Photos from our Opening Hunt today:
http://picasaweb.google.com/annezzell/ParadiseValleyBeaglesOpeningHuntDec72008#
The uber cute grey with the roached mane is rivenoaks’s new mare, Rainy (aka LaReine).
We had a lovely day for hunting–overcast & cool. We were graced with guests from Flagstaff (and from Virginia via Flagstaff), as well as most of the usual local suspects, minus our huntsman (recovering from broken ribs) and one of our whippers-in (also recovering from more recently-broken ribs).
I tried to count at one point - I think we had on the order of 15 riders total. And I forgot to ask how many hounds… perhaps rivenoak will know.
Mr. Blondie & I got off to a slow start–we were riding at the back with Ms. Leslie & Orion the Wonder-Halfie when we noticed that Orion was losing a boot (Old Macs). We stayed with them as the field moved on, but it became clear that the boot was not going to stay put, and she said she was fine walking him back to the trailers alone. So then Mr. Blondie found ourselves in a not-uncommon situation for us: trying to figure out just where the heck the field was!
He was Very Good Boy as we set off alone into the desert. We did some walking & some trotting, guided by the occasional sound of the hounds, and eventually caught up to them. Then we spent some time trailing along after rivenoak & LaReine, being careful not to run up their butts.
It was mostly walking & trotting, to my great relief. Never among the bravest in the field, I was feeling even more tentative than normal because I spent most of the summer on my butt in front of the computer, working on The Web Site Redesign of Doom. He was really very good, though, despite his long summer vacation and being out without Prozac Pony for the first time in a long time. We only had one “Oh SHIT!!” moment, when we were cantering up a hill behind LaReine and I noticed–too late to do anything useful about it–that we were approaching a small ditch. He cleared it with a prodigous leap (I’m sure we could EASILY have cleared Becher’s Brook with that jump :D) and fortunately for me, he was still underneath me when I returned from outer space.
But there was no bucking, no head flipping, and none of the general pissiness that we encountered off & on last season. I had him in an eggbutt Myler comfort-mouth snaffle, so I didn’t have much in the way of emergency brakes, but I did have steering, so we managed to avoid plowing into anyone, and the terrain was open enough that I could generally stay far enough to the side when overtaking someone that we didn’t annoy the other horses (at least, I don’t THINK we did… rivenoak might have a different point of view 
)
[Last season, I was mostly riding him in a Myler combi-bit, sort of a loose ring on steroids. My trainer had mentioned in a lesson (with just a regular loose ring) that she thought he might be getting pinched by the loose ring, so she suggested trying an eggbutt. So maybe that was the difference. He’s generally such a good guy / solid citizen that if I can manage to ride him in the eggbutt snaffle and keep him un-annoyed, I figure I’m better off than putting him in something with more brakes that’s going to make him cranky.
At least, that’s the current theory… :lol: ]
Fortunately for me, rivenoak had knee surgery a couple months ago, so she was ready to head back after about an hour. We caught up with the field at a water stop (see photos) and let the fieldmaster know that we were heading in.
I missed one of the great photo ops of the day, though–just as the hounds were finishing up their drinks, 4-5 dirt bikes / ATVs roared in, and the hounds rioted on them. So we had dirt bikes being chased by muddy beagles being chased by whippers-in. And I had just put my camera away, unfortunately.
After the obnoxious bikers/ATVers left, rivenoak & I made our way back to the trailers without incident. And the field wasn’t all that far behind us–maybe 15 or 20 minutes? Maybe longer…
Anyway, no jacks were caught, but they did have 2-3 good runs, and Mr. Blondie & I saw a jack while we were looking for the field. I first thought it was a small coyote, then noticed the big ears. (Some of those jacks are BIG)
I left before the hunt breakfast because i was concerned about having left Prozac Pony home alone with just some alfalfa & The Princess. Mr. RAR said that he raised a stink for a while after we left, but his pen wasn’t torn up, he wasn’t all sweaty or even particularly agitated when we got back, and he didn’t scream the minute we pulled in, even though he was standing where he could see the trailer, so I guess he did okay.
A pretty uneventful day, all things considered, but–as always–I’m glad I went!
Enjoy the photos!
