We gathered for our meet with the Harvest moon still in the sky, and really quite dark.  Master Stephen greeted all 19 of us, plus Masters Joanne and Brendan, which was an excellent turnout considering the hospitality enjoyed at the various tailgate parties the previous day at the Hunter Trials, and no doubt sheer exhaustion of many that worked so hard.   Stephen thanked Krystyn, Holly and Jacqui and everyone who attended or helped in whatever small way to make the day a fantastic success.  He also welcomed three cappers, Anders from Sweden (do they fox hunt there? I should have asked) Nina Brander, Bryce’s granddaughter and Dr. Mary Potasek.
As we left Bryce and Grace Thompson’s farm the countryside looked a little like a sepia photograph, except we were in it, and immediately our 15 couple of hounds shot off, with a surprising amount of voice after a fox in Greg Manners large corn field.  Their wonderful sound seemed to reverberate around the valley. 

As I turned around at a short check I wished I had my camera with me, the sun was starting to rise, but it was still a little gray, mist hovering here and there, and steam coming off the horses, made the scene look somewhat ethereal.  It was rather a magnificent sight.   (Mind you as I’m blind as a bat any chance of me taking a decent photo is delusional!)

We then moved off quickly on the tail of a fox onto the end of Gail and Fred Gardiner‘s land where we collected hounds and crossed North Hill Road, to hit another of Greg Manners cornfields.   Few dashes this way and that kept things lively, especially for Wendy Furlong who was going for the Superwoman Award, as she co- led the field, then shot off to whip, then galloped back and shot off again- As I said to Brendan it take a woman to multi task!

As we stood at another check I thought what an interesting sound the very dry corn makes when 31 hounds that you can’t see whoosh by on the scent of a fox,  you just see the corn moving and its a little like a small steam train, with the rustling gradually coming closer and closer then fading as the hounds pass by and move on.

We continued onto the edge of the Air Park and watched Helen Hound leap into what we thought was a shallow stream- splosh it was very deep.  We splashed our way through only to be faced with sucking sounds as our horses battled a small but very boggy area.   My old campaigner Declan got in quite deep up to the edge of my saddle, thankfully he managed to jump his way out minus a boot.  At the time it seemed like a bit of an adventure, but all safe and sound and amazingly everyone’s horses still had shoes on.

The next out of the ordinary sound was Steve Farin yelling out in surprise (plus a   few expletives!) as a large buck leapt out of the corn and missed him and his horse Newton by inches.  

We then rounded Oda Denton’s corn, and hounds seemed to rattle around as did we, and hitting the gravel of the driveway we crunched our way up and down and down and up.  Then back onto the old airpark driveway where hounds gave chase to a young cub which they caught.  Steve allowed each hound to sniff the fox and praised them, to demonstrate to the younger hounds this is their prey.

By now the sun had risen in the cloudless sky as we moved onto dead center of the valley (the graveyard on North Hill Road) Steve and the whips, MP, Richard, Lauren and trainee Charlie helped collect everyone for a final try and Steve and the hounds  drew the hedgerows, and cornfields heading for home.  After two and a half hours we arrived back at Sourland Farm- our starting point.

Now the sun was high in the cloudless sky and felt luxuriously warm as we sat and feasted on a wonderful breakfast hosted by Steve Garfield.   Sitting enjoying the pleasurable company of friends I could have sat there all day, and it felt like a great day of sights and sounds.

Cb

With the first fall day of the year, Sunday began with a slight chill in the air, which by the time we set off from Cindy and John Nance’s farm the sun had started to rise in what was a cloudless sky and warmed us all and made the long line of 27 riders and horses gleam.  Master Stephen greeted the  field  ( in his teachers voice!)  plus our whips and Mr. Farrin, who led his devoted  18 couple of hound as we set off across the fields.  

It didn’t take long to see our hounds work the first cornfield  and then take off at a rate of knots into John’s larger corn field.  This meant that we took off at a gallop after them.  I love it when you have the chance to warm your horse up and then blow off some steam early in the day- when we gathered there was a great deal of smiling from all.   It was clear that our whips had done a superb job of keeping the pack together and so when Steve did a roll call- all were panting and present. 

We moved onto Mrs Van Dorens land- and the hounds worked the corn as we stood guard to stop any of them  moving onto Amwell Road.  Standing there, the horses slightly steaming, the corn now brown and dry, firstly a large grey heron gracefully flew overhead followed by what Jeannie and I thought was a bald eagle taking off from a thicket; we had heard there was one in the valley.    Then back to the other side of the Van Doren’s land and Madelyn made some interesting noises that went like oooh, eees oooh, this was clearly code for “Tally Ho” and a magnificent dog fox with a fabulous brush shot out of the corn a few feet in front of us and ran onto Mrs Van Doren’s cow fields.The smart chap knew we couldn’t follow but he gave everyone an excellent view. 

