![]() ![]() Everyone in the hunt field is on equal footing, literally and figuratively. The individuals riding with the hunt are led by a Field Master who keeps up with the action so that riders may watch the hounds, and even possibly get a glimpse of the fox, an event in which it is proper to shout, “Tally Ho!” The group riding behind the huntsman is the first field, which is also known as first flight, because it can seem like flying when galloping fast to keep up with hounds. Their son was also a foxhunter and, finally, one day on a run that he thought was worthy of mom and dad, he opened the bottom of the bag to scatter their ashes. Their son had them cremated, which was their wish, and he put them on a little bag on the back of his saddle and he kept them there. Dick was a triple air ace so there was nothing wimpy at all about him. They died close to one another, and they lived to a good age. “One of the greatest stories I have to tell is about two people I hunted with for years, the Williamsons’s – Dick and Bea Williamson. ![]() Foxhunters tend to be vivid personalities you meet the most interesting people.” “Anybody out there is pretty capable and gutsy, but also they’re people that love life. “Foxhunting is not a sport for the tepid,” Rita Mae says, of riding in the hunt field. I want to just say, yes you can! Get outside of that crazy swirl of constant news, just bag it for a couple of hours a day if you can and go outside and be grateful for the birds and anything out there. They are dutiful, but they don’t have that great passion, and if they do they don’t think they can do anything with it. I’ve realized most people aren’t really doing what they want, and there’s a lot of unhappiness. Photo by Barbara Bower, Rita Mae’s lifestyle of riding and hunting is one that she says allows her to spend time in what she refers to as, “This incredible creation all around me.” She elaborates about the effect her lifestyle has on her when she says, “In many ways riding and hunting has made me much more sensitive to the environment, but it has also made me more sensitive to people. Rita Mae wearing traditional brown tweed, informal cubbing attire. It was a nice way to sit for 15 minutes and then go back out and do what you had to do.” Although friends have joked that it should be called Coca Cola Farm for Rita Mae’s fondness for the beverage. She says, “When I was a kid we always stopped at 4 o’clock for tea. She explains that her family line originated in Britain, and although her ancestors left Britain in 1622, they still kept British customs alive. She hunts from her farm in Virginia that she has named Tea Time Farm. It is common for the quarry to outrun the hounds or duck into their dens, which is referred to as “going to ground.” When the hounds are on the scent line of the fox, the horses and riders move off quickly to keep up with the action to watch the hounds work. While also acting as huntsman, she is responsible for hunting the hounds, or deciding where and how the hounds will hunt on each outing. As Master, Rita Mae is the head of the foxhunt club, deciding the plan for the day’s hunting and overseeing all aspects of the hunt club. Not surprisingly, that little girl grew up to be Master of Foxhounds and Huntsman of the Oak Ridge Hunt club near Charlottesville, Virginia. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful.” When I was little, there were some ladies who rode sidesaddle and they would take their fences in style. “I would go to horse shows but what I really liked were the people in the foxhunt field. ![]() Rita Mae’s early heroes were accomplished riders. Riding changes your mind and your spirit and you become much more grateful for other forms of life.” You have to meet them half way or it really isn’t going to work. She explains, “In order to really build a partnership with a horse you have to completely change your way of thinking. It seems that Rita Mae learned some things about life when she learned about riding. She was a good person, but she wasn’t going to baby me at all.” She says, “My mother would throw me on old farm horses. But before any of those accomplishments, Rita Mae rode horses. She is also an advocate for equal rights and an Emmy nominated screenwriter and poet. Rita Mae Brown is well known for the entertaining novels she writes where household pets and other animals take an active part in solving the murder mystery. Photo by Barbara Bower, By Doris Degner-Foster Rita Mae, cub hunting from a fixture, or location, of Oak Ridge Hunt. ![]()
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