After our first foray into foxhunting last year, I really wanted to do more of it this season. Henry seemed to love it, I thought it was a freaking blast, and it’s such good conditioning for the event horses. Independence Foxhounds hunts a lot on weekdays, which work always gets in the way of (pesky work, always standing in the way of life), and during the fall with our show season it always seems difficult to make it to their weekend hunts. Either we’re showing, or I’m trying to rest my horse’s legs a bit between shows. My trainer let me hunt one of her horses a few weeks ago, since I was in town for lessons anyway, and when the text went out about Opening Hunt (the Blessing) in the middle of a relatively empty stretch on our calendar, I was quick to jump on that.
The Blessing is Opening day for formal season, so it’s a big deal. There’s even more food and drink than usual, everyone braids and wears their formal attire, and there’s a priest doing a prayer before we head out. Very posh. Much Fancy. Since I had to be out of the barn by 6am to make the drive, I braided Henry down the night before and tucked him into his Jammies for the night. Of course, as I do every time I pull that dumb thing on, I had to stop when his ears were still tucked into it and make my “Lieutenant Dan, you ain’t got no ears!” joke that I do every single time.
Henry is like “omg please make her stop”. I can’t help it, I find it hilarious no matter how many times I do it. He has yet to find it amusing at any point over the years. Guess he needs to watch Forrest Gump to get it.
Yeah I know, I’m definitely not a classy enough person to be foxhunting.
Anyway, the next morning I fed him, hitched up the trailer, rolled his braids up in 2 minutes (thanks Quick Knot!) and we were off! I might be biased, but I think Henry is a damn handsome foxhunter.
We had a nice big group, which was fun to see, and we all gathered for the blessing while little cups of liquor were handed out. These foxhunters, man, they are nuts. I mean, eventers are nuts, but these people are even more nuts. I am not much of a drinker so I stood there holding my cup, kind of wanting to gag just from the smell of it, before pouring half of mine into Trainer’s cup. Even my little half-shot did not go down very well, and I quickly remembered why I very rarely drink.
After the blessing was done, we split off into first, second, and third flight – with the majority of our group of eventers going first flight – and off we went! The hounds were off and running pretty quickly, but whatever they were chasing (here it’s usually coyote) was fast, and took off onto neighboring property. We didn’t get to chase them for long before they had kind of scattered and quickly ended up far away while the staff tried to regroup. Of course, we don’t just stand around and wait for long… we occupied ourselves by galloping around the trails a bit, exploring the country and enjoying the company. We would stop and regroup and get updates via radio on the status of the hounds, run around a bit more, talk a bit more, and people would pass their flasks around. This went on for a while.
Eventually it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to gather all the hounds back up in time to re-cast, so all of us in first flight just amused ourselves by galloping around the property, or jumping coops, or whatever. It kinda turned into extreme trail riding, which is never NOT fun. Henry had a great time thinking that he was racing Flat (Flat is at least 3 times faster than Henry, but no one tell him that), and we covered a wide variety of different terrain, from gravel to sand to cannon-deep mud. Presto will definitely be hunting when he’s old enough.
Kathy got some video on one of our gallops, and I took some of a few people hopping over one of the coops.
After we were finished and the horses were taken care of, we all gathered in the pavilion for an awesome brunch. The dessert table was next level, featuring the cutest cookies I have ever seen in my life.
It was a really fun day of running around outside with friends, on my favorite horse in the world. We spend so much time working hard, fine-tuning, dialing in the details… foxhunting is like taking a deep breath, tapping back into that inner 12yo kid who just really loved galloping around on ponies. It’s fun as hell, and we definitely need to make time for it more often.
I love the paint(?)piebald(?) horse. Cantering along. Hopping over fences. Can I order one?
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He’s a Prelim event horse too!
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I’ve always really wanted to go hunting, but have found it a bit intimidating with all the rules and formal wear. My trainer has said that she could take us during cubbing season, but we always seem too busy with shows and other stuff to make it happen. It’s definitely on my bucket list though!
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Some hunts are more formal than others. Ours is quite relaxed as far as foxhunting standards go, even on formal days. Contact your local hunt and see what the turnout standards are!
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Foxhunting is the best! LMK if you ever find yourself in Virginia hunt country during hunting season…
When the hounds are on a fox and sounding, it is just the coolest experience! And all atop a horse!
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Ugh I am so jealous. It’s definitely on my bucket list to take May fox hunting. She is really good about horses crowding her space and dogs running under her legs, and I think she would just be an absolute BLAST.
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Ahhhh I miss hunting! And you’re right… those guys are CRAAAAAZYYY! That much fun should probably be illegal.
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I mean, there were only 3 unplanned dismounts in first flight… LOL
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At least I landed on my feet 😅 I’d just like to think I was practicing vaulting.
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I’m really sad I didn’t get to see it. Next time let me know it’s happening.
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i have to go on the Mississippi hunt near me. I have an invite. Just the weather has been horrendous they have had to cancel alot due to the fields etc. But they are very low key and not formal so they have my name written all over it. So hope to figure out a way to go sometime!!
Henry and you clean up nicely. Good thing you had a pair of tan breeches (COULD not figure out why you were wearing them on IG at first HA)….you never wear Tan 🙂
Glad you had fun and puke i couldnt drink either…ICK..i am okay with wine but no way hard liquor…
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You should TOTALLY go sometime, you would fit right in lol.
The tan breeches are stupid though, I hate them and they’re gross and I don’t know why I spent 20 years of my life liking them.
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I will go! they hunt with Haflingers so I should be Aok with fat buckskin waddling along. They actually made Remus an honorary Haflinger at the show 🙂 HA
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That sounds like a freaking blast.
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I really, really want to try foxhunting. This looks like so much fun! I love the videos.
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Everyone should try it at least once!
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I feel like that might be Daphne’s sister on the home page. I need to find an old pic of her when I get home to make sure. There sure was a lot of OMG and talk about dying in that video. Although it has always seemed like something I would love to do, I don’t really like galloping so much, so maybe not.
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You could go second flight, they mostly w/t/c
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Love it!! That looks like so much fun.
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I’d like to go on a hunt some day, but on a really reliable horse (as in, not any of mine). Sounds like a really fun day!
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Yay! So fun! I really miss foxhunting my old mare, but at 28 she’s not going to be galloping first flight ever again haha. Ellie will probably love it, I just need her to be less green over fences before we give it a shot. Our hunt is fast and has first and second flight; technically there is a hilltop division but usually there are no riders who want to not jump, so I don’t want to end up overfacing her in a fast second field.
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I wish there was something like that around here, it looks crazy fun
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Long time follower here! This is one of those items on my equestrian bucket list. This post encourages me to do it ASAP, it looks like a blast.
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It seems like a lot of people are trying fox hunting, and it’s making me want to try it too!
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