oooohhhhhhhh, ladies…
COTH hunt this weekend? There’s no way I can be there…just about to get the farmette under control but not a cabbage leaf to spare. I soooooooo wish I could be with you all, HP’s!!! Meanwhile, I offer the following as my excuse:
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f296/cocreate/?action=view¤t=BonnieWhiskeyMe2.jpg
The new girl, and the old soldier in the background.
Love and good hunting to all the princesses - I’ll see you in the spring. 
Hispar boots are sold by eHimalays through Amazon, their own site and on eBay.
I have two pair of their field boots and love them - one is BROWN and I swooned when I got them, as it is so nice to have found off the rack brown boots in a plus size.
D@mn COTh, ate my response.
I am in near tears with envy.
Hope all y’all have too much fun this weekend!
If I start saving pennies now, I hope to make the 2012 edition. There will be a 2012 edition, won’t there?
If it helps in the planning, I’ll even bellydance for the group one night. Or not…if you think that’s more tempting an offer! :eek::lol:
Anyone interested in hunting (with us or without us) really needs to email me or any other hunt member. It sincerely isn’t expensive to do as a guest. Truly. The capping fee may seem steep, but, honestly, if you can take any active vacation anywhere in the world, domestic or international, and get away with 100 a day, that’s very reasonable and very affordable. Hunting falls right in line with that – including everything, once you work the math.
I HAD A VIEWING!!!
So, for the second time in a month, I saw a fox. In ARLINGTON. I think that’s a damn good sign for this weekend! :D:D:D:D
Rivenoak
Rivenoak,
I especially want you to come! After the TLC you generously gave my grad school seeking, horse loving son, You get the best I can conjure up.
We ate at Ted’s Hot Dogs last night, which my son always thinks of as “the place we took Mason.” Hoping he is well & send him our hellos.
You ladies have a super fantastic time! I want all kinds of reports.
I see it now!!
Hmmmm…I has a mental picture in my mind…A buncha tiara’d Hunting Princesses belly dancing around the house at Wateryglens saturday night!!!
Yep! That’s the ticket! Loosen up girls…:eek: we’re gonna have some fun!
and wouldn’t THAT be a picture! Thanks Rivenoak for the inspiration! Dodge a cholla for me!! :winkgrin: Kiss a beagle too!!
SOMEBODY bring a camera so we can photojournal this Hunting Princess weekend for cryin’ out loud!! We ARE the cutest things in our tiara’s ya know!
oh…and don’t I look good in that blue bikini there to the right …in the adds?!!
I can see it now!
hmmmm…I have a mental image of a buncha tiara wearing Hunting Princesses belly dancing around Wateryglens living room on sat. night…somebody bring a camera…we’re gonna need it!!
Thanks for the inspiration Rivenoak!!
Guess we can cancel the poker game I’d planned…:winkgrin:
The Hunting Princess weekend begins tonight! Dinner at Black Bear Bistro!
Hunters rest tomorrow night. Wateryglens Sat night…oh yeah and some horses & hunting fit in there somewhere too! :winkgrin::yes:
And if you’re not a first timer; please bring your previously awarded tiara to wear. Recycle! We’re running short!
[QUOTE=wateryglen;5949006]
hmmmm…I have a mental image of a buncha tiara wearing Hunting Princesses belly dancing around Wateryglens living room on sat. night…somebody bring a camera…we’re gonna need it!!
Thanks for the inspiration Rivenoak!!
Guess we can cancel the poker game I’d planned…:winkgrin:
The Hunting Princess weekend begins tonight! Dinner at Black Bear Bistro!
Hunters rest tomorrow night. Wateryglens Sat night…oh yeah and some horses & hunting fit in there somewhere too! :winkgrin::yes:
And if you’re not a first timer; please bring your previously awarded tiara to wear. Recycle! We’re running short![/QUOTE]
Mine broke. I’ll bring my headress!
Meet report!
First gathering of the NOV 2011 Hunting Princess Tour was last night at a restaurant in Warrenton. 10 for dinner. Beer/wine/ribs (complete with finger licking!;)) & white choc. mouse!
2 ladies from Pennsylvania, 1 from Caleefornya, 1 from Massachusetts and halfway thru dinner our dear Mr & Mrs Hinderella arrived all the way from Connecticut! How cool is that!! Hindy is here for her 4th time; she’s addicted! :uhoh: But she might not come back once she tastes my cooking!? We local girls caught up with our gossip, scared the newbies with hunting & related stories, talked about dieting (WHY do women do that?!!) and health issues of both us & our horses. We discovered horses are the same…everywhere!!
