First, I must own up to something: During the puppy hunt on Thrusday, while waiting for Tommy's hounds to find a fox during the second draw , I had a bit of a mishap. There were two very large, downed trees ( about 24" diameter oaks-no small pines were they!) laying on the ground. One was laying slightly overtop of the other one. The bark was stripped, and the trunks were as smooth and as hard as a baseball bat ( only an 24" diameter baseball bat!) Well, as I stood on the top tree, it moved. My feet went out from under me and I came down on that trunk straddled as if I were sitting on a horse. And I came down hard. So very, very hard. Very hard. Did I mention, I hit it HARD??? Holy cow. I jumped up and ,of course, acted like nothing had happened. "Fine, yeah, I'm fine."... No really, I'm ok." .... "I'M OK". But inside, sheesh, I was seeing stars, lol! Couldnt barely move by Thursday night. Went to bed with an ice pack situated in an area where no one wants to have to put an ice pack....
The next morning, I was surprised that I wasnt as stiff and sore as I thought I would be. But I had no desire to sit a horse...
...and hadnt really planned on taking one today. But at the last moment, I decided to throw Rap ( he was the cleanest) on the trailer, loaded the hounds in the back and pulled my LeChameau rubber riding boots on overtop of my jeans. ....WHAT WAS I THINKING??!!! Clearly, I wasnt thinking at all about the bruises on my seat bones and surrounding body parts!
Our meet was set for 7:45am, and although it was raining at 5am, by the time I arrived it had stopped. The temp was a cool 47 degrees, and the wind was to blow out of the NE ( off the ocean, but the hunt country is about 35 miles inland). A damp, but not cold morning. At least it didnt feel that way to me as I mounted Rap. (But then, I didnt feel much right at that moment because when my seat hit that saddle -those first 5 or 6 trot posts were torture, lol!!!) Hounds were in the covert, and I had a big field to cross to get to them. I just remember thinking as I moved Rap up into a pain-relieving canter, "will I be able to stand this for 3 hours??" Did I mention that the 20 yo Berney Bros saddle I use on Rap has a flatter, harder seat than the more padded one I use on Mel? Had I remembered, I would have been riding a dirty horse, instead.
Hounds got a fox on the run at 8:10am, and as soon as they began to sing, my mind focused on the chase and I forgot about everything else. (Well, every once in a while, I would get a reminder of sorts! Like ,when I had to jump off and get Raps' leg untangled from a vine. Getting back on, and having to stretch that left leg up to reach the stirrup... holey,moley.) But,back to the hunt...
13cple gave this fox a good run for two solid hours. There were no splits, and no switching of foxes. Everyone had several good views during the chase as this pilot ran in the open over large expanses of wheatfields and fallow cornfields several times. He was roused in a mess of cutover ( where Rap got himself hung up), and eventually, at 10:30 went to ground.
My Nikon wouldn't record, and I thought I was getting the fox as he ran right to Rap and me, and then later, as he crossed in the open in front of us. Nope, it wasnt there when I uploaded . But the helmet cam did capture the fox as he ran to us, although he looks small. And the hounds in full cry.
A fun day, with good hound work. Trying to reach 100 hunts for the season. Last year my hounds went out 108 times, but I dont expect to best that total this season. Hunting again Sunday and Monday- we're gonna try!!
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