The 2012 Field Hunter Championship started yesterday, the first meet hosted by Warrenton Hunt. If I get over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge before 6 am then the drive is fine. It was a beautiful morning and wonderful to see friends from previous years. The lady who won last year is from Belle Meade Hunt in Georgia and has a longer drive than me, but like me she loves it every year and brings her beautiful big grey. It was warm so scenting difficult but it is the running and jumping that brings me back. This is a competition between the very best horses and the best riders in the East. So much fun to gallop across lovely Virginia countryside and smoothly taking coop after coop in stride. Polly, my lovely dark brown mare was awesome. I think she really enjoys this, being able to stretch out and fly, and her ears prick right up as we approach each fence and with no effort at all she is up and over. All the horses are like this, they truly are the cream of the crop. One lovely big hunter after another. I rarely get "picked" as my mare is the racy Thoroughbred-type wearing a "figure-8 gag" and the judges are really looking for the conformation hunter that never picks up the bit! And there are actually about 20 or 30 of them here! But it is so much fun. Today was canceled because of the rain and rescheduled for Friday and I have to admit I was delighted. I am sore! Not as young as I think I am and the muscles do not recover as fast as I wish. A day off is great, tho that means it is Orange County on Wed, Old Dominion on Thurs and Fairfax on Friday. Yikes. And it is over the best Virginia country. I love it!
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