Last week I packed up my saddle, boots, helmet and hunt attire and headed to Virginia with 6 other members of Red Rock Hounds. For 5 days we were hosted in grand style by the Oak Ridge Hunt Club in Afton which sits in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
On Wednesday 5 of us met up in Chicago for the last leg of the trip; I came from Sacramento, Lynn, Angela and Pat came from Reno and Liz came from LA. Thanks to Preston we had a pile of Southwest complimentary cocktail coupons which we put right to use as soon as the plane lifted off.
At Dulles we found a nice young man with a luggage cart that took on the challenge of getting our mountain of luggage to the rental car lot. We tossed everything into a mini-van and off to the mountains we headed…..until we got to the airport exit and realized we had no directions and the map we picked up with the rental car did not have a big red star next to Afton. Actually, Afton wasn’t even on the map. A quick call to Preston and a search on Mapquest got us out of the airport. Then Page Turner who was going to be Liz’s and my hostess for the next several days provided us with more detailed instructions.
Many hours and several more calls to Page later we arrived in Afton…in the dark. As we climbed the mountain up a dirt road in the late night thoughts of “Deliverance” came to mind. But we couldn’t have been more wrong. What was to follow was a wonderful 4 days of southern hospitality in the most classical sense starting with our accommodations at Page’s lovely house nestled in the trees at her Creekside Stable.
Thursday was a casual day at Tea Time Farm, Rita Mae Brown’s stunningly beautiful farm and where the Oak Ridge Hounds are housed. And the Oak Ridge Bassett Pack. We had an energetic walk about with the Bassetts. Those pups are just the cutest!! After that we met Rita Mae’s “house hounds” and feline family. Of course, with the latter I was in heaven and got to fulfill my “kitty fix” for several hours. I kept my camera busy taking pictures of the variety of kitties, including Rita Mae’s famous co-author, Sneaky Pie Brown. You’d think I’d be happy enough taking pictures of FieldHaven kitties!
After a Thursday evening dinner with a number of the other folks coming into town from other hunts we went to bed early. An early start to our first hunt was planned for Friday.
Liz and I rode with Page to Friday’s fixture. Along the 45 minute drive we got a fabulous tour and narration from Page, a lifelong resident of the area. The day was overcast with warning of the rain predicted for Saturday. Upon arriving at the hunt we got our assigned horses from Lynne Beegle. Also, joining us there after arriving Thursday evening was Jane and Cathy – more Red Rockers! I was mounted on a pretty little mare named Belle.
The field was huge – about 60 horses in total with well over half in first field led by Sue Satterfield as Field Master. MFHs Rita Mae Brown and Lynn Lloyd of Red Rock Hounds as huntsmen led us on a 2 hour hunt through the 1,000 acre farm, Cherry Hill owned by Anne Fortune Henderson. The foxes were quiet that day but we did get a few short runs and the footing, terrain and jumps were great. A huge pot luck hunt breakfast rounded out the morning.
On to the afternoon’s adventures. We all piled into the mini-van and headed to Warrenton for the Horse Country reception for hunt photographer Jim Meads. A short stop at Saddlery Liquidators in Haymarket netted all of us some more luggage for the return trip.
The Horse Country party was fabulous! We met so many incredible people, including the delightful Jim Meads who had been signing books since 9 am that morning. He later told me he didn’t wrap it up until after 10 pm that night. My best friend, Sarah Boudreau, who lives in Norfolk joined us there and for the rest of the weekend.
We didn’t arrive back in Afton until 2:30 am – Sarah and I in her car and Liz and the rest of the Red Rockers in the mini-van. We woke up Saturday morning to a steady rain – the day’s planned activity of a Bassett hunt on foot was definitely not going to happen.
Just so we didn’t have to leave Virginia saying we hadn’t seen a fox, one of the Oak Ridge regulars showed himself to us as we were driving up the driveway at Tea Time on Saturday morning. He posed so beautifully in the middle of the pasture then hopped up on some hay bales to pose again for my camera. Tally ho!
A lazy day hanging out in the Oak Ridge clubhouse then a fun trip to a couple of wineries and a brewery set us in the mood for the catered dinner and silent auction that evening. Without a doubt, Jane netted the most unusual, if not the highest selling, silent auction item – an aged mounted deerhead. What she wanted with that we’ll never understand but maybe she just wanted to rescue him from the rubbish can which is where he may have been destined had not anyone else been brave enough to bid. Then came the discussion of how she would get him back to California. Certainly not in carry-on baggage with those antlers! The decision was made to have him mailed.
Sunday dawned spectacularly. Bright blue skies, crisp fall air and the leaves very near their peak. We hunted from Tea Time Farm with Rita Mae and Lynn once again our huntsmen (or should I say huntswomen). If I liked my Friday horse, Belle, I loved my Sunday horse, Bourbon. Lynne Beegle of Brookhill Farm gets my vote for Best Livery!
After another lavish hunt breakfast we settled in for some downtime in the afternoon and that evening before making an early start to airport in the morning. Back to reality…..
Click here for a link to my photo album from the weekend. And here for a great NPR podcast on hunting with Rita Mae. (click on the little blue arrow in the upper left corner of podcast screen)
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