People leave with, ‘I never knew that!’ or, ‘So, you don’t shoot the fox!’
What a fine way to raise funds for the hunt and at the same time make friends for foxhunting!
“We keep the atmosphere relaxed and pleasant,” said Joe Maday, MFH, “and we try to offer visitors a variety, whether it’s a show stable, a driving stable, or a woman who raises Arabs and has foals and yearlings to show the children. We gain new hunt supporters for sure. People leave with, ‘I never knew that!’ or, ‘So, you don’t shoot the fox!’ There’s something for everybody, even if it’s just a pretty drive in the country.”
Six private stables were selected for visits on this year’s tour, covering a variety of equine disciplines.
The Metamora Hunt in Michigan will stage its tenth annual stable tour on Sunday, August 12, starting at noon. Six private stables were selected for visits on this year’s tour, covering a variety of equine disciplines.
The tour starts at the hunt kennels, where participants receive a map leading them to the six stables on the tour and an introduction to foxhunting and foxhounds. “We’ll have hunting horns, maps of the hunting country, and photographs to show,” said Maday. “Then, participants will spend two to three hours making the circuit.”
The tour is self-guided, but at each stable there are hunt members or stable owners who engage the visitors in a relaxed way and are able to answer questions about hunting, relate an interesting history of the stable, talk about driving horses and carriages, and even about what dressage horses do. It’s a family affair, and draws visitors even from the northern suburbs of Detroit, perhaps an hour-and-a-half away.
Children never know what they might see!
Tickets may be purchased the day of the tour at the hunt kennels or ahead of time at a popular local inn. The cost is $25 for adults and $5 for children under twelve. Funds from the tour help the hunt maintain more than one hundred miles of trails on private land throughout the hunting country.
This will be Metamora’s ninetieth foxhunting season, with informal hunting starting mid-August and formal season on September 22. Metamora Hunt was established in 1928 as an outgrowth of the Grosse Point Hunt Club and the Bloomfield Open Hunt, survived the lives of both institutions, and continues to thrive. When the formal season starts, the hunt expects typically thirty-five to forty riders in the field. Masters serving with Maday are Ken Matheis and Deborah Bates. Hon Sec is Michelle Mortier. The professional staff consists of huntsman Adrian Smith and whipper-in Sarah Smith. Madison Sparks is honorary whipper-in.
Posted August 6, 2018
Meatamora Hunt’s Stable Tour is a family affair, and draws visitors even from the northern suburbs of Detroit.