aiken hunting etc

riding out of the meet with Whiskey Road hounds, thursday

bad Ranger

good Ranger

just as we left the meet, reached the first big field, and one of the whips went to jump out of the field over a mid-sized coup, and took a departure from his horse, ending up on the opposite side of the jump than his horse. here we are regrouping

still regrouping, christa, jen, calvin, and a whiskey road member

bog

we spent a lot of time walking and chatting. calvin demonstrating his backwards riding skills.

Ranger showin some love

"dear calvin, please give me some of your almonds, i promise ill be good for christa if you do! love, ranger

the boat swallowing bog. curious how it got there.

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the most treacherous footing i've ever ridden on. in a forest actively being logged, to the sweet sounds of trees being bulldozed

still walking

 Well. needless to say, i had plenty of time to take photos this first day of hunting. though it certainly seemed  like a crazy fast and exciting hunt compared to the one we participated in on friday.

Maybe i am being a little too harsh. It was beautiful, and i have never been through so many different ecosystems as we hunted through on thursday. (except for a trek from san jose over the mountains to the rainforest when i visited costa rica last winter, but that was different i suppose)

We started out in the tundra, huge open fields, brown and sparse. Then we rode through the desert, huge sand dunes, low brush, pine trees of the gnarly variety and sun warming us. Then we went on to ride through a few highly wooded areas one of which being a very maine-like forest that was in the process of being logged. That was a crazy experience.... all the logs were covering the ground, and by covering i mean there was no way for the horses to step on the ground, only tree trunks, and they were slippery and unstable. I was commenting to one of the other folks out hunting that it was the craziest footing i have ever ridden on, and he said, "Oh. When they are on a run, they will gallop through here." like it was no big deal.
Then we picked up a trot up a hill and around the turn, i thought it was curtains for springer and i. Oi. Down on a knee with one front leg basically sticking out between his hind legs. thankfully he has some sense of self preservation and got us out of the sticky situation. Hopefully I will never have to do that again. That was scary.

Anyway. Hunting is always an experience. That. Is for sure.