updated 3rd March 2004 C.E.

It may be March, and we may be pushing the seasons just a bit, but we are proving the groundhog was wrong and that Spring is already here. The bulbs are starting their annual rise above ground, the last piles of dirty old snow are now only found in the deeply shaded recesses and even they are rapidly disappearing as the temperatures soar into the 60s' and new grass is found springing up in bright bits of green everywhere. And just today I heard the spring peepers in full song, peeping their little froggy hearts out with unrequited joy that the warmer days are here!

The release of the ground from ice and snow has resulted in the resumption of foxhunting in our Northern Virginia area. However, shoe caulks and studs are very much needed since the ground is still slick and wet. Nonetheless, it is wonderful to be riding cross country again with the hounds after the hiatus of winter.

Shelly with the MOC Beagles.

Shelly had kept up a schedule of regularly walking out the Middleburg/Orange County Beagles during the icy snowy month of February, and her work in educating the young entries to the pack -- and us "walking whips" that volunteered to help -- paid off in dividends the past two weeks when the countryside terrain was finally good enough to ride over, and once again the sound of the huntman's horn was floating over the fields and byways.

Maggie, Karen and I trailered over to the MOC meet on the 22^nd of February just above the kennels at Coosaw. The temps were perfect in the 40's, the scent was very good, and the hounds found shortly after in the woods for a merry, fast chase through the countryside, their voices melodious and rich, leading the galloping field onward until the fox finally went to ground in his den at the old ruins.

I had brought my camera along for the ride and got some wonderful shots of the hounds and field whenever we came to a check. Somehow, I'm going to have to figure out a helmet-cam so that I can take photos at a gallop!

Rocky and I at a check. Photo by Maggie.

We knew that the temps would be in the mid-60's come next Sunday on "Leap Day" (29^th Feb), so the day before the meet Karen's barn turned into a beauty parlor with horse clippers buzzing up a storm. Rocky, Woods, and Maggie's horse, Native, all got re-clipped. I gave Rocky a toe-to-ear clip to remove his wooly-bear coat, and I'm sure he was grateful when we arrived at the meet at Findings Farm for the 1PM meet as the temps were already in the 60's.

(Later that evening I bumped into a gentleman on his way back to PA who had been down in Southern Pines, NC for some hunting and running in the point-to-points, and he told me, with utter disgust, the terrible snowstorm down there had ruined the whole weekend -- both point-to-points and all the hunts were cancelled, and everyone down there was utterly bored and quite miffed to kept hearing from friends up here that our hunting was going great guns! He was so happy to finally leave the snow and icy of the south, and head to the warmth and sunshine of the north!!)

Good Horsie! Tess on Welsh Pony "Laddie" petting her Mom's Thoroughbred foxhunter "Grayland Woods"

There were lots of kids in attendance with their parents, many in second flight. Melvin Poe set off with the MOC Beagles into the woods to the south of Findings, and after a few minutes of relaxed hacking, the hounds suddenly struck a line and were off like blazes. Maggie, Karen and her daughter Tess, and I stayed in the second flight (hilltoppers) this time (due to the slippery ground), trotting and galloping over fields and down roads to keep within sight of the first flight field. But the hounds were running hard and the fox traversed a great loop back to the trailers and then turned west across the fields. Both fields merged at one point on the driveway of a farm at a closed gated cattle field, listening hard for the hounds. As one group we turned and trotted swiftly up the drive and into the adjoining fields where we finally checked, the hounds lost to both sight and sound. My horse, Rocky, was glad for the breather -- we had been going at a pretty fast pace but even so were unable to keep up with the hounds. (In talking to one of the staff I found out later that the hounds had run hard on the heels of the fox to Zulla Road and then back again, finally putting the fox to ground only yards away from where they first struck the line!

When we finally heard the pack accounting for their quarry, we arrived to find two of the hounds were in the hole with the fox, the rest of the hounds standing guard at the entrance.

