Ok guys, How do I look?? (Hunting turnout and such..)

[gothedistance]

xctrygirl -

Check out this - the latest episode on Dressing for the Hunt. Answers all your questions nicely.

All horse sports (as JS mentioned) have a “uniform” – WP, Sidesaddle, Saddleseat, Driving, Dressage, hunter/jumpers, etc, etc. I think eventing, as one of the youngest equine sports, is 2nd only to endurance as the most non-regulated in attire (at least in their x-country phase).

Foxhunting, as one of the oldest equine sport (next to driving and dressage) has a longer history behind it, and has very good reasons for the apparel requirements. For one: those wonderful heavy wool Meltons are used not only to keep the rider warm, but in an emergency can be used as a blanket on a downed rider to keep the injured person warm. Those stock ties act as slings for broken or damaged body parts on horses and humans – the stark white can be seen for a distance and acts as a beacon to announce that someone (or some horse) is injured and in need of aid - even moresso if red blood is soaking through. Brown gloves don’t show dirt from grabbing gates, assisting a stuck hound, or wiping mud off one’s coat after a hard, fast run - hence, they will retain a “clean” look from start to finish.

For two: a field of black coats and tan breeches and saddle pads that fit the saddle and don’t show an excess of white or color create a unit that blends into the background and isn’t a distraction for the staff or onlookers, or the fox (which can see contrasting hues and some colors). That’s why Masters will keep their fields tightly together – to become invisible, as well as position the riders where they can enjoy the hounds without being a disturbance. You’re not out there to be noticed – only those awarded the right to wear a red coat have that distinction, and the responsibility that goes along with it.

You are hunting in Unionville in a time honored hunt. While leeway is always given to those capping who are not members of a hunt, and for grooms, it behooves you (even as a groom) to dress the part as tradition calls for (as was posted previously) if you want your career to be taken seriously and if hunting - even on an every-now-and-then basis - is part of your job.

Put on your typical eventing clothes and eventing tack when you event. Put on traditional hunting clothes and hunting tack when you hunt.

[Tantivy1]

[QUOTE=LookinSouth;3021717]
…This doesn’t mean fancy expensive equipment and tack, it just means neat and clean. Basically we ride in what we have that suits the bill for now. Our hunt is more concerned about us coming out to hunt than having a Melton or brown gloves. That does not mean leave turnout to the wayside however…if next season I decide to join the hunt, hunt regularly and have it be my sport of choice I will make every effort to acquire the proper attire. [/QUOTE]

Your attitude is PRICELESS as is your common sense!

[Ashby]

[quote=J I was insulted by two ladies whom I’ve never seen since. Since my horse was green, I had a green ribbon in his tail. Just a little one. One comment was, “They’ll let anything in the field these days,” and another was, (said with a snicker), "You should be wearing a green ribbon too) or some such nonsense.

Odd thing was - we were just standing there waiting for the benediction. Horse was standing quietly. He was braided, sparkling clean, and I just had a very simple riding habit on. No way anyone could have dinged me. They must have been guests from some other hunt - I have never seen them again.

Guess some hunts do allow jackasses - the two-legged kind!:lol:

Happy Hunting!
[/quote]

Interesting. It’s been my experience that the people who are the worst snobs about horses, appointments, attire, etc. are those who are new to hunting and are trying hard to prove how upscale they are. New money, usually. The people who have been doing it for awhile, are skilled horsemen/women, and genuinely care about hound work are warm and welcoming. In general.

[Beverley]

Alrighty then, more show and tell

If you can find my page on chronicleofmyhorse.com (my name there is my full name, Beverley Heffernan), and click on my photos, and find an album named Battle Mountain (although it appears the 60-odd photos are also with all my other photos- uploaded pics late last night and was too tired to mess with it much), you will find photos from this past weekend’s joint meet between the Red Rock Hounds of Reno, NV and the Blu Pine Hunt of Battle Mountain, NV. I promise I’ll put up a report later, and try to organize the pics too, but meanwhile you can amuse yourselves on the attire and turnout front. Among other items:

