Child of the seventies follows the call of the hounds

Thanks for indulging me n a reminiscence...
For the most part I was a typical seventies teen. Some of my clearest memories are of me at the mall, begging my mom (unsuccessfully) for clothes that no good mother would let her daughter wear. Perhaps you recall hip huggers, but I wanted hiphuggers that laced up the front. What can you expect from a kid who grew up watching the Mod Squad? Saturdays, though, were different. In the wee hours of the morning, I donned a black melton wool coat, canary breeches, and ascot tie. In weather that kept most sane people snug in their bed, I braved the frigid temps to ride with the Romwell Foxhounds in pursuit of the elusive red fox. The fox always eluded us, which is just as well as far as I'm concerned. The photo on the right is a picture from those days -- my friend Lori and I at the Blessing of the Hounds. St. Huberts medals which were given out at each Blessing. I still have the seven I collected dangling from my old stock pin.

Foxhunting in Indiana
The Romwell Foxhounds was based at the barn where I learned to ride, and I was invited to join by a friend's mom who was a whipper-in. Foxhunting is associated with the east coast, but Indiana farmland provided a stunning backdrop for this traditional sport. The terrain was relentlessly flat and uniquely beautiful, especially in the fall. In the winter the morning frost covered everything and the breath of humans and horses drifted up like smoke. Nothing but fields and sky in every direction, and only a few outcroppings of trees and solitary farmhouses in the distance.

My  ultimate partner
My mount was a lesson horse named Foxfire. Fox was the penultimate foxhunter, the living breathing definition of an honest horse. His one quirk was that he periodically did a capriole while we waited our turn to take a jump. Fox was of unknown lineage but he could really jump. We jumped as high as 4 feet, usually a chicken coop style, at least one or two times during each season. I dreamed of owning Foxfire, but he was one of those golden school horses that no money could buy--my parents told me in my adulthood that they had inquired about buying him. I never knew. I don't know how I managed to snag him for foxhunting.

A shaky start
My first season riding with the hounds had a shaky start. The highlight of the first year was a) a feeling of almost constant terror and b) having the Master of Foxhounds (MFH) yell at me in front of the whole field. He yelled at everyone, though (he was also my riding teacher). Year Two I was awarded my colors -- the right to add a velvet bottle green and wine collar on my black coat. That was also the year my enjoyment and understanding of foxhunting deepened. The only times I ever skipped school I wasn't smoking pot or shoplifting, I was out with my friend Lori on the Thursday morning foxhunts. Far from discouraging our behavior, the other members of the field offered us swigs from their silver flasks. One moment we would be standing/waiting quietly, and the next we were careening across a field. So exhilerating! There were sad moments too -- one horse died in the field (he had COPD and had an attack), and one day I wasn't in the field, a young woman was killed in a nasty fall. Foxhunting is the closest I've ever come to eventing. Rolex reminds me of my foxhunting days, and the "old timer" eventers (Denny Emerson?) learned to ride cross-country by foxhunting.

I didn't appreciate how lucky I was to stumble onto foxhunting; if only I could thank the people who gave me the opportunity and a horse to ride. The memory of riding Foxfire over endless rural landscape will always be with me. Few things during that period of my life were worth remembering, but the time I spent riding with the hounds was absolute magic.

Disclaimer: Foxhunting is an elite sport associated with the monied class. Don't get the impression I'm a trust fund kid :-). My folks were teachers in a public school system.

RESOURCES

Foxhunting in Ol' Virginny

Foxhunting (chapter from A community of the horse)

Master of Foxhounds Association Web site

Foxhunting on the Web (a list of sites)

Foxhunters online mailing list


Should foxhunting be banned? from the BBC

Hunting booms three years after ban from The Telegraph