First morning Cubbing

We went out at 6:30 this morning for our first hunt of the season. It was dark and a little rainy and wonderful. I forget how much I love this until I am back in the saddle on an early Sept. morn and it just feels so right. The old saying "the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a (wo)man" is the absolute truth. One cannot be down or hassled or tired when you are on horseback and it is a cool dawn , the hounds are casting for scent .... Then one speaks, the others hark and soon the chorus of hounds is ringing in the air. Then they are racing through the corn or the woods, your horse stands at attention, muscles quivering, just waiting for the slightest urging and you're off, galloping around the edge of the corn. It is awesome, ancient and it gets your blood going and the world is just right. I feel so at home in the saddle, like the horse and I are perfect together and it is where I belong , right then, at that time and place.

This is when we teach the young hounds what hunting is about. Sometimes it is comical, sometimes it is noble , or scary- but it always feels right. My radio was dead (forgot to charge it), so when I viewed the fox as we were starting home it was a chance to try my own rebel yell! Didn't know I could scream so loud. The huntsman blew for hounds right away, but the scent was rising and that fox quickly snuck away and eluded us all. Nice view tho'.