I’ve taken a couple weeks off for the Virginia Hunt Week, was planning on seeing some hunts, seeing some historical stuff, and enjoying the fall in the mountains, but it looks like hunt week is cancelled.
Bummer.
I know–I feel your pain! I had planned on hitting two or three this year only to pull up the web site and see the news. 
Keep your fingers crossed that it is a go next year. :)
I see what they’re saying, but I’m still surprised that their canceling due to gas prices. I know that hauling costs are keeping people close to home, but on the other hand it seems a good many people still are traveling for events they consider special or important to them. There was a big horse show here recently that got 500 or so horse from all over the country. So I guess, even given the gas situation, I’m a little surprised Virginia Hunt Week has taken such a drastic step. I guess maybe they’d got an estimated head count and it was too down–how sad and disappointing!
Just do your own!!
OMG! Please don’t give up!! There’s many ways to do the same thing. All our local hunts are welcoming of visitors and there’s some wonderful places to stay. Just do your own Hunt week!!! I know we local Cothers would be glad to help!
You are kidding, right? They cancelled because of gas prices?!
[QUOTE=ArtilleryHill;3375780]
I see what they’re saying, but I’m still surprised that their canceling due to gas prices. I know that hauling costs are keeping people close to home, but on the other hand it seems a good many people still are traveling for events they consider special or important to them. There was a big horse show here recently that got 500 or so horse from all over the country. So I guess, even given the gas situation, I’m a little surprised Virginia Hunt Week has taken such a drastic step. I guess maybe they’d got an estimated head count and it was too down–how sad and disappointing![/QUOTE]
Seriously??? That’s the excuse??? Sorry, but that’s just a hair pathetic (jmo) - if fuel has gone up, let’s say, by 30%, then it’s still probably a small part of one’s total expenses for such a trip, surely???
Someone, please, tell me I’m wrong. 
And another thing – the ‘hunts’ don’t ‘do’ anything (all that much) to get VHW going. I mean, ‘they’ don’t incur costs except a few extra ham biscuits for the breakfast. I am so bitterly disappointed. I understand if the organizers want to take a year off for other reasons, but ‘gas prices’ is not a valid reason when it doesn’t apply to the situation. The guests are the ones who choose to come or not.
I am going to offer my own VHW, I guess! As WateryGlen said, we down here in Virginia can so easily set up our own custom hunt week. I’m going to try to do that – maybe set up days out with ODH, of course (my hunt) plus Warrenton and maybe Rappahannock and Thornton Hill (the adjacent clubs.) Maybe more.
PS I wonder if any amount of whining (bitching?) would retrieve VHW for 2009. ? Does anyone know? If we all wrote to the brass could it magically reappear??
I wonder…
I wonder if they just got burned out? And of course…who are “they” anyway? God bless them; they’ve done a wonderful job and maybe just needed more support. Plus the weather/footing was problematic the last 2 years but the hunting always seems to be good. I noticed a serious drop off of guests last year so maybe it was just the #'s indicating interest has lagged. And some hunts do seem to incur serious expense “putting on the dog” for their breakfasts. Someone has to work hard to pull them off.
Irregardless…you can always guest with the hunts around here. Ya’ll come!
For those of us in the area, it would certainly be easy enough to “create” a week and just cap around. I know bull run goes in Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays,and Rappahannock hunts Wednesdays, Saturday and Sunday. So it seems it would be easy to fill in a hunt for each day of the week just using the regular hunt schedules.
As one who has to haul a minimum of 350 miles one way to hunt anywhere, I laugh at the wimpiness. Gas prices might be a real issue for the next Western Challenge, though I haven’t heard any rumblings as yet- but Virginia? All the participating hunts have to do is designate one of their regularly scheduled meets in that time frame as their VHW meet, people can burn the gas, or not.
[QUOTE=Romany;3377915]
Seriously??? That’s the excuse??? Sorry, but that’s just a hair pathetic (jmo) - if fuel has gone up, let’s say, by 30%, then it’s still probably a small part of one’s total expenses for such a trip, surely???
