USPC
A Hunting Trio
Foxhunter/Pony Clubber Kristin WarringtonKristin is the winning author in the 2014 Hildegard Neill Ritchie Foxhunting Writing Contest sponsored annually by the United States Pony Club. The contest is open to all D- or C-rated Pony Club members, whether or not they have hunted. Kristin is a C-1 from the St. Augustine Pony Club, Delmarva Region, and here's her winning story.
The Fox
The grass is frosted over in the shady areas where the woods touch the long sloping fields. As I trot along, tense and listening, I notice the familiar trails through the trees and undergrowth are wearing recently made hoof prints and accessorized by a lone, twisted horseshoe that seems to have come off an unlucky rider’s mount. They have already been through this way several times, but that is part of my plan. I like to lead them in monotonous circles, repeatedly using the same paths, and drag it out until they are almost desperate enough to call off the hounds and begin a new search, then I take a sudden sprint through an open field allowing them to see me long enough to call out, “Tallyho!” and try desperately to gather up the hounds who are still off in the woods sniffing out my scent. I decide upon this familiar strategy and take a sharp turn up into a large field. I take a quick survey of the surroundings, and feel a sudden gust of courage take over me. Heart pounding with thrill, and my mind marveling at the sheer cleverness of my evasion from my predators, I dash madly between the crowd of horses’ legs.
Live Oak Hounds/USPC Challenge Winners Announced
Green Spring Hounds Pony Club members on a cubhunting morning: (l-r) Brenna Miller, Brigitte Frasier (mom, chaperone), Will Frasier, and Shelby Langlois / Pam Stockdale photo
The Green Spring Valley Pony Club in Maryland won the eighth annual Live Oak Hounds USPC Foxhunting Challenge Award for 2014. The Challenge Award is made possible through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. C. Martin Wood III, Joint-Masters of the Live Oak Hounds in Monticello, Florida and Past Presidents of the MFHA.
The Award is designed to encourage Pony Club members who do not regularly hunt to try the sport and to reward members who hunt on a regular basis to act as mentors to the less-experienced Pony Club members. Ten thousand dollars in awards are distributed each year among the top six Pony Clubs who introduce the greatest number of active Pony Club members to the sport of foxhunting.
A handful of avid foxhunters established the United States Pony Club in 1954, and the sport and the Club continue to share a close bond.
The Accident that Saved Countless Concussions
Caroline Treviranus and Comic Relief / Leslie Treviranus photo
Caroline Treviranus and Comic Relief were an experienced horse/rider team at the 1978 World Championship Three-Day competition in Lexington, Kentucky. It was Caroline’s second World Championships representing the United States, and she had ridden Comic Relief to Horse of the Year status two years earlier.
As the pair entered the stadium jumping arena for the third and final phase of the competition—having completed the dressage and cross country phases—they were standing in fifth place. A few minutes later Caroline lay unconscious in the grass, bare-headed. Her hunt cap—traditional headgear for all show riders at the time—had parted company with her in mid-air, and a whirling fence rail struck her head.
What followed was evacuation by helicopter, two weeks in a coma, and months of rehabilitation for Caroline. What resulted in quick succession for the rest of us were mandates by the United States Pony Club, the United States Combined Training Association (USCTA), and the American Horse Shows Association for the wearing of approved safety helmets. Eventually, as riders became used to wearing safety helmets, their use was adopted by foxhunters and approved as acceptable, indeed recommended attire.
Foxhunt
FHL takes pleasure in publishing the winning entry in the United States Pony Club annual Hildegard Neill Ritchie Joys of Foxhunting Writing Contest for 2010. As one of the contest judges, I was impressed by the powerful imagery produced by this young author's creative description of wind, trees, and earth from the horse's perspective.
In the coming weeks FHL will publish more worthy top-placing efforts by foxhunting Pony Clubbers in the contest.
