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Hi tullio, and welcome back to VA!
[QUOTE=tullio;4269358]
This is vitally important as his other sporting interest is scuba diving. If I can’t get him good and hooked on foxhunting, I will have to spend many good riding days sitting on the bottom of a local lake, blowing bubbles in cold dark water! :lol: Help![/QUOTE]
I had to laugh (in empathy) at this. I am in central VA, and learned to scuba dive in a cold quarry in the area with so much silt that I could not see the hand in front of my face. Yes, I would consider it an absolute imperative that your husband get hooked on foxhunting, if for no other reason then that you can avoid the chilly fate described above. 
It’s funny that you bring up scuba diving. I was once talking with a fellow who is an avid scuba diver and he pointed out an analogy between foxhunting and scuba diving - that both are preparation-intensive, equipment-intensive, activities that require a degree of training (and often a bit of a drive). I had never thought of this, but if so, it bodes well for your husband as a foxhunter, since he is used to this type of preparation for scuba diving.
Please keep us posted and know that you and your husband are most welcome to the foxhunting community! 
Was gonna suggest Reedy Creek also, easy drive south from Petersburg.
Try Reedy Creek as well is close to you I believe they hunt close to Dinwittee (prob spelled that wrong). Check them out, the last time I went capping with them they were a good group of ppl.
Dandy! Just give me a little heads up to round up the boys for a trail ride/lesson thing. It’ll be fun. I also have an inside with a local farmer’s pack that I could possibly take him with.
Sorry about the long delay everyone - had to do battle with a legion of cardboard boxes which are threatening to take over my home! Unpacking is not nearly as much fun as COTH though!
Again, thank you all so much for the suggestions. We will be getting in touch with some folks and seeing what we can see. I think I am safe from a cold dark lake, at least for the time being! DH is excited about all the possibilities and already wants me to take him to a tack store so he can have his own riding helmet. I think this may be some cosmic reward for all the time I have spent in scuba stores in the last few years. :lol:
Whistlejacket, you are right about the correlations between riding/hunting and diving. Equipment and prep intensive for sure! Both require a good deal of education outside the actual participation in the sport, plus actual training and practice of skills. Actually, to be honest, I really LIKE diving, but am much more of a warm-water-pretty-fish diver. But we really enjoyed getting ready and diving together, and having lots to talk about and remember afterward, and I am hoping riding and hunting will be the same kind of thing. We had some really super friends in our dive club in TX and enjoyed the community aspect and service projects that we all worked on together, too.
Anyway, I better get back to the unpacking. DH has his own paddock boots and half chaps from his days with the VMI mounted colorguard and he is anxious for me to find them. Again thank you all - hopefully we will get to meet many of you in our adventures to come!
Don’t despair. In the dog days of July and August, there’s always wreck diving (incl U-boats) off Hatterus.
Don’t despair. In the dog days of July and August, there’s always wreck diving (incl U-boats) off Hatterus.
Bob Kane… SHHH! Let the foxhunting bug take hold before reminding him that Hatteras is such a short, easy drive away. :lol: (We both love it there! Who wouldn’t?!)
Might I also suggest that he read all of Rita Mae Brown’s books. She is a mystery writer and her main character is the Master. Anyway, she spends more time writing about the hunt and very little about the mystery. But you do learn a LOT about etiquette, history, etc about fox hunting and it is a fun easy read.
So my husband is also getting hot about fox hunting as his way to participate in the equestrian sports. So I’ve been buying some of the more interesting books and then Ms. Brown’s books for him to read. As soon as we get moved on to our new farm, we’re off to find him the perfect fox hunting horse too. We’ll have too hook up and see how our guys do after their first hunt!!!
NCDressage, too funny. I have many of Rita Mae Brown’s books and already recommended them to him. Of course, they are packed right now! But I think he will enjoy them and of course they contain lots of hunting info. I thought they would give him more of an idea of how it all works, what staff members do, etc. Good idea!
Good luck with your horse hunt… we are not quite to that stage yet but hopefully in a little while…
I have a bit in common with the OP…My husband loves diving as well. He also likes flying, but that is a whole nother story (we are definitely going to go broke). I just started fox-hunting two years ago, brought my husband out once last year, and now he wants to start hunting twice a week. However, wise man that he is, knows he needs a bit of practice or lessons…which I won’t instruct him, because I am not a professional, and would like to continue staying married to him. We were trail riding last week and he jumped a couple of logs, I thought he looked pretty good. However, he told me he needs jumping lessons before he goes out on any hunt with jumps, I guess his body hit the pommel in a very uncomfortable way. Anyhooo, back to my point…are there any programs taught by men for men for foxhunting? We are on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but probably could make a weekend at Hunters Rest. Any suggestions? We do have a male eventing trainer, but he is usually busy on the weekends when my husband would be available for lessons.