1. You’ll find a few pics of me on my 5 yo dun appendix qh, his first hunting experience. If you look carefullllly…you might just find some oddities that are not the norm back east! Which is not to say I wouldn’t show up with them in Virginia if the spirit moved!
2. You will see that Red Rock members and staff and self dressed formally, except for one new Red Rock member hunting in a western saddle. You will see that Blu Pine members and staff dressed informally. Each Master is the final say on turnout for his/her hunt! Nobody had heartburn over anybody else’s turnout!
3. A propos of the other thread on hunting bridles, you will see my dun horse sporting his brand spanking new Smith Worthington bridle, they were kind enough to get it to me just in time for the trip! I am quite pleased with the bridle’s quality and price! I do not advocate using a brand new bridle for the first time when one is hunting, breaking in beforehand is a good thing, but it worked for me. Except the horse did find it a bit itchy, being used to a one-eared western bridle!
4. Not attire related, but on the subject of breeds of hunting horses, the big brown mare packing the 7 yo boy is a keeper. She is half warmblood, one-quarter saddlebred, one-quarter Arab, and she packed that young lad flawlessly for over five hours, including a bit of whipping in. Other horses in the field included tb’s, quarter horses, Arabs, and a Tennessee Walker- and a darling chestnut pony that I want to steal along with the aforementioned brown mare.

Happy hunting…

[Risk-Averse_Rider]

@SEPowell;3021222

Wow! Have a great time. Is that THE GRAND CANYON? I won’t even go down that on a mule!

Erm… we’re not going to be hunting in the Grand Canyon… (now THAT would be a trip [as it were]).

That’s the name of one of the 2 hunts based in Flagstaff, AZ (the other being the High Country Hounds).

[rivenoak]

Two items.

GLOVES.
One good thing about brown gloves: little to no dye to stain one’s hands.

Probable reason for no black gloves in the field: would’ve been worn for mourning & one wouldn’t (shouldn’t??) have been hunting while in mourning.

T-SHIRTS.
Why I don’t like t-shirts in the field: beside them being casual? Not safe for one’s skin. See Risk-Averse Rider’s posts with photos of our territory, which contains many sharp, poky bits of flora. And geology. A t-shirt offers very little protection, especially when it’s the short-sleeved variety.

T-shirts are fine for trail riding, but we’re going at speed. Those thorns and spines really hurt as they rake into you.

[Fox_Wood_Farm]

Source for Reasonable Sandwich cases

@Jaegermonster;3016136

Speaking of sandwich cases, does anyone know where to find some that are somewhat reasonably priced? and please not that one from State Line Tack from a couple of months ago. I ordered it and it was pretty sad, even for $30. The tupperware that came with it was ok though.

I bought a sandwich case from the website below and have been very pleased with it. It is excellent quality, made of heavy, thick leather that holds it’s shape (not like the SLT 30 dollar one). It looks like the 500 dollar ones from Horse Country. It doesn’t come with the sandwich case, but I didn’t want that anyway. (I have 4 or 5 flasks that usually hold special concoctions… :D) I bought the one without the divider inside as I thought the single, larger area would be more useful.

BTW, I am staff with my hunt (Field Master) and I do always have a sandwich case on my saddle. In summer, I keep benadryl and other assorted first aid and in winter usually trade out to have room for at least one flask. And, oddly, the one thing I have NEVER carried in my sandwich case is… a sandwich!
http://oakdalehorsefarm.com/tacksale.htm

Happy Hunting to those who are still at it.

[Jaegermonster]

Thanks Foxwood I will definitely check that out. I serve in various staff capacities on occasion and like to look nice as well.

As an aside, I ordered a bridle from Bobby’s Tack a week or so ago, for a very affordable price, and it came today. It is actually very nice, not only much nice than I expected for the price. I am very very pleased with it.

[KateWooten]

Battle Mountain

oooh - I’ve flown there ! Small world Heck of a sloping landing zone too :eek:

Tantivy can ride in the park, in the ring, in the nearby woods, over the farm, in a lesson or on organized trail rides or with friends and do that in jeans and paddock boots!

