FHC, Chapel Springs, September 29,2022

 

Really a surprising and fun morning. It has been exceedingly fry here in Virginia the last couple of weeks. That is not good for scenting for fox hunting. This morning it was also very windy. Really bad for hunting. All in all it would be called a crappy scenting day. So I was not expecting it to be much more than some exercise for Wally.

 

I was wrong and we had three runs on foxes. Three more runs then I expected. The first was just a few minutes into the hunt and carried on for about 20 minutes. Wally was good although a bit strong when we were off and cantering early.

 

Near the end of the run the hounds broke out into a newly plowed field and into the wind. It seems the scent had blown away. Mathew gathered the hounds and we were around the other side of the tree line of the aforementioned field when the hounds hit. Unfortunately I forgot my GPS but I am pretty sure that it was probably the same fox. We gave chase on that for a while before it was lost.

 

With the wind it was hard to hear and we spent some time trying to regain contact with Mathew and the hounds. We regained contact and came out onto a nice hay field. The hounds hit again in the woods and we picked up a canter/hand gallop up the field (great leadership Jenn Jennifer Daly).

 

I'm used to speed on Munchkin and I fully trust him and his balance,etc. at any speed. With Wally I think the governor is in place but I haven't tested it enough to know for certain. On this run up the field he went into the most gorgeous and comfortable hand gallop you could ask for. He never surged or tried to run past anyone.

 

The hounds then changed direction and came back down the field but in the woods. Off we went, Wally picked up a nice balanced canter and was quite nice cantering down the slope. The rider should have been paying more attention because there was another change in slope to a more steeper slope. A more attentive rider would have given Wally a little half halt to get him on his butt some more. Unfortunately I let him tip onto his forehand.

 

It wasn't horrible but I wanted to get him back. My first idea was to drop him and let him figure out. In retrospect an interesting choice to drop a 1300 lb horse cantering downhill. It didn't work and I want to option B - 3 hard half halts. That did the trick.

 

Shortly after that the hounds went silent and the decision was made to call it a day. I think we covered about 6.5 miles but I don't have any speed numbers since I left the GPS at home.

Wally just keeps getting better and better. After we blew off the early energy, he was quite easy to ride.

THH, Hands Mill, September 27, 2022

 

Munchkin and I had a great morning at Thornton Hill Hounds. It was gorgeous out but it was very dry and breezy. Not the best scent conditions.

We were about 30 minutes into the hunt when the hounds hit. We had to follow along on the road and then they headed up Schoolhouse Mountain. The hounds were sounding great! Pretty amazing given how dry the conditions are.

We followed. We followed very fast! Twice Munchkin hit 21 MPH going up the mountain. Not only was it up the mountain but with a lot of twists and turns and terrain changes. We crested up near the top and then the hounds swung around and were headed back down. It looked like they were heading back to the start but instead crossed the road. It got quiet for a little while but then the hounds picked up again and started back up the mountain. The fox was lost about halfway up.

At one point we were galloping the road when Munchkin hit 23.5 MPH. He just amazes me. At 19 years old and 16 hunt seasons he can still run with the best of them. He has been over 20MPH on every hunt out this season. His flying changes are also amazingly smooth. You don't realize he has changed unless you look down to see what lead he is on.

We covered 6.5 miles today.

 

THH, High Thicket, Joint Meet, September 18,2022

 

It was a great meet this morning.  First off it was a gorgeous morning. Second this was a joint meet as part of the Pen-Mary-Del hound show. Joint meets are fun because you get to meet new people and you get to watch a pack of hounds made up of hounds from three different packs hunt together. Today there were hounds from Thornton Hill, Farmington and Tennessee Valley. All told there were 27 couple (54 hounds) out today. 

 

We had a great run that covered 2.5 miles. It went for 40 minutes and it was over hill and dale, through streams, looped around on itself. All done at some very high speeds. According to the GPS we hit 23.5 MPH but I think that was one brief instant when we crested a hill onto a flat area. There were quite a few stretches were we were consistently running between 15-18 MPH. Since this was pretty much all done on trails in the woods, it feels really fast! Also, 54 hounds screaming along after a fox in the hills is an amazing sound.

 

The run is everything inside the yellow line.

 

Overall we covered 6.78 Miles.

FHC, Barracks, September 15, 2022

 

We had a beautiful morning for hunting at The Barracks today.  The weather was perfect with damp ground, cool air and little to no breeze as evidenced by the hot balloons that launched from Woodlands Road to our east.

The day really started off with a bang as the hounds pretty much went full cry at 3 minutes into the hunt.  We had just crossed the driveway when the hounds opened.  Their start was echoed by a loud cry as the fox was spotted.  It was a short run but fun.  It ended when the fox crossed the road and left the territory.

After that we moved on crossing over Chestnut Ridge Farm Road and heading into Springhaven.  We were about where we park at Springhaven when the hounds hit again.  They took off into the woods and were heading toward Chestnut Ridge Farm.  Then they changed direction and came back on themselves.  They continued on the loop and popped out of the woods and crossed the open fields of Springhaven.  They got into the tree line and started working their way back towards Chestnut Ridge Farm road but then double back on themselves again.  They stayed in that treeline for a long time before the fox went to ground.

So two good runs on a beautiful morning.  For the day we covered 6.5 miles.

THH, THornton Hay Field, September 13, 2022

 

FHC Schelford, September 10,2022

 

Today we were at Schelford.  Schelford is one of my favorite fixtures because we always seem to get some good runs in there.  Today was kind of a quirky day.  I didn't have the hound tracker running so this is like the old days where it is a best guess from listening where the hounds actually ran.

The meet was scheduled to start at 8 and at 8 the hounds were running.  They picked up a fox in the woods just off the training track.  It sounded like they looped down by the river and then came back around and eventually made there way into the Wind River development.  Unfortunately we can't go there.  So for good, bad or indifferent the hounds and staff provided some early morning entertainment for the residents.

Once the hounds were into the development it took a while to get them back and we ended up standing for about an hour.  For the horses it was an opportunity to chow down at the vegetable aisle. After gathering the hounds we set off again.  The hounds ended up crossing the river and hit pretty quickly.  However, it sounds like either the pack split or a few of the hounds got a jump on the rest of them.  The  second flight was along the river when a big red fox was viewed and it was being trailed by two or three hounds.  It sounded like the rest of the pack was chasing something else.  A command decision was made and 2nd flight followed the fox that we saw.

 That took us across the river and headed up towards Ridge Road.  I'll admit that after the end of last season, there is quite a bit of territory I had forgotten.  I was sure we were at the other end of ridge road.  We had actually come up by Fox Ridge Farm.  We set off at a steady trot pace right down Ridge roads.  It seemed like the hounds were steadily to our right and eventually they ended up almost to Laurel Ridge Farm. The hounds had lost the fox and we headed in from there. 

For the day, we covered 5.64 miles.  

THH Chancelors Gate, September 2,2022

 Munchkin and I were out with THH this morning at Chancelors Gate.  We actually only hunted for an hour but 45 minutes of that were chasing one fox.  We seemed to run back and forth along a tree line that followed a creek.  If you look at the map in Google earth you can see we went up and won those tree lines three times.

It was also a fast run as we covered 4 miles in about 45 minutes.  It doesn't sound like a lot but that is always moving.  We did have run up one hill at 19.2 MPH and one run on the flat at around 25MPH.  

The hounds really worked weel and stayed on that line.  Ultimately the fox went to ground along the creek by route 231.