Second Installment
Betsy and friends escape frozen Virginia for a week of hunting in warmer climes. We bring you Installment Two of her daily blog, exclusive to Foxhunting Life.
(l-r) Whiskey Road Field Master Geri Rapp, Fairfax Hunt members Ray Moffett, and PetraProbably seventy-five riders in the field this morning from the Batesburg fixture. Whiskey Road hosted a stirrup cup and snack before the meet after which huntsman Joseph Hardiman moved off with the mixed English and Penn-Marydel pack, east towards the cow field adjacent to the fixture.
Hounds struck immediately, coyote, probably, a brace or possibly a leash, and split into two or three groups. Hardiman went with one group, Master/whipper-in Lynn Smith with another, and (seemed like) Master David Smith and the main field with still another.
Tragedy struck in the first five minutes when one of the visitors from Indiana had her horse die beneath her. Probable an aneurysm, but instant and certain. She was beside herself. Fortunately her husband, a physician, was with her and was able to console her and prescribe straight whiskey as a curative. Tragic. I can only imagine having the horse you love die. As people said, later, “Died doing what he loved.” No doubt about it.
Back to the action, Maggie and Don had gone up with the first flight, but after helping out in the confusion of the dead horse, Maggie got shuffled back with me and Dawn in the third field. Our leader, Geri Rapp, tried to put us right, but we never made contact with the huntsman after a brief pass near the chicken houses (a half dozen commercial broiler houses that smell, well, like you’d imagine). We circled through the “campground” and past the meet, tracking the field, but never caught up.
After the meet Aiken huntsman Joseph Hardiman homes in on the last of his hounds with the radio tracker. We passed the meet and began, once again, through the original cow field when Maggie’s Cleveland Bay-cross, Savanna (a totally made hunter), stepped in a hidden hole and fell like a rock. We were only trotting, but Maggie was slightly concussed and a bit shaken. Savanna was fine, but she and Dawn decided to retire since we were right at the meet. I stayed for a bit but the third field came in shortly afterwards, having heard a call over the radio that the other fields had given up as well.
Whiskey Road put on a fantastic tailgate lunch afterward (Note: True to their name, they do not offer soft drinks. Bring your own if you want something other than wine or whiskey!) We stayed for a while chatting with the various hunt members. Met some more people from Goshen and another couple from Millbrook. Back to the farm for a rest before cocktail hour at a new shop downtown tonight—Folly, an interiors store, high end. Can’t wait.
Rain is forecast for tomorrow so we’re trying to decide whether to ride it out with Whiskey Road (at Chime Bell Chase) or hold off for the Aiken Hunt drag meet on Saturday. To be Continued….
Posted February 4, 2011
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