Question about fox

[MDPONYMOM]

I couldn’t think of a better place to come for some knowledge about foxes (is that the correct plural??), so please help a fox IGNORANT person out.

We live in a very rural area - I always have thankfully - but I have never had an occasion to have much up close and personal contact with foxes. So, DD was out riding this week in the ring where we board - still a very rural area - and a fox jumps out of the hedge/weeds by the fenceline of the ring about 4-5 feet in front of her pony and runs away towards the woods at the end of the ring. NBD, pony jumps a little sideways and DD says “awwww, look at the cute fox”!! That was Tuesday.

Last night, the same thing happens, only it was a pair of fox coming out of the same spot in the hedge/weeds. Pony doesn’t even flinch this time (good pony) and DD again says “how cute”. BO also says that she has seen them down at the end of the ring by her muck pile.

So my question - after that long-winded story - is: We aren’t disturbing a den or anything are we? Foxes have babies in the springtime I’m guesing??? I’m just the sort that would worry about this and I wouldn’t want to disturb this “family” if they have babies in a den close by… They really were quite cute and healthy looking, thankfully.

[Elghund2]

It shouldn’t be a problem. We used to have a fox that laid next to the ring and watch me work the horses.

[Beverley]

No worries, those foxes knew you were there long before you knew they were there! This past spring’s babies have now been out with Mom for a while now, learning to hunt, and will be dispersing over the next month to 6 weeks. Where I hunted in the 80s, we had a fox den at the kennels, in the horse pasture- the cubs watched us walk hounds every day! And I’ve watched a fox mousing, 25 feet away from a chain link fence with a kennel full of labradors barking their heads off in frustration.

[MDPONYMOM]

Oh good, thanks! We have seen one around occasionally before, but when we saw them in the same place two nights in a row, and then the pair of them on the second night - it just made me wonder…

I laughed when we saw them and told DD that now we could turn her pony into a “real” hunter pony.

[tntpony]

In the Spring…the Moma fox next to our ring, collects all of our dogs toys, balls and ropes for her kits. Just at the opening of the den sits a pile of toys with the little ones tugging and playing with each other. They also love stretching out in the warm sand of the ring.

[cloudyandcallie]

Tally Ho

When I moved to a new barn in Savannah years ago, right by Bethesda and across from the gun club so we had woods and there were cow pastures around, altho there are also subdivisions on the road, I was on my old arthritic ottb mare walking along the barn road when an insolent dog fox came right by us. I stopped and he stopped and scratched, and then trotted off into the woods. Had I been on my Hessen, I’d have chased him.:lol: He was a red, and we also had greys.
Foxes are smart. They are canids, related to dogs.
Just make sure all the horses and dogs and cats have their rabies shots updated.

Added: At another barn on the west side of town, a guy who lived in a little camper by the barn fed a dog fox mashed potatoes and gravy, and had pix of the fox with it all over his face and whiskers. Later, the fox brought the vixen and 2 cubs up for dinner also. They also ate cat food.

[Tantivy1]

I fed our fox spaghetti the other night, she licked the marinara sauce off the noodles before eating them. Last night she got chicken and pasta.

At restaurants now, I ask for a “FOXBAG” instead of doggie bag.

Drove up to the barn about midnight one night last week and both cats were lounging outside on the asphalt apron.

Got out of my truck, looked over the hood at the brindle cat and I said “MEOW”. Instead of meowing me back, she got up and looked me directly in the eye…something was not quite right…then she slowly sauntered off into the paddock and melted into the deeper shadows.

Not the brindle cat, but the fox!

[MDPONYMOM]

Awww, you all have the cutest stories about them. See, that’s why it was worrying me, because I think that it is really cool that they are hanging out around there and I didn’t want to bother them.

Last night my daughter said that the one that hopped out in front of them sat there for a moment, cocked their head and looked at her and the pony before running off.

The other barn that we boarded out before this one had TONS of them around. We got there VERY early one morning before going to a show and found one in the barn aisleway helping themselves to a grain bucket that was left in the aisle. Another morning I came in and found one going through a treat jug… They always seemed to know where to find their breakfast. Never had one in the ring though there.

[ccoronios]

If you haven’t read Rita Mae Brown’s DELIGHTFUL series on foxhunting (well, they’re murder mysteries, I suppose, but you learn more about foxhunting by reading them than you do from most other sources) - find them and read!!! Her knowledge of the sport and the animals involved is amazing!

[Beverley]

Rita Mae’s stories are indeed delightful, but please don’t rely on them as an authority on hunting or animal behavior. (I do enjoy the reads but I do grate my teeth when I read an inaccuracy or misleading statement- please don’t forget poetic license).

To those who feed foxes, just a cautionary note- feed rarely, and randomly. A fox that comes to rely on you for food quits hunting and is soon an unhealthy fox. And sudden dietary changes can affect foxes just as other canids- well, other animals for that matter. People unfortunately kill deer in winter by tossing out hay or grain and thinking they are doing right- but the offerings are lethal to the deer in terms of dietary shock.

[ccoronios]

Point taken, Beverley.

Where do you ride? Are you familiar with Rose Ranch? Paul & I grew up together.

[Beverley]

@ccoronios;3572715

Point taken, Beverley.

Where do you ride? Are you familiar with Rose Ranch? Paul & I grew up together.

I ride all over the place, but mostly in Corner Canyon, since I keep my horses in Draper. Tomorrow’s planned adventure in Settlement Canyon near Tooele is being postponed a week due to expected rain and snow. Excellent adventure planned for Oct. 22, helping with the annual buffalo roundup on Antelope Island. Gotta be creative when the nearest foxhunting is 6 hours away!

I ‘know of’ Rose Ranch but don’t know the owners since I show rarely if ever.