I have so much to tell!! What a super weekend we had– of course the weather was FABULOUS! Sunny, no WIND, a tad too warm (not complaining). People all over the US wished they lived here. =)
On Saturday, we hunted from our Cumberland Country. Mary and Ted were our hosts and in the pictures you can see how lovely the tables were decorated. =) So homey!
Huntsman Dave had three lame horses, so he hunted Bre’s horse, Shifty. It was Shifty’s first time as a Huntsman horse and after some brief discussions with Huntsman Dave, the boundaries were set and he was the bomb! We had about 30-35 riders in the field. It was so wonderful to see so many new members and they were YOUNG, not just young at heart like the majority of us: Wyatt Setterburg, Brit Vegas, Adam Gengenbach, Jubilee Miller, Lisa Nemath, Machelle Lemer, and Blaire Bogard.
If you were a pheasant hunter, this weekend would have been a banner time. We flushed up so many pheasants! Those roosters are so beautiful! It’s also the rut, so the deer were doing the “boom boom” all over. We were pushing them out of every cover. Unfortunately, no coyotes. =(
The hounds did work well, going from cover to cover searching ardently for something to chase. Nada. We covered quite a bit of country, going right, left, straight, until we ended back at the trailers. We had one ground tester. She took a pretty good tumble when her horse stumbled after a coop. It’s a coop called “Seriously,” and it can be a bit tricky. The direction we took it requires jumping into the ditch and then straight up the embankment onto the road. Her horse just stumbled up the embankment and fell to his knees. She rolled off the front and skidded on the road. She jumped up, unhurt– thank goodness!
After two hours and a little over nine miles we returned to the trailers for a hot meal, some beer tasting and apple bobbing for wine bottles. They also had prizes to give away if you had the right hound name written under your plate. Monte won a few times. He sort of cheated. I kept seeing him taking plates out of the garbage …
Sunday, we had another banner day of riding and there were SO MANY people out! This was our first time hunting at our Persia country with our new land owners: Jesi and Dillon Clark. Maggie Keen and I went out on Friday to meet with Jesi to clean up the coops and make sure all the gates were open. Jesi and Dillon are excited to have us out, and it so wonderful that we can still park, use the party room for food afterwards, and have a real bathroom!
Huntsman Dave rode another new horse today. Whipper-in Nancy E loaned her gelding,Tucker, to him and they worked really well together, jumping all the coops in great form, as did so many of our riders: Diane A, Pam S, Mason, and Maggie K (her first coop in the field on her new mount, Friendly). Machelle jumped Mary Lynn’s new mount CL Francis and good golly, Miss Molly, he JUMPED! We were all yelling at her to stay on! (She needs a smaller helmet). Summer, one of four guests that Becca Fellman brought (You go, girl!) also jumped her first coop! Mason had a little difficulty at one coop so Camie and Jay jumped over, gave a quick coaching lesson and then Camie jumped. Mason jumped and Jay followed up behind. =)
We hunted all the area and eventually came back to that coop. We had a ground tester when the horse jumped the rider out of his tack. His pride was hurt, but nothing else. We were making our loop back to the Clark’s farm when one of the hounds got his paw caught in a foot trap. He was screaming at the top of his lungs. Huntsman Dave jumped off his horse and was able to release his paw quickly without a break in the bones or the skin. Thankfully, Sam Matranga, our road whip/whoopee wagon, was able to drive into the field and give him a ride home. With all the milling around, another hound was stepped on by a horse and he went back with Sam as well. Fearful that there would be more traps, Huntsman Dave took us away from the cover. We have jumped many coyotes out of that strand of trees. I was hoping today we would be able to hunt another one up.
We came back to the trailer and had another excellent meal. Thanks to Jenny Nguyen for her pheasant/potato casserole, Libby C for her pasta salad, Lana L for all the desserts, and I made my famous dump soup (I can give anyone the recipe if you’re interested), chicken noodle soup, angel eggs and various nibbling platters that Kathy Magli put together. She also provided the water and pop. She couldn’t be there in person, but was able to supply us with sustenance.
Next weekend is Tipton! It should be a grand adventure! Thank you in advance to Lyse and Tom for what promises to be an exemplary weekend of fun, food and festivities. =)
On a personal note, all of my extended family in France are safe!
Take care, hug your friends, tell your family that you love them and pray for the safety of our country.
Carine/Indie
