Hounds in the Mist - Adapted from a vintage postcard circa 1906.
Foxhunting in the Mist
Category Archives: foxhunting
Thank goodness horses are so forgiving
One thing I like about horses is they don’t hold a grudge. Even when maybe they should.
At the end of hunt season I rode badly to a big vertical. I didn’t realize that the ground dipped slightly before the fence, making it larger than I realized.
I could tell that Freedom didn’t like the fence but he’d been jumping really nicely this fall. After treating him for Lyme I brought him back slowly and he’d felt good. The weekend before we’d had a particularly good school over a xc course at a hunter pace. We were ready, I thought.
But I though wrong. Freedom came into the jump, got his front end over, and stopped. There were were, straddling the fence. This had never happened to me before. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I bailed. Freedom backed up, got himself free from the jump and galloped on up the hill without me.
I was glad to see him look unscathed and sound so I climbed back on and finished the hunt. When we got to the next fence, I wasn’t sure how he’d feel, whether my bad ride would make him uncertain about the wisdom of jumping. But other than jumping the fence with plenty of room to spare, he was fine. In fact, he jumped really well for the rest of the hunt; he was a good, brave boy.
When I got him home, I found that he had scrapes on both stifles where he’d caught them on the fence. I couldn’t see the scrapes out in the field under his hair. That made me feel really guilty. I shaved the area around the scrapes and applied antibiotic ointment.
The next day, he was sound but oh, were his stifles sore to the touch. He got a few light days of riding, some bute and my gratitude — for being a willing and trusting partner who chose not to hold my poor riding against me but who was willing to give me the benefit of the doubt and face each new challenge without
Running or standing martingales: which to use?
A standing martingale should be adjusted so that it does not interfere with the horse's head carriage unless there is a problem.
If you are a show hunter, there’s not really a choice. Standing martingales are standard operating equipment, even on horses that don’t actually need them. However, for most people, the choice of martingale, or even whether to use one, is a question of function.
While the standing and running martingales both serve the purpose of controlling the height at which a horse carries its head — in theory, it is a safety device to keep the rider from being hit in the face if the horse throws its head too high. In practice, riders sometimes adjust the martingale to achieve a “set” head position, which is not the an appropriate use.
Although both devices achieve the goal of limiting head height, they accomplish it in very different ways.
Standing Martingale
In this picture, the martingale is too short -- you can see how it restricts the horse.
The standing martingale is essentially a strap that attaches the nose band to the girth or breastplate. It should be adjusted so that when the horse’s head is in a neutral position, the strap can fit up under the horse’s throat latch. A standing martingale is particularly useful for a horse that inverts and tosses its head. I had a mare like that once; she must have been part giraffe because she could get her head in my lap so fast that it was frightening. I used a standing martingale on her when I first started riding her so that she wouldn’t hurt me. It also taught her (and pretty quickly) that if she flung her head up and back she would be brought up short.
One of the great advantages of the standing martingale is that is a self-correcting device that is activated by the horse — it is a passive device. Once the “correction” is made the martingale no longer has any influence. It is more dangerous than a running martingale because in certain situations it is more restrictive — it cannot be easily loosened and if a horse falls or catches a leg it could be very dangerous. Standing martingales are not allowed to be used during the cross country phase of eventing competitions for this reason.
Running Martingale
The running martingale is more complex. It attaches from the girth or breastplate to the reins. It should be adjusted so there is at least an inch of slack when the horse’s head is in a neutral position. Unlike the standing martingale, the running adds leverage to the bit. When the rider pulls on the reins the martingale rings pull down. This adds pressure to the bars of the mouth. One of the disadvantages to the running martingale is that there is always some pressure on the reins due to the weight of the rings unless the rider is riding on the buckle. That’s one reason why many people don’t use a running on a leverage bit like a gag/elevator and why you would always attach the rings to the snaffle rein on a pelham.
A running martingale should have some slack in the forks when the head is in neutral and should always be used with rein stops to keep the rings from getting caught in the bit.
