Clava said:



			I can cope with being told how gorgeous she is , I just hope she behaves like a gorgeous horse as I only backed her in March (she is 6yr old), so far so good, she's going really well , (I rescued her looking like a toast rack last September). I do plan on doing a sewed in running plait and her tail fully plaited and tied up (will hide the fact it is slightly short from the foal eating it). Do you have any pics of your haffy out hunting - I would LOVE to see them

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 Haffie in question is a friends horse, sure they won't mind me posting....  by the way his rider is 6 foot 2 and horsey is 15hh.. and I think they look fab!   will just sort out a photo


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## Devonshire dumpling (21 July 2011)

clean at the meet:-






Just set off






Hot and excited (was March and 20C)






Seriously loved his first days hunting EVER and has that striking typical hunter pose hehe






He is just  and very green, and was prefectly behaved out hunting, so don't be worried haha xx


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## Hobbitpony (21 July 2011)

[QUOTE He seems to be very popular on the hunting field, I've even had folks asking me to let them know if I ever want to sell![/QUOTE]

Thats because he's fab!!  I've hunted ponies and I love it, so long as the jumping is within their scope and they can carry me, why not? Ponies are more nippy and agile, good in trappy situations and they are a heck of a lot easier to get on/off at gates.


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## Clava (21 July 2011)

DD - thankyou so much for those pics he looks lovely! I wont be able to plait traditionally as she has way too much mane to squeeze into them, but I think a really tidy running one will look smart too. I can't wait!

Interesting in that your friend's haffy isn't clipped? Mine grows a very thick long coat so I was thinking I would have to clip her.


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## Devonshire dumpling (21 July 2011)

Clava said:



			DD - thankyou so much for those pics he looks lovely! I wont be able to plait traditionally as she has way too much mane to squeeze into them, but I think a really tidy running one will look smart too. I can't wait!
		
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I pulled his short for the winter and have let it grown long for the summer, yes running plait will look loverly!!   He was unfit there, over the summer has has grown alot, seems to have doubled in size..... his rider always feels too leggy on him being 6 foot 2... but so many ppl commented at the meet he didn't look big on him, think its cos hes a big wide boy.. hes hoping he will grow another hand ROFL!


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## Devonshire dumpling (21 July 2011)

Clava said:



			DD - thankyou so much for those pics he looks lovely! I wont be able to plait traditionally as she has way too much mane to squeeze into them, but I think a really tidy running one will look smart too. I can't wait!

Interesting in that your friend's haffy isn't clipped? Mine grows a very thick long coat so I was thinking I would have to clip her.
		
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Sorry just saw the clipped remark!!  Yes it was literally end of March so didn't want to do a clip just before summer, hes never been clipped before!

So all summer we have had clippers on getting him  used to it, you know what haffies are like, you got to ask them nicely, not bully them!!  He will be clipped out this year, he sweats like a pig!!  XX


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## Clava (21 July 2011)

Devonshire dumpling said:



			Sorry just saw the clipped remark!!  Yes it was literally end of March so didn't want to do a clip just before summer, hes never been clipped before!

So all summer we have had clippers on getting him  used to it, you know what haffies are like, you got to ask them nicely, not bully them!!  He will be clipped out this year, he sweats like a pig!!  XX
		
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I haven't started that discussion with her yet...I better get a move on!


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## hunting mad (21 July 2011)

Devonshire dumpling said:



			Theres a lady who hunts with us who rides her Exmoor!!!!  They look fantastic!!  Everyone admire them!  (It's shod) x
		
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I was just about to write exactly the same thing.....wonder if i know you?!!!


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## Devonshire dumpling (21 July 2011)

hunting mad said:



			I was just about to write exactly the same thing.....wonder if i know you?!!!
		
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Hellloooooooooooooooo Neighbour!! haha XX


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## blackcob (21 July 2011)

Not a great photo but me, 5ft 8", on my 14.2hh Welsh Cob at a meet back in.. erm... 2007? On one memorable occasion we were out until dark and she still jogged and fannied about on the way home, full of beans.


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## sonjafoers (22 July 2011)

That's me on the left on my hackney x cob. She is just over 14.1hh, goes like a bomb, jumps anything and never ever gives up


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## Paddydou (22 July 2011)

Go and enjoy yourself. I took to riding my larger shetland in a vain attempt to keep some weight off of him as I couldn't find a rider small enough that would come regularly! I have long and fat legs for my height (5ft4 34 in leg) so looked bloomin daft but he carried me well and it kept him going in the interim. We all put far too much stock on looks these days. What matters the most is can it do the job?!