Hounds were gathered and off we went again back into the woods where there were still traces of snow left from the storms a few weeks prior. The hounds found again, but the hilltoppers lost view of the regular field when we reached a gate that refused to open. We trotted to another gate and were swiftly on our way, the far behind. Adrian, our field master, quickly took us an alternate route and, much to our surprise, we ended up at one point trotting down one of the two hard topped main roads traversing the Orange County hunt country. Not a problem for those with borium or aluminum shoes, but definitely a concern for those with steel shoes. Half our field fell behind but there was no time to recoup, and we were hard pressed to keep up. I was having doubts whether Adrian would be able to find the main field, when we topped a rise… and there they were! Whew!

Heading back home.

Fully half of both fields were gone -- either left behind or deciding to call it a day and head back to the trailers. There were only the four of us in the second flight, plus Patty on her lovely gray Irish horse, and our field master Adrian. Only a handful remained in the first flight, but we were still all quite ready as Melvin cast the hounds once again, but the final half-hour gave us no foxes that wanted to play, and we finally turned our noses towards home.

The tailgate afterwards was enough to kill anyone's diet -- but only if you ignored the veggies and went straight for the chocolate chip cookies. A moment to chat about the day's event and visit with friends, and then we loaded the horses onto the trailer and headed home.

It was the perfect closing to the cold month of February … and the perfect opening to herald the warmer days of March. My ponies are shedding fur like a cheap coat, and it's time to break out the shedding blade and go to work….

MOC Whip - Fred (Owner of Findings Farm)

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Happiness is...being featured in a new book on horses! Several of the Auriga Farm ponies are in a new book by Bruce Smart, former Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade and a neighbor who has a beautiful estate "Trappe Hill" over at the foothill of the Blue Ridge in Piedmont Hunt country. The book is a delightful amalgamation of conversations, chats, interviews, and personal stories of many wonderful people involved in the myriad of horse sports that make up the Northern Virginia equestrian community.

The 470 page, full color book, is entitled "A Community of the Horse - Partnerships". Here is the jacket cover forward:

For millennia the horse has been an essential partner in the development of human civilization -- in agriculture, in transport, in war, and now increasingly in sport. Nowhere has this horse-human partnership been more fully developed than in northern Virginia, the land of George Washington, General J.E.B. Stuart, Colonel John Mosby -- and Secretariat.

This lovely area is the cradle of American foxhunting, the home of man -- perhaps most -- of the national's Olympic riders, the site of its oldest horse show, and the sponsor of more steeplechase races than any other state. Whether the "horseman" is a five year old girl, a Master of Foxhounds, a dressage or driving enthusiast, a polo player, or the owner of a "backyard" pleasure horse, the emotional relationship between person and horse is fascinating, complex, and deeply satisfying to both.

This book will take you into that relationship and into the stables, the homes, the saddles, the minds, and the society of the horse people of Northern Virginia. In reading it you will experience the triumphs, the tragedies and the simple joy of association with horses, and of being part of a Community of the Horse, knitted together by a shared love and reverence for that beautiful, noble, and often mysterious animal.

Unlike books that herald and worship only the high and mighty horse and rider -- a level which few of us will ever obtain -- this book is delightfully down-to-earth, chatty, with lots of gorgeous full color photos, filled with personal (and some really hilarous!) stories from great equestrians... and tons of fun to read. You almost feel as if you are a guest visiting the foxhunters at a meet, or the driving enthusiast's carriage collection, or the polo player's stable, or a steeplechase owner's tailgate picnic at the rail of the hurtle races, or standing ringside at the hunter/jumper shows, or cheering on a pony clubber as they successfully compete to become the best of the rising generation of equestrians.

This is one of those timeless books that you can pick up again and again to read and enjoy. Right now Bruce is selling it personally directly -- Trappe Hill Farm, 20561 Trappe Road, Upperville, VA 20184. 470 pages. $75 plus $6 shipping and handling (US)

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