I am so happy he wants to ride, but it also means I have to give up my favorite horse and start another.
Military Hunting
Please check your PM’s.
I sent you one with lots of info on foxhunting for Army officers.
[QUOTE=tullio;4275463]
I have many of Rita Mae Brown’s books and already recommended them to him. [/QUOTE]
Don’t you know Rita Mae Brown is right down the road from you? Why not cap with her hunt - she’s got basset hounds, too! No need for horses. Just good walking shoes and a sense of humor.
No need to pinch yourself, you’re not dreaming. Your in heaven - hounds, horses and hunting everywhere.
And best of all, you don’t have to deal with sharks. Well… maybe some land sharks but no real ones like you’d see out scuba diving.
Ooooo - and look - a GI posted about hunting in uniform. It would be so nice to see a servicemember out hunting in his mounted uniform.
Military Hunting
One of the interesting things about foxhunting is that the hunts themselves are usually old; some of them are VERY old. The older ones were founded back in the day when many riders were military, as horses used to be central to our business. Many of the hunts have by-laws which say something like “Serving officers may ride in uniform” or words to that effect. The advantage here is that you don’t have to go out and spend a wad of cash on foxhunting habit.
What I do for formal hunting is to wear my standard Army dress blue jacket, the one with the golden shoulder boards for rank, with appropriate service ribbons and awards, a white shirt, four-in-hand tie, and a pair of Army dress blue trousers that have been tailored as riding britches. These are the same pants worn by the Army’s Old Guard Caisson Platoon at Fort Meyer. They are the lighter color blue with the gold stripe down the seam, just like the garrison version. Combine these britches with a pair of black dress boots and there you have it: a formal riding habit on the cheap.
This way, you don’t need to buy all the different color pants the various hunts want people to wear, a blue or black melton wool coat and the ratcatcher shirt and stock tie. It saves a wad.
Of course, you should always check with the club secretary or Huntmaster before you turn out like this, but I have never had anyone tell me no. Most of the time, people ohh and ahh over the uniform, and the color makes a nice change from the standard club turn-out. And, if I might add, it looks quite dashing. You look like a cavalryman riding out of the Civil War (our Army uniform colors have not changed since that time).
The only time I have anyone say anything that could even be remotely considered negative was when a very old Virginia gentleman observed that I was “Wearing the wrong uniform” for the Commonwealth of Virginia. What he meant of course was that I should have been wearing the grey and the red of the Confederacy. This comment came while away from the hunt field, however, so I’m not sure it counts!
JSwan, I totally respect your authority, but I must disagree. WE ARE IN HEAVEN!!! 
Now I am working on convincing him to at least consider hunting in the uniform at some future date. I think that would look rather dashing. He likes to draw a clear line between Army (work) and everything else (play) - so we’ll see how it goes.
I would faint (swoon) if a man was hunting in full military dress. Beyond attractive. Way beyond.
:o)
How fun! Sounds like your DH has a little riding experience already. I think he may find it very easy to learn to ride sufficiently for hunting. My own DH got into riding two years ago, and seemed to have a natural ability. He did a hunterpace -including a couple jumps - after just five months of self-taught riding! I’d imagine a guy who is athletic, fearless and takes direction well will learn to ride pretty well in a short amount of time!
me again!
Oh Hunters Rest would faint & swoon at ANY MAN out hunting for crying out loud!!! :winkgrin::lol::lol::lol::lol:
But yes I do loves a man in uniform too. He don’t have to be huntin"!!!
But if he did…well…all the better!
[QUOTE=tullio;4276368]
He likes to draw a clear line between Army (work) and everything else (play) - so we’ll see how it goes.[/QUOTE]
Ahhh - but just talk to him about all the military traditions that are so closely associated with foxhunting.
General Patton foxhunted, ya know. Old Blood and Guts Himself. You know those three buckle brown boots? Part of the mounted uniform from the WWI era.
Cavalry/military and foxhunting are like peas and carrots.
There are a lot of servicemembers that hunt and I don’t know why a uniform isn’t worn more often. Perhaps it’s just not very practical when it gets very cold out or something? Dunno. I don’t think each branch has a mounted uniform though. Definitely Army.
I think folks with Ft. Leavenworth hunt in uniform sometimes but maybe some of them post/lurk here and could tell you for sure. A guy I hunt with was stationed out there and wore his, but for some reason he doesn’t here.
It’s still worn in competition, especially overseas. It’s very very very very appropriate and customary and absolutely correct.
I would simply get a case of the vapors if I saw a gentleman wearing his uniform. :lol: You see, he really needs to wear it because that can be our excuse when we hit the dirt. We were just overcome. This is the South, ya know. We don’t get hot flashes, we get the vapors.