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## Mince Pie (22 July 2011)

Me on my 13.1 welsh C, and my friend on my 14hh cob!


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## cheeseandhorses:) (22 July 2011)

im not an adult but i hunt on my 14hh arab x - im 5ft7 now so do look a bit silly - he's not the chunkiest  but i have found that when going out for a day with a hunt diffrent from the one i normally hunt with i found some people thought that he was not going to be able to keep up and hunt as well as some 17.2hh that were there. Was told by a man that children and ponies do go at the front as they can hold people up (tbh my pony gives the wrong idea at meets - he get very hot and has to stand away from everyone, and on the whole acts like he's never been) but when we got going i didn't see that man at the front - and he has no trouble keeping up with 'big boys' - i got loads of comments on how nice he was and how if he was a couple of inchs bigger..... -


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## sonjafoers (22 July 2011)

Cheeseandhorses this made me laugh.

I hunted with a different hunt 2 years ago & turned up on my pony pictured on previous page. A rather sn***y chap on a TB said to me that I should stay at the back as I'd only get in the way at the front and just to make sure I kept everyone in view if possible. He said that clearly cobs weren't suited to hunting alongside TBs but I should do my best and try not to lose them.

Suffice to say I was alongside him for the 1st half hour or so and after that he was behind me all day - quite far behind me at times.

Oh how I love my little hunting pony


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## spotty_pony (22 July 2011)

My boy isn't a pony but he isn't much bigger at only 15 hands! I have hunted him for the past two seasons and discovered that this is what we both love doing best! He is brave, bold  and loves to be up at the front with all of the big horses. We are often the smallest out, and we do stand out against the big chestnuts and bays but everybody is really friendly and we have never had any nasty comments, only compliments! Last season, he was one of the fittest horses on the field and still had plenty of energy, when most of the others were getting tired! I will be hunting him again this season and I can't wait! 

Here are some photos of us:

February 2010:






January 2011:






January 2011 (Blood hounding!)


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## L&M (23 July 2011)

Ponies rule in our country - it is hilly, wooded and trappy so the ponies cope so much better than the bigger blood types. I am a 38yr old housewife, 5 ft 6 and 10 stone, and hunt a 14.2hh and wouldn't have it any other way!


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## icemaiden113 (23 July 2011)

Couldn't add the pic of my Exmoor at the meet when I posted the other day! But here she is! Hunts twice a week without fail and often whips in as well!


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## Foxhunter49 (24 July 2011)

I have hunted many ponies and at 5'9" I did look under horsed!

Who cares? I was not to heavy for them and they enjoyed it as much, if not more than I did.


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## Orangehorse (24 July 2011)

Spoke to a lady once from an English pack that went visiting to Ireland.  Scruffy pony was pulled out for one rider, who turned it down, so my lady said she would ride it - and had the best days hunting ever.


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## abina (25 July 2011)

Yep shall be out on my little 13.2hh welsh - she's a hunting machine, jumps like a stag, beautifully behaved, has brakes, and best of all I can get back on after doing a gate, stopping for a pee, or picking someone else up off the floor !


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## Potato! (25 July 2011)

Me i hunt (or at least try to hunt) My 14.1 haffie mare











Please excuse the purple numnah and blue gloves but this was the first time out hunting after an accident where she got so excited she went up and over backwards on top of me so i wasnt actulaay going but was talked into it the night before.


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## ester (26 July 2011)

er yup..


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## Kallibear (26 July 2011)

I will be!!!!!!! We will be going.  One of the reasons I bought a sensible little cob, having done there and done that with big excitable nutjobs.

We've not been hunting yet (only just 4yrs) but we've been to a couple of common rides (not dissimilar) and he was ace.  Roll on winter 2012/13 when he's big and fit enough to charge about the countryside

He's about 14.3 and I'm 5'8


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## pipsqueek (26 July 2011)

My Dad used to hunt a 14.2hh welsh cob called Ginger out with the High Peak years ago,  a few comments such as 'where's your pony club tie Tony' soon stopped.  He was an absolute star, jumped anything, never stopped and stayed out all day!  I wouldn't worry about what other people think, as long as your not too big for your pony it doesn't matter!