I’m very pleased for Tantivy. For most of the rest of us - there is no park, it got sold to developers at 5 acres of ‘you may not farm it’ McMansion lawn per house subdivision, we can trailer out to the ring at $50 a shot, there are no organised trail rides unless we choose to burn 100 miles worth of non-renewable fuel, with or without friends !

This is the big picture. In the US, we have ‘infinite’ amounts of land to play with, yet no access to it, in general. In general, nobody misses it when it is gone forever, because nobody could use it in the first place. This, is the big picture. Nobody is making any more land. Yet it is disappearing under subdivision hell at an unprecedented rate. By 2050 (or thereabouts) we will have to outsource our own food chain, much as we have outsourced our energy supply. How secure does that make us feel ?

Let’s wise up. We have 30 years or so on Europe. We don’t have to squander what’s left of G-d’s earth dividing and improving the life out of it with every square inch devoted to chem-lawn and my-house-is-better-than-your-house. If we don’t want to.

Access to relatively unspoilt counrtyside, making use of the little edges that other people don’t need for crops, sharing and being able to live full, invigorating lives together without causing harm … without fear - without ‘Get orf My Laaand, it’s private Property’ - that’s important.

Riding in the wrong saddle-pad, and ‘spoiling the photograph’, this total emphasis on things that ‘look like’ - that’s not. IMHO.

[Tantivy1]

[QUOTE=KateWooten;3023763]

For most of the rest of us - there is no park, it got sold to developers at 5 acres of ‘you may not farm it’ McMansion lawn per house subdivision, we can trailer out to the ring at $50 a shot, there are no organised trail rides unless we choose to burn 100 miles worth of non-renewable fuel, with or without friends !

This is the big picture. By 2050 (or thereabouts) we will have to outsource our own food chain, much as we have outsourced our energy supply. How secure does that make us feel ?

Riding in the wrong saddle-pad, and ‘spoiling the photograph’, this total emphasis on things that ‘look like’ - that’s not. IMHO.[/QUOTE]

Kate, why did you bury your post here?

Completely different subject from the discussion, but it’s so important it deserves its very own thread. Has been discussed before, but I for one never tire of the topic because it is indeed, FAR more serious than what we are wearing.

In the meantime, sorry, but I’ll still worry about “spoiling the photograph.” Perhaps there is too much…of the spirit of an artist in me that I simply cannot deny? Have always thought hunting to be a form of “living art” and details do count to some of us; you, of course, are free to ignore them as you wish.

Anyway, I assure you, I am more than perfectly capable of obssessing endlessly about either turnout…OR equally, what our future holds.

I am very, very glad I will not be here to live in it.

[JSwan]

@KateWooten;3023763

choose to burn 100 miles worth of non-renewable fuel, with or without friends !

This is the big picture. In the US, we have ‘infinite’ amounts of land to play with, yet no access to it, in general. In general, nobody misses it when it is gone forever, because nobody could use it in the first place. This, is the big picture. Nobody is making any more land. Yet it is disappearing under subdivision hell at an unprecedented rate. By 2050 (or thereabouts) we will have to outsource our own food chain, much as we have outsourced our energy supply. How secure does that make us feel ?

You may already be a member - but in case others are interested these folks are trying to do something

http://www.elcr.org/index.php

And there are many others. American Farmland Trust, The Nature Conservancy (not so much these days, though), etc.

[KateWooten]

OOOh - thankyou J Swan - no I didn’t know about them at all - the closest I’d got was teh ‘Raven’ people and that’s not kinda my thing - round here they’re the ones stipulating a minimum 5 acres per house which is exactly what’s ruining the earth at such a frightening rate.

Tantivy1- I expect you look absolutely wonderful all galloping in your finery - (in my quieter moments, I really do appreciate the picture too )

Horse&Hound just arrived yesterday (I get it very loate and at random), and had a couple of fantastic hunting reports - one English, one Irish. I’ve been a bit quiet here because I had a sudden fit of paranoia - was it in fact true, that the older hunts were less picky about turnout than the newer … :eek:

But yes, if you have a look at the lovely scenes following Taunton Vale this week - the host for the meet is in a green square saddle pad, lots of (darker) square pads with the Waterford, plenty of blue back-protectors in evidence over coats … The pictures, hounds working, horses galloping, land un-dotted with chem-lawn-subdivions are absolutely beautiful !

