The South of England Hound Show at Ardingly is an institution and the starting date for hunting’s traditional summer season. On the foxhound day last Friday (6 June), I could not help but ponder the challenges of managing hunting’s reputation as packs were showing their beautifully prepared hounds, whilst in the main South of England Show ring the beagles and bassets were introduced to hundreds of excited children.

Wherever they go through the summer hounds and hunt staff will be universally welcomed and admired. The animal rights movement knows this which is why it tries, and fails, to stop hounds parading at major events.

Yet, and we need to be honest about this, the perception of trail hunting is much less rosy. Polling shows that people are at least uncertain about the activity and the attitude of politicians and the police is profoundly sceptical. Why is there this contrast? Well at least part of the answer came during another brilliant event organised by World Horse Welfare looking at public trust in the welfare of horses used in sport. David Yelland, ex-Sun editor and PR guru, contributed as an objective outsider to the equine industry and got right to the heart of the issue. “The best PR in the world” he said, “is to do the right thing”. He advised that if you want to turn public perception from negative to positive “you do that by working very hard…and not going into denial”.

That is a lesson we all need to heed and which needs to be urgently applied to hunting activity as we face the inevitable implementation of the Labour manifesto commitment to “ban trail hunting”. However much the hunting community has done the right thing throughout the summer by engaging with the public and promoting their hounds, there has been a less-proactive approach by some hunts on the hunting field since the Hunting Act came into force in 2005, and arguably before that.

For reasons that are understandable, most obviously the inevitable spurious allegations from a small number of activists, hunts have not always been open about how they operate, or keen to promote trail hunting. If we are to follow David Yelland’s prescription to create positive public perception, then that must change. Hunts need to be as open about their trail hunting in November as they are at shows in June. They need to invite the public into the hunting field just as they ask them to meet hounds in the main ring. Those hunts that have been more open about how they operate have subsequently seen all sorts of benefits from more subscribers to increased support from landowners.

The need for the hunting community as a whole to address the perception of trail hunting has been obvious for some time, but it is now becoming critical. The agriculture minister, Daniel Zeichner, said last month that the government was considering options for hunting and would be consulting on legislation later this year.

There can be no more urgent priority than changing public and political perception as the government develops its policy and MPs vote on the future of hunting. It is incumbent on every one of us to be honest about the challenges ahead, work hard and do the right thing.