We had beautiful weather for our first Hunt from the New Irish Fox facility. The earlier scheduled hunt from this fixture had been cancelled due to snow. John and Beth were gracious hosts and their new barn is absolutely lovely. Beth baked a great lasagna.
There were 13 couple of hounds hunted by Eleanor. Jill, Mary, John, and Michelle were whips. The field was led by Werner with Robert, Stephanie, Sue, Jean, Geri, Stacy, Leslie, Leslie, Emily, Tom, Jane, and Lei.
Temperature started at 57 and went up to 66 deg. F. Wind from the west at 8 pmh with gusts to 15mph. Barometer 30.03 In Hg.
The hunt was fast and furious with the hounds in full cry early on. The territory is very rough near the Dardenne and even the huntsman had trouble staying with the hounds. There were many boggy spots and Jean had an involuntary dismount when her horse went down in a bog at full run. Both were ok and finished the hunt with the rest of us. The hunt started at 10AM and went until 12:30. Both horses and hounds were hot by this time with the unusually warm weather. I must say I particularly enjoyed the Dardenne creek crossing which had a natural bounce to ditch combination.