I’m home cleaning and waiting for Manydogs to arrive. The others went trailriding/practicing this morning. Cold sunny day but the winds are high & gusty…I bet they are frisky…the horses I mean!! :winkgrin: Another gathering for food, mirth & refreshing beverrages this evening at Huntersrest. STay tuned!
Weather gonna be good. Cold 30’s at night and almost 60 daytime highs. Good scenting imho!!
wooooooo hoooooooo!!
God I hope we have enough tiara’s!
Long live the Hunting Princesses!!
Long live the Hunting Princesses!!
Long live the Hunting Princesses!!
Raises glass of port and takes a sip.
May they ride forever more!!
Thanks so much for the update, it helps (maybe):lol:
Bleary eyed report!
So lets see…fri the HPs all rode together. Then fri night the HP’s gathered at Huntersrest for dinner & refreshing beverages! Followed by a trying on and drooling over each others meltons! A bit of a fashion show! But the highlight was surely the DVD’s that HR showed. One is the classic Melvin Poe dvd from when he was huntsman at Orange County Hunt. The other was this absolutely INSANE dvd of the Limerick Hunt in Ireland. Holy crap! With lots of bank & ditches jumping, spills, chills, falls, & near misses! Horses & riders underwater! Mud! Rain! It surely scared the hell outa the newbies amongst us that night! Kinda like…so here’s one end of the foxhunting spectrum. !!
Sat was beautiful but after the frost burnt off in the bright sun; the scenting went south as the wind did. So it was a slow hunting day and frustrating. Such is the nature of the sport. But the Hunting Princess were all smiling & happy and maybe even grateful it was a slow day. 22 in the 3rd flight led by HR. 15-20 in each of the other 2 flights. Coupla crash & burns. One to the hospital even! NO HP injuries of course! WG & 2 others car followed. Lotsa photos taken! But the HP’s were spot on well turned out thanks to HR’s tireless efforts and girl scout troop handling skills! The day warmed nicely and we were able to sit out in the sun on the porch and gab & eat at the breakfast there afterwards. I’ll let the others elaborate on their experiences.
Then at 6 the HP’s & their escorts arrived at Wateryglens for more food & the special presentation of the tiara’s ceremony to the first timers & outa town guests. Princess Whicker & I got to wear the red light blinking tiara’s and I waved the magic wand proclaiming the HP’s were hereby crowned…& stuff!! :uhoh: Wine flowed; even some blackberry wine! WG is bleary eyed this morning and not remembering a lot of details as she was cooking/prepping frantically. Many, many thanks to ManyDogs for helping me! She stayed here with me…big mistake as I put her to work! But she came, she stayed, she drank the kool aid and she’ll be back! :winkgrin:
And we are waiting to hear about Mr. Hinderella who left last evening before dinner to go to the ER with an allergic reaction of some sort…Maybe he was allergic to a buncha excited women all talking at once! One gentleman observer was heard to say…“They sounded like a buncha chickens in a henhouse!” Thank god the men chatted in the other room together and didn’t bother us!! ;):yes:
This morning we’re going trail riding this morning then those still standing are going foot hunting this afternoon with the Ashland Bassets at a Casanova Hunt fixture. Tailgate to follow…me thinks the HP’s are gonna need bigger horses if we keep this up.
Thats’ it for now…need…more…coffee…but an observation…how cool is it that a buncha strangers can get together and do this? Making friends I guess is easy when we share the same passions ay?! God I loves this sport!:yes: And I really love our peeps!! wooooo hooooo!
HUNTING PRINCESSES RULE! and there’s more of us everyday!! Be afraid!!
Thanks WG, I have refreshed this page 100 times, you made me feel like I was there, sorry for the allergy reaction,
I hope he is better now, I had NO allergies while in Virginia, and some other issues disappeared permanently, if they come back seems to me a plane ticket is in order:)
(I realize Mr H has completely different allergies)
Zzzzz.
Wonderful time
To all HPs, and Hunter’s Rest - Thank you all for helping make Saturday a most memorable day. Also big thanks goes out to my horse Brook for safely carrying me over hill and dale. Betsy please give him an extra carrot. It was so nice to meet new faces, and to see others again. Wateryglen - I love your stories! HPs ROCK! :yes:
Finally in front of a computer with access long enough to sit down and type something…
Before I say anything else, I want to say a giant huge enormous thank you to our hosts and others who were so welcoming. Hunter’s Rest, every time I get the opportunity to stay and ride with you I learn so much and have such a great time. Wonderful horses, as usual, and of course, I was particularly honored to ride such an amazing guy. wateryglen, I’m so sorry that I missed the post-hunt dinner at your house (stupid work…messing with my plans) and basseting. It’s something that I’d truly love to see.
