YIPEE! We went hunting!
This has been a rough start to the season. All the rain made the ground muddy and riding across the fields would have torn up the land. Then it snowed…(I saw some farmer harvesting his corn on Friday) Respecting our landowners is our number priority. Without them we would be riding around our 2 acres at the kennels.
We had a short window to hunt. The weather was warming up quickly-too quickly. We had about 2-3 hours to hunt before the ground turned to mush.
We hunted from our Arlington country. It’s a new fixture and we’ve only hunted it a few times. It’s big, open, flat, easy riding, no coops and the last time we hunted there we jumped 2 coyotes and had some fun and fast runs.
Steve and Jana Kruger opened up their property for us to park on and to have our meal afterwards
Huntsman Dave, the NHH hounds, professional whipper-in Bre, honorary whips Helen, Sam, Nancy and Jubilee headed into the corn fields. The fields were covered in snow, the corn stalks were peaking through in places. Some places the snow was knee deep and it was fun to canter through the snow. Dashing through the snow The sky was so blue! The sun was shining brightly and there was no wind!
The horses were a tad wild. Winchester (Catherine Dargin’s horse) worked on his tempe changes: buck, canter stride, buck, canter stride….MFH Dave’s horse decided to give rodeo a try and then Cinco (Lana Lynchs steady Eddy) thought the snow was perfect to make a snow angel
We all voted at lunch to give her a ground tester =)
The hounds were on fire! The field was so loud and the hounds never lifted their heads. They were so busy hunting. We didn’t view anything, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
on a personal note, it was my first hunt since my injury June 30. IT WAS SO FUN!!
New members Michelle Tjardes and Laura Allen
After two + hours of hunting, we returned to The Krugers house for a wonderful brunch prepared by Jenny and Rick Wheatley
Sunday was our annual Christmas party at MFH Luke and Sam Matranga’s. Always fun and great food.
Bartender extraordinaire Doug Kozeny (this is his 20th year) Jenny W
It was great to see Keith! He was part of the whoopee wagon on Saturday and came to the party on Sunday. The three broken/healing friends: Beth Van Dyke broke her foot this summer at MAS, she’s off her knee cart (she loaned it to Keith) she’s not riding yet. Keith is still non weight bearing, and me.
Thank you Jenny W, Jana Kruger and Krista Brown for the use of your pictures.
Have a wonderful week =)
Carine NHH Honorary Secretary
Indie