Meanwhile our trusty road whips, Bruce and Laurie were dealing with fox overload on the "S" bend of Cider Mill Road as they come across 3 more foxes.  So we went onto D and R Greenways land, and after Steve worked one of the top fields the pack picked up the scent of another fox, Master Stephen was forced to take the field the long way around in order to catch the pack, however, a section was galloped at a rate of knots back to the road.!!! Meanwhile Steve had already come on another fox that gave the pack something to think about.    We had planned to try to get down to the river across from Barbara Hays land, but with so much chasing this way and that, we ran out of time and decided to call it a day- remarkably all hounds accounted for. 

We returned to the meet, and had a delightful breakfast supplied by Lynnette and Brian.  

One of the things I absolutely love about fox hunting, is the camaraderie that’s involved and Amwell has this in spades.  It is fair to say it is a club which isn’t hierarchical, people try their best to help each other and just love getting out to watch hounds follow their instincts, ride horses and chase a few foxes.  Today as Katy pointed out, people had offered their horses to friends,  people were excited that Kristin has taken on the monumental task of running the Hunter Trials, people welcomed guests into the fold and could eat together. this turned out to be a superb 8 fox day!

After what seemed like an eternity of humid mornings, this Sunday had a very slight chill in the air, one of those mornings where it just seemed to be the perfect temperature.  What was also perfect was the sunrise- the sky turned a vivid red as though on fire, and the day started to warm up.  Today was Newcomers Day and we had a great field of 24 riders, 5 whips (Richard, MP, Lisa, Lauren and Charlie- whip in training) 18 couple of hounds, Mr. Farin and Masters Joanne and Stephen.  (maybe I should have listed everyone the other way around- oh well) We were delighted to welcome our supporters including our friends from Monmouth, who seemed to enjoy the day as much as we liked their company.

Setting off from Fran Lippincott's Big Sky Farm, we lapped several of the corn fields, and onto a section of Bryce Thompson's land and ended up in Mr and Mrs Schwab's fields.  Our hounds including seven puppies (Lancer, Nightcap, Nifty, Nitro, Nimrod, Lyric and Watchman) tried their hearts out, chasing a few foxes, one that dashed between Charlie's horse-James Henry Himself legs, but largely thwarted by the lack of scent. One rather amusing incident was a chase onto the edge of the owners of the Amwell Antiques beautiful garden, where the fox seemed to go to ground. Steve signalled as such but the field could only see hounds gathering around three garages.  So some bright spark stated the fox had gone to "garage" and Brian added it was a new form of underground parking!  Ok you needed to be there!

We returned to the meet 2 1/2 hours later to be greeted with a fabulous breakfast laid on by Jaque, with help from Kris and Nadia.

Despite the lack of scent, and ground that sorely needed some rain, it was rather a splendid meet, we hopped a few coups and logs, spotted a few small hawks, and with the fields still largely green, the tops of the corn and some of the trees starting to go brown.  I described today as  one that was gloriously green and brown.

Cheryl B

When we are out in January looking at one another thinking we are quite mad and wondering why foot warmers don’t quite work as well as the packet claims, we may reflect back on the early meets of this season, like today. Boy was it hot again. However, 16 1/2 couple of hounds, including three puppies, Lancer, Nightcap and Lyric worked their heart and souls chasing foxes this way and that. Master Brendan greeted everyone at the meet and Wendy led a great field once again of 28 of us as we took off to Riding Mill Farm to explore the large corn field. Lining up to stop hounds leaving the property, the sharp eyes and quick reaction of whips Lauren and Richard spotted our first fox of the day.
With much activity in the corn by the hounds our huntsman, Steve felt there were at least two more zipping around in there. In hot pursuit he chased one all the way over to his driveway. We then lapped our field, then lapped Phil and PM Ward’s hay field, and Steve went through the end of their property on foot. Hounds collected we doubled back to our pond where hounds dived in to cool off.
We moved back to the meet alongside Ben and Gail Cahill’s property and onto Mr. and Mrs. Garrett’s land. Reaching the top of the hill Steve worked the hounds on Mr. and Mrs. Holcombe’s cornfield while the field watched from the other side of the hedge. More activity and we caught up with Steve at the small coops where three more foxes were viewed and hounds were on the line. Our whip Richard Pye with Charlie Buxton tore off to collect Tranquil who enthusiastically got on the line of yet another fox.
With two hours out, hounds, horses and people dripping, it was time to call it a day. We had a very pleasant breakfast courtesy of Sue DeHaven. I know there are many hunts around the country that have wide open territory where you can gallop for miles, but how often do they get a 6 fox day? Go Amwell!