[JSwan]

I used to work in conservation - we’d probably have a lot to talk about. If you’re ever up this way - I suggest we do a COTH get together at Iron Bridge Wine Company in Warrenton.

We can solve all the worlds problems over some fabulous wine. (I’m a cheap date though - too much wine and I start doing my Edith Piaf impression. It’s very bad.)

If memory serves - one of the guys working with that group used to write/work for the Chronicle.

AFT has a program where they try and match up young farmers with retiring farmers; but I don’t know how that works. Not really up to date. ECLR is a great resource. TNC - well - Steve McCormick left and I’m hoping they get back to their core mission instead of trying to be a tree huggers version of Enron.

We’ll see.

As far as turnout - in the end each club is a private one and each has challenges or local customs. What’s good for my hunt club may not work for one in Arizona. As long as the sport thrives and attracts new members - that’s what’s important.

Some hunts have ratcatcher during weekdays; mine doesn’t. I really don’t see the difference - it’s still “attire”. But that’s the way the Master wants it so that’s that! :lol:

Like Tantivy - about the only time I don’t look like a homeless person is out hunting.

Good luck with conserving ag and open space where you live!

@KateWooten;3040550

OOOh - thankyou J Swan - no I didn’t know about them at all - the closest I’d got was teh ‘Raven’ people and that’s not kinda my thing - round here they’re the ones stipulating a minimum 5 acres per house which is exactly what’s ruining the earth at such a frightening rate.

Tantivy1- I expect you look absolutely wonderful all galloping in your finery - (in my quieter moments, I really do appreciate the picture too )

Horse&Hound just arrived yesterday (I get it very loate and at random), and had a couple of fantastic hunting reports - one English, one Irish. I’ve been a bit quiet here because I had a sudden fit of paranoia - was it in fact true, that the older hunts were less picky about turnout than the newer … :eek:

But yes, if you have a look at the lovely scenes following Taunton Vale this week - the host for the meet is in a green square saddle pad, lots of (darker) square pads with the Waterford, plenty of blue back-protectors in evidence over coats … The pictures, hounds working, horses galloping, land un-dotted with chem-lawn-subdivions are absolutely beautiful !

[Xctrygirl]

J Swan you have a Pm… and its semi urgent!!! (In a turnout question sort of way)

~Emily

[InVA]

[QUOTE=Ashby;3021930]
Interesting. It’s been my experience that the people who are the worst snobs about horses, appointments, attire, etc. are those who are new to hunting and are trying hard to prove how upscale they are. New money, usually. The people who have been doing it for awhile, are skilled horsemen/women, and genuinely care about hound work are warm and welcoming. In general.[/QUOTE]

that’s right
Old money whispers. new money screams…tacky.
ugh!

[Jumpin_Horses]

[QUOTE=Equibrit;2997664]
Won’t be long before you get a bloody nose![/QUOTE]

:lol:

and either hire a fulltime chiro for the horse, or let go of his wittle face :eek:

try to relax a little over the jumps. it looks like you are trying to help him over. he can get over just fine, if you set him up correctly, and stay out of his way. you need more “allow” and less “micro-managing”

I mean this in the most constructive way

[JSwan]

@InVA;3040964

that’s right
Old money whispers. new money screams…tacky.
ugh!

What does “no money” say?

[Beverley]

@J Swan;3040982

What does “no money” say?

No money just smiles and has a good time, in my experience, anyway:cool:.

[JSwan]

@Beverley;3041049

No money just smiles and has a good time, in my experience, anyway:cool:.

In that case, I must be having a ball!

[2ndyrgal]

Of course, sometimes you can’t tell. Occupations of the two wealthiest people I know??

1. Pig farmer
2. Porta Potties

Running a close third? The guy I went to high school with’s family owned a little local trash company. I believe it’s now Waste Management.

New money might be “trashy” but it still spends.
What’s the old saying? I’d rather be “new rich” than “old money” poor?

Me, I’m in the smile and have a good time club.