So, this is the report from my perspective. This was my very first hunting experience and it was amazing. Truly truly amazing.
I arrived thursday just in time to get ready for our hack out and was pleased to meet Cammie, SonnysMom (and her gorgeous horse) and another gal (who doesn’t have a handle) at Hunter’s Rest. It was a beautiful day for a hack, but unfortunately my horse wrenched a shoe on our first trot and we had to go back. I did, however, discover that I can still mount from the ground (if rather ungracefully). I’m sure Cammie or Sonny’sMom can fill you in on the rest of the hack experience. Either before we set off or after we got back, I had the pleasure of meeting whicker.
Thursday night we headed into Warrenton for dinner, which was positively wonderful (and the food was delicious!). It was amazing to me to see so many strong horsewomen in one place. The gossip was delightful, and the conversation merry. I got to meet the infamous and delightful JSwan in person, as well as Hinderella and Mr. Hinderella, whicker, two someone elses whose handles I cannot remember (forgive me please, terrible with names and more terrible still with handles), and of course, wateryglen. I learned so much from wateryglen and whicker during dinner - I will be getting a lyme titre done and definitely getting whicker’s wonderful osteopath to look at my guy.
On Friday we got up bright and early for breakfast - farm fresh eggs, bacon and coffee. After my horse’s shoe was replaced, we mounted up and had our lesson with Hunter’s Rest. Betsy taught us first about the different positions that we should and could use for cantering/galloping/controlling her horses in the field, as well as some balancing exercises and ways of resting The half-bridged rein plus the knuckles on the neck was useful for many of us. We learned how to trot downhills (something that I’ve discovered that I really suck ridiculously badly at), do a turn on the haunches (in case we had to reverse on a tight trail, for instance), the proper technique for reversing in the field, an exercise to practice to learn how to keep our horses calm when others are cantering away from us, crossing mud and creeks, maintaining our balance while cantering up a steep hill and of course, we jumped a few cross-rails. I have to give giant kudos to my patient horse who put up with me learning where his buttons were, jumping in a heap and getting him to the fence poorly, and we won’t even mention how kind he was to me trying to trot down the hill.
We then went into town and had a delightful time eating and shopping. I was worried that I’d spent a titch too much money by scoring a nice pair of half-chaps on clearance at the Tack Box, a beautiful mid-weight pytchley coat (three buttonholes, of course), white hunting shirt and stock tie at the Middleburg Tack Exchange, and of course…the infamous buttons.
Luckily when I got home my husband took that all in stride and proclaimed that I had got such a good deal on the coat and that the buttons are a wonderful conversation piece. I was a bit worried, but apparently he wants to encourage the habit.
We returned to Hunter’s Rest to help to bathe horses and ready anything that we could to help Betsy prepare for the hunt on Saturday. During the bathing I got to meet the delightful gjp. After everyone became presentable again, we had a lovely time watching the Melvin Poe documentary (what was that titled? I’d love to find it and purchase a copy so that I can watch it obsessively at home) and then of course the hunting video of the Limerick County hounds. Watching that was both beautiful and scary all at the same time! Feeling the effects of both the wine, the full stomach and the wonderful rides to that point, though, it was more enjoyable than terrifying. 00Pisces and manydogs joined us at that point and we had a full house!
At dinner we had delightful conversation full of stories of roosters and deer jumping on cars. Then there was a moment that will stick with me for a very long time - under the soft glow of the candles and with the angels singing on the stereo, in the company of newly found friends, Hunter’s Rest posited that this, indeed might have been heaven. I believe it very well was.
More to be continued - afraid I’m going to lose this post!
Went to bed eagerly anticipating the morning’s hunt. I swear I checked all of my clothes fourteen times before I finally was able to hit the pillow and sleep. I was filled with a nervous excitement that I hadn’t felt in years, and of course, as with all horse sports, the more nervous you are, the more poorly things tend to go, so then I was meta-nervous about my nerves. Phew!
Saturday morning brought a bustle of activity as everyone got ready for the morning’s hunt. The field was frosty but the sun bright and ready to burn it off readily. People began to arrive with trucks and trailers, and we did last minute spot-checks, learned to tie our stock ties properly, and tacked up. Remembering the warning from wateryglen the night before (a story that I may never forget) we all made sure we were suitably “emptied” and then into the saddle we all went.