Running martingales are less restrictive than standing martingales and are considered by many to be safer (they can be used in eventing, for example). However, they should always be used with rein stops, which prevent the rings from slipping down and getting caught on the bit. I have seen people ride without the rein stops and that really makes me cringe because they can cause a terrible accident if the bit were to become caught in a ring.
Personally, I hunt with a running martingale. I appreciate the extra leverage that I get from the martingale as it allows me to use a milder bit and out hunting, Freedom can sometimes get above the bit and very excited. I rarely ride with one otherwise. However, I always use a running attachment to a breastplate. Out hunting you don’t want to have a regular martingale where the neck strap doesn’t attach to the saddle. It’s too easy for it to get over your horse’s head if he should trip or drop his head suddenly. The few people I’ve seen with a standard martingale out in the hunt field tie a bit of baling twine around the neck strap and then fasten it to a d-ring.
What about you? Do you ride with a martingale? Which one and why?
Video Demonstrations
Here are two videos that show how to adjust standing and running martingales.
How to make a hunting whip
Here’s an interesting video that shows just how much craftsmanship goes into making a real hunting whip.
Happy Thanksgiving!
We gave thanks this morning for a perfect day of hunting (and I gave thanks to my family for letting me ride!).
A splendid Thanksgiving hunt!
It’s hard to hunt without your bridle
Freedom looked sharp in his borrowed bridle.
I’m usually very organized during hunt season. I keep essentials in my trailer and I have spares of most of the truly important things.
This morning, I broke with my routine and paid the price. When I looked in my trailer tack room this morning I found that my bit wasn’t clean enough. So, I took it down to the tackroom, cleaned it, and left it hanging on the hook. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up at the hunt (after an hour’s drive) to discover it was missing in action!
I did actually have a spare bridle, of sorts, in the trailer. However it wasn’t ideal — the bit was an old Myler ported snaffle that I’d bought to try on Kroni, the bridle had no cavesson and it was far from clean.
Luckily, when I went begging I found someone wh
o had not one, but two, extra bridles. She thought she was driving two people to the hunt and had loaded their tack before discovering they couldn’t make it. One of them fit Freedom perfectly and I was saved.
The great open fields are a big attraction of this territory.
Of course, it’s been awhile since I’ve hunted him in a plain snaffle and with no rein stops my martingale was out of the question, but we managed fine. In situations like this I always have to remind myself that I can, and indeed, ride my horse. That I ride in a snaffle most of the time anyway, and that if I can’t ride without a martingale I have larger problems. He knew right away that I had marginal stopping power but he was a good boy and we never really got rolling.
It wasn’t a hunt I wanted to miss – it was our annual Blessing of the Hounds in a beautiful open territory that where we ride infrequently.
The hunt ended with a ride through an apple orchard.
It wasn’t a fast hunt but it was so pleasant riding through the open territory
! It was a “blessing” to be out there because this area suffered tremendous damage from the Nor’easter storm and hunt members and volunteers put in a ton of work to make the
trails accessible. Trail maintenance is one of the often overlooked benefits of having a hunt in your area. Old North Bridge Hounds invests a lot of time keeping the trails cleared and the jumps maintained and safe.
Freedom the energizer bunny hunts historic Lincoln
After a three hour hunt last Sunday and a hack on Monday, I assumed Freedom would be tired when we hunted on Tuesday. It was a hunt right in my backyard and I planned to hack to the cast. It was going to be in the high 60s and I was pretty relaxed about it.
Boy was I wrong. There was something in the air on Tuesday and lots of horses were maniacs, including mine. I don’t think he took a single walk step from the time we left the barn until we were 15 minutes from home — 2:45 hours later. He jigged, he jumped, he bounced and he flung his head up down. Silly me, I’d left my martingale at the barn as I thought that with no jumps, I wouldn’t need it!
Considering it is November, the weather was amazing — and there are still enough leaves on the trees glowing in the sun to make it seem like the beginning of fall, not the end.
