Fall beauty

Fall has a beautiful rhythm on the farm. I get to ride or foxhunt depending on the day and watch Mother Nature at her finest. The "inside" of the forest reappears as the leaves fall and once again I can see thru the trees to the beaver pond or the deer paths. I can imagine new trails that go over fallen logs and access new areas. I sometimes see the fox slip by, hunting mice. As soon as he sees me he races off but it is so wonderful to quietly watch as he hunts, nose down, his full brush with its white tip held high. The current catchy tune is "What Does the Fox Say", and I will tell you he says "Shuush, quiet", as he pads along. The beaver pond has brought the ducks and herons and if I am really stealthy as I approach, I can hear the slap of a beaver's tail as he ducks below the surface. As they drop new trees I have new jumps, so I am starting to enjoy their tree felling endeavors instead of lamenting the mess. Before I would ask the husband to go and move the these obstacles across my trails, now I wait a day and marvel at how quickly the beaver strip the branches, gnaw the trunk into manageable sections and drag them to the beaver dam. If they are too big they stay and I enjoy the new jumps! The rafter of turkeys has grown up and I do not see them race across the fields anymore. I do catch them flying awkwardly into the trees when I ride up on them. I keep my eyes out for the coyote I think has moved in somewhere. I see large prints and scat but I never see it.  I suspect it sees me and watches as I feed and pass by on the Gator which kinda gives me the creeps.
The weanlings are fun to watch as they race each other to the feed buckets, the broodmares are lazy and  the hunters now have the blankets on, so sport some color in the fields. They look like players on different teams, a blue team, a green Rambo team etc.

another day in the Blue Ridge...

We had another great day hunting in the Blue Ridge with Keswick Hunt. Tony Gammell is a terrific huntsman and my friend Jennifer Nesbit leads the field right on his heels. We viewed a big red at first cast who proceeded to run around Mount Sharon for the next 90 minutes! From the western side of this mountain the views of the Blue Ridge were beautiful, hazy, blue and magical. From the other side where we eventually stopped one could conceivably see all the way to Washington DC or Fredricksburg to the east.  It was a lovely day, perfect footing and everything hunting in Virginia promises. I love coming here and one day would like to have a "hunt box" and see these
great friends more often. Yesterday Rosie Campbell and I chose to hunt with Piedmont Hunt, where her son-in-law Spencer Allen is the huntsman. They have so many fox and so much beautiful land to hunt over. We put 4 fox to ground and accounted for one and were back at the trailers in 90 minutes. That's a lot of fox!!!  Said "Hi" to some old Marlborough friends, Jack and Caroline Helmly and Laura Dietrich. Tomorrow we are hunting with Old Dominion Hounds in Flint Hill where the legendary Poe brothers are still hunting at 90+ years young. Always a pleasure to see such hunting legends.

Foxhunting in the Blue Ridge Mountains

I have come down to the Virginia Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley to foxhunt for 5 days, and to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. This time of year I have a brief moment when the foals have been weaned, the yearlings sold, the broodmares back in foal and out in the back fields. So I take a short trip to one of the most beautiful places in America, the Blue Ridge Mountains , and visit foxhunting friends I have made over the years and enjoy the hospitality of the Virginian. We hunted Rappahannock yesterday and tho' exquisitely beautiful, it was a blank hunt, probably due to the harvest moon the night before. Hunting lore says that the fox hunt on a full moon and then sleep all the next day which I have found to often be true. Today was a heartbreak blue sky day in the hills and valleys of Culpeper County. Bull Run had a great day and we were in their best country with lots of varied jumps. Heaven on earth for someone like me who is happiest on the back of their horse. I am never tired when hunting. After a glass or two of wine later ,Yes, but I can ride for hours in this countryside.

Rainy days...

I am enjoying this rain which is making me catch up on all the "house chores" and "letting" me sit and read all the magazines that have piled up. A lazy day which I am spending reading and relaxing. Some of the broodmares were very grateful to come in and get dry this morning. They lay down in the dry stalls and  said thanks with a sigh. Now they are back out and happy to be eating again. Think I will bring in again tonight, everyone else has a run-in and seems fine. Why these two mares are totally spooked by their run-in shed I will never know, but they are convinced a boogie man is there! The babies are all weaned and this picture is of the four of them saying hello to one old gelding
I am riding. They are wonderful to watch, like a children's soccer team, they all run around in a group, as though tied together.

NA Field Hunter Championships 2013- hot and heavenly!

I would have to say this year's Championship week will be remembered for the heat. Almost 90 degrees each day! Enjoyable in October if I wasn't galloping on very hard ground, wearing a jacket. Otherwise it was a very fun and wonderful week. Four days of hunting in Virginia with a final romp thru the Glenwood racecourse on Sunday, dressed in my Sunday best!! The "appointments" class was won by a gal with the "sewn-in" bridle ( theory being that you don't want to have a buckle break on the hunt field) and top hat etc. I did my best with very clean tack and fabulous braids, had the correct sandwich and string gloves tucked under billets- but next year I will borrow that sewn-in bridle!
The first day, at Keswick Hunt, I missed because I was selling a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's Timonium sale. We did OK for a Lionhearted colt and he will go on to race in Maryland, That's good for breeder bonuses. We started the week on Tuesday at Casanova. It was hot, dry and the highlight was a baby bear cub! We startled him in a corn row and at first thought it was a black chow dog. Quickly realized it was a bear cub and while the whips were excellent at knocking the hounds off quickly we were all a little worried about "momma" bear!
Next day was at Snickersville Hounds in Middleburg at beautiful Sunnybank Farm. This is the Smithwick home and the birthplace of the Field Hunter Championship idea, The huntsman is daughter, Eva Smithwick, who hunts their PennMarydel pack! Gregg Ryan led the field here and at Piedmont and does a wonderful job. We stayed in the woods as much as possible because of the heat and there were lots of jumps. Lucky for me this is where my very handy, bold hunter was able to shine and we were picked on Wednesday. He can jump and turn mid-air and stop on a dime which impressed the judges enough to overlook his Thoroughbred overeagerness! ( I believe we missed the very final pick because he jogged across the Glenwood racecourse, at the start,  believing he was about to race!).
The last day was at Piedmont and as usual it is the most beautiful part of the Virginia countryside. We had a lovely view and, as usual, stayed out about 2-3 hours because of the heat. The chance to hunt these big expanses and run and jump and look at the Blue Ridge mountain vistas are the reasons that I do this every year. And to reconnect with my friends who also come every year. I receive invitations to hunt from Cheshire Hounds in Pennsylvania to Low Country Hounds in Savannah, Georgia and I will do them all.
This morning I am relaxing and watching the dawn break over my farm. Heaven!