Photos that should be accessible to everyone:
Thunderstorms were predicted for Sunday morning, and after spending 2 3-hour sessions at the Scottsdale Police Mounted Unit’s “bomb-proofing” clinic on Saturday, I would not have been devastated to awaken to a wet & noisy sky.
No rain. Insufficient clouds to allow me to convince myself that rain was forthcoming. sigh Plus I told myself that Ruby the hot Peruvian chica would be sad if her main studmuffin, Mr. Blondie, didn’t show.
So off we trundled… only to discover that Ruby’s mom wasn’t feeling well enough to hunt. :eek: Fortunately, our MB volunteered to hang back with me because her mare tends to bomb down hills at Mach 7, and we were at a really hilly fixture. Then one of our whippers-in decided to join The Short Bus also, as she was riding a horse who had not hunted since George Morris had hair.
Mr. Blondie was a happy camper with his 2 companions. We did a fair amount of trotting where the terrain permitted, and he even cantered along behind the other 2 as they were trotting for a while - no head shaking or tossing or any evidence of an impending snit at all. We cantered up many short hills. I was very encouraged.
(I had given him Ulcergard and longed him before starting out, because even though we rode for 3 hours on Saturday, it was all at the walk (or stand). Nothing to get the ya-yas out.)
Perhaps ZoE or rivenoak will show up and fill you in on the goings-on with the hounds, who spent a fair amount of time in subdivisions adjacent to the fixture. The day’s sport ended with a 3-way split as huge jacks cavorted through a subdivision. ZoE’s mom (our MB) went back to the hound trailer, loaded up her horse, and drove over to fetch the hounds. My other companion & I sauntered home after dropping her off at the trailer (the hounds had been trailered out to the edge of where we hunt because it’s difficult to get them from where we park to the desert).
And then we had a marvelous breakfast!
Hunting again this Thursday, weather permitting.