Someone, please, tell me I’m wrong. [/QUOTE]
Well, according to the strangely brief explanation on the website, “the gas crisis” was the reason. No further information, no contact info. Struck me as a big “Huh?” too, but that’s what it said.
[QUOTE=Romany;3377915]
Seriously??? That’s the excuse??? Sorry, but that’s just a hair pathetic (jmo) - if fuel has gone up, let’s say, by 30%, then it’s still probably a small part of one’s total expenses for such a trip, surely???
Someone, please, tell me I’m wrong. [/QUOTE]
Agreed, and I am hearing the same thing - it is a pretty lame excuse. Also hearing there must be other reasons (and that fuel was just used a handy excuse).
Whatever reason(s), it is a shame. It had quickly become an institution.
[QUOTE=Hunter’s Rest;3378880]
I understand if the organizers want to take a year off for other reasons, but ‘gas prices’ is not a valid reason when it doesn’t apply to the situation…I am going to offer my own VHW, I guess! As WateryGlen said, we down here in Virginia can so easily set up our own custom hunt week. I’m going to try to do that – maybe set up days out with ODH, of course (my hunt) plus Warrenton and maybe Rappahannock and Thornton Hill (the adjacent clubs.) Maybe more.[/QUOTE]
Just after I heard the sad news last week, I posted some comments on another forum echoing your ideas.
VAHW could be condensed and revamped and I like to think it would continue to attract participants. True, the numbers were way down last year and while fuel prices may have been a contributing factor, there may well have been others.
Shorten it, and keep it in a smaller geographic area of hunts, or rotate the hunts by year.
Examples:
Year 1:
Rappahannock, Keswick, Bull Run, Princess Anne, Glenmore or Rockbridge, Casanova, Old Dominion, and one more NOVA hunt; (maybe Warrenton or Fairfax?)
Year 2:
Thornton Hill, Farmington, Deep Run, Commonwealth or Caroline, Reedy Creek or Oak Ridge, Middleburg, and one more NOVA hunt (maybe Snickersville or Loudoun West would jump on board?)
Or, focus on the Charlottesville and eastern VA area one year, and the more central and northern hunts the following year. Finally, some might even have to be dropped as they are geographically too far out of the loop or they were not attracting sufficient numbers.
This would shorten the week, lessening the driving, stabling & hotel costs all at once, and packing more into a tighter timeframe. This might be appealing to potential participants, esp.those traveling longer distances and missing work. Time is so precious to everyone these days.
This would also make it easier for hunts that pulled out all the bells and whistles, like Casanova; now they would be doing so only every other year.
Be sure to have it end the same weekend as the Gold Cup races and/or have a hunt ball during the hunt week, or a book signing at Horse Country or an art exhibit at the Sporting Library, so participants (or spouses) could have some other activities to select from (or a rainy day event!). Still miss the kick off party too…
It just seems to good an event to just let it fade away with the false hope it could be revived if fuel prices fall…sheesh.
Again, not sure if anyone has the inside track, or the energy, to mount a protest … Perhaps the organizers don’t realize the hue and cry that is going on out here. ?
The more I think about it, ‘gas prices’ ain’t it. Something else drove the abandonment. Paying for gas to travel, or not, is the participant’s choice. Not something that ‘affects’ a host hunt in any way shape or form.
Isn’t the correct expression “Bless thier hearts”? :D:lol:
And here I thought just about every week except in summer was “VA Hunt Week” 
For contrast…
I read an article this morning which reminded me of the - perhaps short-sighted - cancellation of VA Hunting week because of rising fuel prices.
For another group of people who are similarly passionate about their hobby, spend all their spare money, time and effort on it, talk about it ad nauseam, can’t understand why the rest of the world isn’t quite so devoted to it, debate the tiny details endlessly in person and on BBs, etc…but in their case, they’ve travelled the WORLD, not just VA or the country, to get to their yearly get-together. There’s no way a piffling issue like fuel prices was going to stop them :rolleyes:
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080729/OSH0107/80728143/1128/OSH01
YEP…hubby is at Oshkosh this week., fuel prices be damned, and Avgas is a whole lot more expensive than auto gas…
I think the organizers just got sick of trying to coordinate the thing.
