After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time! most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the
Dreamy and I had our second fox hunt on Oct. 20, 2012 at Tuckaway Farm in Lee, NH, which is where the hunt's kennels are located. It was a great day! After such an awesome first hunt, I knew I had to go back! Sadly, I had many Saturday commitments this year, including a rigorous fellowship/graduate class that kept from hunting as much as I would have liked. But I am still happy that I had a few free Saturdays!
They did not have a Hilltop field at this hunt, since it was a smaller group of riders, so I got to ride in Second Field the entire hunt. I was really pleased about this, because I was sort of dreading the idea of being stuck in Hilltop. Dreamy was fantastic the entire hunt and we were very comfortable the entire time. We rode towards the back (there were two horses behind us) so we got to pick and choose our jumps. We ended up jumping everything anyway, including a a three foot+ coop that didn't look that big until we were literally in mid-air. I was like, "Oh crap!" LOL!! Dreamy jumped it fine, but I don't regularly jump her over 2'9" and I try to limit the number of times we jump per week/month. I really don't like overjumping my old girl, but come to think of it, I don't like when anyone jumps ANY horse too much.
Anyway, best quote of the day... We had the stirrup cup right after the line of coops, the last one being that 3 footer. While relaxing, I remarked on the height of it, and a fellow hunter said, "Yeah, but you ride Training level though, right? " implying that three feet is not really that high at that level. (Training level is 3'3").
Uhhhhhhhh...no we ride Beginner Novice I told her! LMAO!! WHOOPS! :-D
They did not have a Hilltop field at this hunt, since it was a smaller group of riders, so I got to ride in Second Field the entire hunt. I was really pleased about this, because I was sort of dreading the idea of being stuck in Hilltop. Dreamy was fantastic the entire hunt and we were very comfortable the entire time. We rode towards the back (there were two horses behind us) so we got to pick and choose our jumps. We ended up jumping everything anyway, including a a three foot+ coop that didn't look that big until we were literally in mid-air. I was like, "Oh crap!" LOL!! Dreamy jumped it fine, but I don't regularly jump her over 2'9" and I try to limit the number of times we jump per week/month. I really don't like overjumping my old girl, but come to think of it, I don't like when anyone jumps ANY horse too much.
Anyway, best quote of the day... We had the stirrup cup right after the line of coops, the last one being that 3 footer. While relaxing, I remarked on the height of it, and a fellow hunter said, "Yeah, but you ride Training level though, right? " implying that three feet is not really that high at that level. (Training level is 3'3").
Uhhhhhhhh...no we ride Beginner Novice I told her! LMAO!! WHOOPS! :-D
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| Tacking up - far left |
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| Headed out to the field |
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| Such a gorgeous day! |
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| One of the first holds - let me eat grass! |
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| Another hold - Dreamy loves watching the hounds work! |
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| Another hold - it was SO MUGGY! You can see the horse's steaming. |
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| Dreamy knows the hounds are over the hill. |
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| Stirrup cup! |
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| End of the hunt! And it is a good thing, because the sun came out and it got hot very quickly! |
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| You KNOW it was a good hunt when your boots look like this afterward! :-D |
The hunts look like so much fun!!! Glad that you guys had a great ride and a nice big jump to finish the day off :)
ReplyDeleteNeat pictures - that looks so fun! Is there any horse sport that you and Dreamy haven't done? :-) She is so versatile!
ReplyDeletePS - I like the bridle with the wider noseband - nice!