I have to admit that it is at this point that my nerves, which had been suitably dealt with to this point, began to take over so much of the beginning of the hunt is a bit of a blur for me.
The Master arrived with the hounds while our group was positioned in front of the house for our picture. That as an amazing moment and one that will be forever etched into my brain. I felt my eyes tear up and wished that I had brought a tissue - I am not generally a cryer (to date, only two things are surefire to make me cry - one is the sound of pounding hooves, the second is the stupid “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” song…don’t ask…I’m not sure) but I’ve got to add a third, the arrival of the hounds. After greetings were exchanged and announcements were made, we were off. We all walked calmly to a large field and separated into our three fields to wait for the Master to cast the hounds. That was the second time my eyes welled up (note to self, bring hanky next time). It was amazing to see the two fields before us follow quickly, and then it was our turn, and we were on the move.
I spent much of the early part of the hunt (as I mentioned) worried about the personal space of my horse, worried about committing some faux pas, worried that I wasn’t fit enough, worried that I was going to fall off and then just generally being worried about being worried.
Once we went down the big hill, I was forced to trust my horse. While the big hill was quite scary, it was also probably the best possible thing to have to do, as it forced me to quit worrying and trying to micromanage. I remember vividly the turning point when we got to another hill, we had gotten behind a bit which necessitated a big gallop up the next hill after going around the tree. At that point I finally decided that it was probably best if I just trusted the damn horse, bridged my reins, partially grabbed mane and flew up the hill. From that point on, the hunt became thoroughly enjoyable.
After a good bit more riding, a viewing of some amazingly gorgeous Lusitano horses and a few checks, Betsy asked us if we wanted to pop over a small coop. I knew that Betsy wouldn’t let me do it if she thought I couldn’t, and to boot I knew that she valued the horse I was riding too much to let me biff it terribly so I was given the confidence to go ahead and say yes (only moments later I questioned my sanity in making that decision). When I could finally see the coop, the horse in front of me had already gone and although it was indeed a small coop as coops go, after not having jumped anything but cross rails in four years it looked a bit like a huge stadium fence. Once again, I put my faith in Betsy’s wonderful horse, grabbed mane, was pleased that I saw a good distance about 6 strides out, and I believe I let out a war whoop upon landing (or at least a loud YESSSSSSS!). Persi jumped amazingly well and I felt like I was 10 feet tall. I believe whicker also had a great fence (I’m sure the rest of y’all did too, but I didn’t really get to see anyone else jump).
After returning to the stables, we had a lovely breakfast (and beer) and it was so neat to see everyone in their tweed jackets. The sun was shining bright and I think we were all pleased to have had such a lovely day. Though I understand it to be a slow day (thanks for bursting my bubble, wateryglen, if that’s a SLOW day then I’m in trouble) it was still a magnificent experience and the endorphin rush that I was bathing in while standing on Betsy’s porch, enjoying a cold beer and some great conversation was amazing.
I had to leave directly after that to come home, so someone else will have to take the rest of the report from here, but I do have to say that as my first experience hunting…it was truly truly truly amazing. I can see why people would rearrange their lives to be able to do it - and I’m currently plotting how to get my guy at home ready so that he’ll be great in the field. Everyone was SO welcoming, and though I internally worried about committing some grand faux pas, it didn’t feel at all like I was being judged by anyone. I had only been riding regularly again for about a month before I went so I was just borderline on the “not quite in shape enough” edge, so though I was feeling like I was just getting the hang of this moving fast in company thing, my body is thanking me for walking home when we did. I am sore in places that I wasn’t sure I ever would be.
I think the thing that I’d like to be sure to share more than anything else is that I was truly humbled and awed to be in the presence of so many great women, great horses, and to be able to participate in such a wonderful sport. I cannot begin to express my gratitude enough for the welcome that we (the hunting princesses) received. I am thankful for the opportunity that Betsy and Master Forbush provided. I am thankful for Betsy’s instruction and her kindness in letting me ride such an amazing animal.
If there are those of you reading this thread who have not participated yet I will tell you that you don’t have to be a great rider to come. You don’t have to be tremendously in shape (though a titch more than I was would have been useful), you don’t have to know everything there is to know about hunting and you don’t have to be a super-confident rider. The resident Hunting Princesses will take care of you and give you the confidence that you need to get out there. Betsy and her horses are amazing.
I’ll stop babbling now (maybe), but I just want to say again to all the resident HPs, our hosts, the wonderful coth-ers that I met…thank you. This weekend meant the world to me and I hope to repeat it again!
When they die, foxhunters proceed directly to hell.
For they have had their heaven on earth.
: )
Indeed.
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