On the trail with the Keswick Hunt

David Snogles
Published: July 15, 2008

It’s been pretty hot these past few days here in our little piece of Orange, and I don’t just mean from the weather, we’ve been working extremely hard in the garden trying to clear the mess of old wood, glass, bits of metal wire fence and tons of fallen and rotting trees.

Some of this detritus the builders had left behind when they “cleared” the lot, and some of it was just Mother Nature’s own way of recycling the “trash.”

I have to say though that compared to the UK, we are enjoying the luxury of being able to burn most of our “surplus” vegetation here and we have been having many a bonfire as a result. There are many rules and regulations against having fires in England, mainly because of the density of the population and the need to have “smoke-free zones,” and also of course because there often isn’t the free space to safely burn a lot of fallen trees.

Of course we do think of the neighbors near to us and apologize in advance for the smokey atmosphere that is sometimes created from our bonfires, and we try not to burn everyday. We are also aware how nice the view is from our front porch, and that is one of the main reasons for our efforts in clearing parts of the land — we are conserving the view!

We are not just slashing and burning willy-nilly, we are carefully selecting to preserve certain trees, shrubs and areas of woodland on the property which will enhance its appeal but at the same time preserve the habitat for the myriad of wildlife that we have at present, including our dog, Ginny.

She continues to bump up the vet bills on a regular basis, including just this week having to have a fair few stitches in a nasty wound on her back that she somehow managed to acquire (we think on barb wire) but that’s another story altogether! I think dogs are a bit like wives sometimes — you can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them, but you love them to bits either way.

Anyhow as a brief respite from the smoke around the house, Anita and I were invited to join some members of the local hunt — the Keswick — on a splendid Saturday morning trail ride, leaving from Justin and Nancy Wiley’s farm here in Orange and which rather conveniently is where we board our horses at the moment.

The great thing around here is that we are able to ride over several different landowners fields, who for the most part seem to positively welcome horses.

This “refreshing” attitude towards the horse is no doubt in part to the courteousness of the riders and the hunt in making sure gates are closed where necessary, and ensuring riders keep to the designated trails and avoid any crop damage.

Of course one additional benefit the farmers/landowners get from allowing riders to use their land is an extra pair of eyes to spot stray livestock and damaged fences, and sure enough we came across a few cows that morning who were not where they were supposed to be!

Our thanks go to the members of the hunt who came out to ride with us that, in particular Jennifer, who led us safely through the glorious Virginia countryside on a morning that started out cool and fresh, but was getting pretty hot and steamy by the time we arrived back at the barn. I have to admit before we came to the states, nobody told us just how hot it does get here in Virginia in the summer (mid-90’s is fairly common), so we were quite pleased to have made it safely back to the cool of the barn by 10:30 a.m.

Of course as trail rides go it was a pleasant and sociable event with everyone taking turns in riding alongside one another to chat and generally discuss horse and hunt related things, and with quite a number of gates to navigate there were plenty of opportunities to mingle.

One thing Max and I weren’t quite fully prepared for on this ride was that we were with members of an active hunt, and they naturally wanted to practice their jumping at every coop and giant fallen log they came to.

Now Max bless him has only just reached the stage of walking over jumps, and then only when very low to the ground — around 12-18 inches or so.

I certainly haven’t been practicing jumping in my western saddle either, so naturally when faced with a three foot high fence to tackle he got a little excited, especially as he had just seen his fellow trail buddies hopping over them with ease. We opted for the easy route through the gate, but it took at least another half an hour overall for Max to calm down enough to be back to his normal “chilled” self.

Personally I felt a little sorry for him that we couldn’t jump the fences, I am sure he would have loved it, and he is more than capable with a better, more accomplished rider on board, but my taste for hospital food has waned dramatically with advancing years, so I prefer to take it a little more slowly and hope to build up to that first successful jump soon enough. You could say we’ll be feeling as if we are three feet off the ground when that happens!

Until next week.

David Snogles can be reached at david_hasbury@ yahoo.com