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## muffinino (27 July 2011)

This is my 5'2'' self on my 14.2 piebald gypsy cob at opening meet (scroll down to DSCF2118510 ). There are a couple higher up, too.

http://www.sportingprints.biz/GFHOM061110F5/index.htm

At this point the Master took off down a trappy, sloping, boggy, reedy, gorse-covered hill and by the time we got to the bottom at a gallop, which was a good 3-4 mins later, there was only him, two whips, 2 girls (on ponies), my YO (former MFH), his fiancee (former whip) and I. The other 100 or so were slowly picking their way down the hill at a walk 

Scroll own to DSCF2125910, later in the day so we look a bit of a state and I have an odd expression on my face, I was trying to see where I was going

http://www.sportingprints.biz/GFHOM061110F7/index.htm

Please note our matching poppies! He's not the fastest, but he will jump anything the staff will and goes all day, albeit a ittle behind sometimes, but we always catch up 
Excuse the grackle being low, he'd rubbed his face on his knee when we had a break. Also, the plait is not a great one, but as you can see I do a running plait in the mane and plait the tail up then secure with electric tape. Very useful way of keeping long hair out of the way. I would also recommend pig oil and sulpher to help protect the feathers from the mud and wet, it really does work.


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## Toffee44 (29 July 2011)

ester said:



			er yup..






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Oh you have given me hope. And reminded me that I will wear a neck strap (well the horse will)


Thank you so much for your pictures, I hopefully wont be alone in the field. I doubt I will be ready for this season. I might see about going out cubbing this season once or twice if there are any quiet meets, apprantly the newcomers meet was hectic last year. And quite a few people have said go to a quiter cubbing meet and find a buddy rather than go to a meet full of bolting horses ;D


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## ester (29 July 2011)

I haven't been out very much, that was first time out last season, sometime after xmas... pony slipped on muddy concrete and we landed in a puddle . Went back out a couple of weeks later and were fine again then . 

Hoping to get out earlier this year, not telling Frank of his advancing years


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## tinaub (30 July 2011)

I hunt on a 13.3 welsh cob and have a brilliant time. Very embarrasing, although flattering, whilst hacking towards the horseboxes after hunting, two 'adults' in front of me must have been talking about something risque, because the chap turned round to me and said, ' you weren' t listening to what we were talking about, did you?' I was somewhat bemused and replied in the negative, only for him to say 'perhaps you should, you might learn something'. He then turned back to his lady friend who muttered about him being careful what he said when there were children out. I was 39 at the time and had three kids,so I'm not really sure what he thought I could learn!


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## mastermax (2 August 2011)

Hi dont worry about anything, you will be fine. I hunted a 14.2 Highland pony last year and can wait to take him agai this year. We have moved from our home county of Cornwall though further up country and have to admit I am a little bit nervous about hunting with the "big boys". If you look in my profile there are some pics of us hunting last year. Have fun, you will love it. x


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## Ella19 (4 August 2011)

Spot the exmoor 12.2hh (have bought the photo)






On my 14hh


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## Ella19 (4 August 2011)

Wanted to add although I look like a pony clubber I'm 24 in these photos!


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## EAST KENT (10 August 2011)

That`s a lovely sort of pony ,your grey..old fashioned and business like


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## tootsietoo (10 August 2011)

tinaub, that made me chuckle!  at least at 39 you are probably quite chuffed to be mistaken for a pony clubber!

That is the only problem I found with hunting my old pony.  Later on in his life when I was hunting him, I was in my late 20s and I think often people assumed I was a teenager, so I perhaps didn't get chatted to quite as much as I might have done!  However, obviously once people knew me it wasn't a problem, and one of my memorable moments is one of the masters yelling across a field to me, as we were cantering towards a fence "G, can you give us a lead".  Everyone knew he would jump .  I so wish I was still hunting my 14.2, but he's 27 now and just too past it.  I am not at all as keen on my new, rather smart 16hh irish hunter, who looks good but doesn't do the business like my pony did.

Have fun!


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## Angelbones (22 November 2011)

ester said:



			er yup..






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Fan-bloomin-tastic Ester!!


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## hcm88 (22 November 2011)

I'm 23 and frequently take my younger sister's 14.1 hunting, it's a little machine! I'd admit that I have so much more fun hunting him than I do my eventers, its a bit of a pocket rocket and could gallop all day! People didn't look at me as if I was silly, in fact quite the opposite - everyone wanted him!


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## xfeex (25 November 2011)

yep-













I have 16hh horses but they are not a patch on my 12.2 pocket rocket Arthur!


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## wilsha (25 November 2011)

i hunt my 14.2 but then im only 17 and not very heavy  but theres a lady thats quite tall and hunts a 12.2 stallion with us  loads of people hunt ponies around here
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101806403218401.2310.100001671246125&type=1&l=2cbcd24d64 
you should find one of me and my friends hunting, 2 of us on ponies im on grey shes on chestnut


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## CrazyMare (27 November 2011)

I think this shows how small we are compared to the others!!!

We are the grey bottom







On that particular day, we were jumping 5 bar gates.


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