wanabe
4th Nov 2007, 06:21 AM
Today was the "season opener" so it was very formal -- although our "very formal" probably isn't too formal compared to England or our New England states. It was the first time I've ever dressed that way, tho. These clothes are totally impractical for Texas weather, but I'm not complaining as part of the reason I'm doing this is the tradition. We were blessed by a priest to start and also had champagne and plum brandy beforehand.
My RI wanted me to ride 2nd field because of the hilly terrain. I've been driving thru this area for 40 years and have never noticed any hilly terrain, but took her advice. I found this very boring as we lost contact with the first field and were mostly standing around. She released me to join the 1st field when we next made contact -- "if I wanted". I wanted, :) , and so did, and that's when the fun and games started! My horse had been very unhappy about not being in the first field and when we did our first canter he took off like a shot and was soon going to pass the leader, so I tried the brakes, found they didn't work, and so tried turning him, this didn't work -- he began running with his head turned side-ways and got into such a choppy stride that I went up on his neck. After that tho, all was well and I got to take at least 20 jumps. Afterward, we went up to the home of the landowners for lunch. They were very nice people and I learned that one of the red-jacketed riders was our hostess.
Oh, I forgot to mention that this was just a glorified hack because by the time I joined the first field the pack had been lost and were never seen again! We have barbed wire fences here and don't have permission to cross onto other properties. I suspect the hounds got onto a live scent and went under a fence and the whips spent the rest of the day try to find them.
My RI wanted me to ride 2nd field because of the hilly terrain. I've been driving thru this area for 40 years and have never noticed any hilly terrain, but took her advice. I found this very boring as we lost contact with the first field and were mostly standing around. She released me to join the 1st field when we next made contact -- "if I wanted". I wanted, :) , and so did, and that's when the fun and games started! My horse had been very unhappy about not being in the first field and when we did our first canter he took off like a shot and was soon going to pass the leader, so I tried the brakes, found they didn't work, and so tried turning him, this didn't work -- he began running with his head turned side-ways and got into such a choppy stride that I went up on his neck. After that tho, all was well and I got to take at least 20 jumps. Afterward, we went up to the home of the landowners for lunch. They were very nice people and I learned that one of the red-jacketed riders was our hostess.
Oh, I forgot to mention that this was just a glorified hack because by the time I joined the first field the pack had been lost and were never seen again! We have barbed wire fences here and don't have permission to cross onto other properties. I suspect the hounds got onto a live scent and went under a fence and the whips spent the rest of the day try to find them.