This hunt starts in a big open field at the Codman Estate, built in 1741. The home to five generations of the Codman family, it is now a Museum and the grounds are the home of such important events as the town’s annual Easter egg hunt. We cast the hounds and had a great view of them working the field. Then we had a quick run through the woods, coming out on a street with the most amazing Bauhaus era houses. The most famous of them 
is the Gropius house, built in 1938. Walter Gropius was the founder of the Bauhaus school and a pioneer of modern architecture. The Gropius house is now a museum but the other houses on the street are equally fabulous and still lived in, some by the original residents.
The next cast took us into the fields of the Food Project, a program that teaches sustainable agriculture practices. The sillies really came out in that field. Two horses were bucking like crazy and the rider behind me was looking pretty pale as his horse tried to pass us at a dead gallop.
From there we hacked over Pine Hill to meet the hounds for the third cast. This took us around Flint’s Pond on the trails that surround the Decordova Museum. There’s a great wide trial that takes you around the pond. Luckily those trails don’t get too much use because the hounds and horses going full tilt would have been quite a sight.
We ended at another open field and a lovely pond.
From there, I hacked back home. Dressed in my formal hunt clothes I attracted some attention as I rode through town. An older gentleman asked if he could take my picture as I passed Bemis Hall — built in 1892, this magnificent old building was originally the Town Hall.
The rest of the hunt hacked back and were treated to the view of a magnificent red fox catching mice in the Codman field! Lucky for him, the hounds were already back in the truck. Although, since they are highly tuned to following the scent of anise, I’m not sure that a real fox would be a recognizable quarry.
Here’s some video from the hunt. Since it was taken on horseback, it’s not the steadiest.
Hunting with Tanheath in Pomfret, CT
The view from the parking lot gave a hint of the beautiful territory we were going to ride through.
Yesterday we had a joint meet with Tanheath in Pomfret, Connecticut. It was a beautiful day and it seems a shame to miss out on any opportunity to explore some new territory.
Pomfret is about an hour and 20 minutes from where I live — more of a drive than I generally do for hunting (I’m spoiled in that regard). But it was worth the haul. Even if it was only 24 degrees when we left the barn!
As we drove up to the parking area we were already excited about the ride to come — the countryside was lovely. Very reminiscent of England with its open fields and greenery.
The hunt started with their Blessing of the Hounds. With the hounds and staff silhouetted in the morning
The Blessing of the Hounds at Tanheath
sun and the light mist that rose of the fields it was a special moment where we gave thanks to the hounds, our horses and the fox.
Freedom was very excited when he saw the hounds come out of the truck but he was a good sport and stood quietly for the blessing. I bought a small camera off of eBay last week that fits neatly in my saddlebag and he was quite co-operative as I took photos.
We rode off through some exquisite fields peppered with inviting looking natural fences. Sadly, the fields were still very wet from the freak snow storm last week, so we were only able to jump two of them. I must come back and ride here again!
We didn’t get to see much of the hounds on the hunt — they disappeared soon into the hunt; I’m not sure what scent they were following, but only a few of the hounds stuck with us. I know from friends who’ve hunted with Tanheath before that this is a great pack and we were just unlucky that that we missed out on their music.
We did have some nice canters and enjoyed the new views and vistas. For Freedom the most exciting part of the hunt was the llama. We were cantering up a dirt road and there was a fenced in field on our right that held two llamas and a goat. Right when we got next to them, the white llama moved! That caused a huge spook to the left (he didn’t know they were alive until the moved) that torqued my knee something terrible and left Freedom snorting in disbelief.
Watching for the hounds
All in all, it was a very pleasant ride. We met some nice people, enjoyed the territory and even basked in the sun (it was 62 degrees when we got back to the trailers).
One thing that I really enjoyed was the chance to ride with our huntsman. She is generally working the hounds and so she rarely gets to ride with the field. That was a treat on its own.
