SP
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SSG Riding Gloves
SUMMER 2015
The Kit
Horse Health and Equipment Guide for a Happy Hunt Season.
The Kit 1
E V E RY T H I NG FOR T H E HOR SE & R I DE R 117 E A S T 2 4 T H S T • N E W Y O R K C I T Y
Vogel - Alexander James Berney Bros Saddles www.manhattansaddlery.com
Drive Safely BY TOM AND NEVA SCHEVE
RE-ACTIVATING YOUR HORSE TRAILER
IF YOU ARE HEADING OUT ON A FREEWAY, KNOW THE SPEEDLIMIT OF YOUR TIRES.
For a lot of reasons, hauling horses in your trailer after it has been parked for a long period is just not a good idea. Before heading out, use the following maintenance checklist to get you and your horses back on the road safely.
COURTESY TOM SCHEVE
TIP 1 Check the age of your tires. The build date is stamped on the tire. Tires only last about six years whether they are worn or look new.
TIP 2 Make sure the air pressure in all your tires is filled to the Maximum PSI. The “max psi� is located on the tire near the rim. Filling them to the max will allow them to ride cooler, flex less, and therefore be less apt to blow. If you are driving from a cold to hot climate, remember that
temperature affects the air pressure, so check often.
TIP 3 Be sure the trailer is level so that the weight of the trailer is sitting on both axles/all four tires evenly; otherwise you will overload the tires/axle carrying the most weight.
TIP 4 Be sure there are caps on all tire stems. They keep dirt, sand, and grime from damaging the spring in the stem. TIP 5 Have the bearings lubed, the brakes adjusted and checked, and be sure all the running lights, turn signals, and brake lights are working properly.
TIP 6 Check the interior of the stall area for wasp nests, spider nests, and any other creature that may have adopted your trailer as a home.
TIP 7 Check the floorboards for damage or aluminum floor for corrosion. Work all doors and check all latches for damage and workability.
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TIP 8
If you have changed tow vehicles since you last towed the trailer, check the weight ratings of the frame mounted hitch to be sure it is rated to tow the weight of your trailer. Inspect the coupler and be sure the coupler size is the same as the ball on your tow vehicle.
TIP 9
MORE TRAILER TRAVEL TIPS BY DONNA MARTIN, BLUE RIDGE TRAILERS
TRAILER TIRES
If you are heading out on a freeway, know the speed limit of your tires. Exceeding it could cause tire failure.
and everything else associated with the trailer — will last longer if kept out of the sunlight. The optimum location is under a shed or at least covered with both tire covers and a cloth trailer cover, if possible (trailer covers are available in many different sizes online).
TIP 10 Be sure you have
should be examined and adjusted about every 3000 miles. A typical state inspection (Virginia in particular) might only require that the brakes on one side of the trailer be working — not requiring that they are working correctly. The breakaway battery should be checked that it is fully charged, before every trip.
a tire pressure gauge, trailer jack (TrailerAid), lug nut wrench that fits your lug nuts, triangles/flare kit, and a fully inflated spare tire. Neva Kittrell Scheve, along with her husband Tom, is the author of the nationally recognized textbook “The Complete Guide to Buying, Maintaining, and Servicing a Horse Trailer.” Both Tom and Neva have designed and developed the EquiSpirit, EquiBreeze and ThoroSport line of horse trailers. 2 The Kit
BRAKES
REMOVE wet bedding and manure after every trip. Floor mats should be removed and washed, along with the floor about every 3 months, during use.
BEFORE PULLING OUT TO TRAVEL, walk around the trailer one final time to ensure that the hitch is attached and locked correctly, that the dressing room door is locked (tongue weight and road vibration tend to cause an unlocked dress door to open during travel), that all exterior lights are on and working correctly and that all doors are closed and the ramp(s) are up and latched.
Donna Martin owns Blue Ridge Trailers in Ruckersville, Va.
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All creatures great and small
Weigh-in
BY JOANNE MESZOLY
KEEP YOUR FIELD HUNTER IN GOOD FLESH THROUGHOUT THE SEASON. Lots of people struggle with winter weight gain. Cold weather spurs our cravings for hearty comfort food and the holidays beckon with tempting treats. It’s easy to pack on the pounds. But as many of us announce our New Year’s resolutions to exercise and diet, some field hunters experience the opposite problem: they are shedding weight. Weight loss has a way of creeping up, since the heart of the hunt season overlaps fall and winter, and often workloads increase as pastures become dormant and grazed 4 The Kit
MAKE THE MOST OF MEALS
down. In cold climates, winter weather also takes a toll on horses who require more energy to maintain body heat when temperatures plummet. Once your horse is whittled down, it may be springtime before he regains his fleshiness. Your best bet? Monitor his body condition, and manage and supplement his diet to stave off weight loss before it appears. SIZE HIM UP Dental problems, a high parasite load and ulcers are a few ailments that lead to weight loss, but among healthy horses, the most common cause is deficient nutrition. “When a horse’s feed doesn’t provide enough energy, the horse has to use energy stored in the body,” says Carey Williams, PhD, equine extension specialist
FOR YEARS,
sweet feed and concentrates have gotten a bum rap in the feed bin. Experts have emphasized the starchy nature of grain, and cautioned about carbohydrate excess and lactic acid production. The message: forage only, if possible. But in last few years, the anti-starch climate has changed. Experts have found that a little grain plays a valuable role in the working horse’s diet. “We found that in a normal, healthy horse, a little starch kept the body well primed to utilize starch and sugar,” says Crandell. “We’ve also studied normal horses fed only fat and fiber, and found that they’d become a little insulin resistant.” If your horse’s workload or his appearance suggest a need for more calories, consider these additions to beef up his meal.
BEET PULP is the fibrous byproduct of sugar beets, once sugar is stripped from the plant. Because of its high fiber/low starch properties, beet pulp is digested slowly, like forage. It’s commonly sold in shredded form and is saturated with water to increase palatability, then mixed with a grain meal.
RICE BRAN is the outer layer of rice, which is removed when rice is processed for human consumption. It is high in fat as well as digestible fiber and starch, which makes it a good source of energy. Look for product fortified with calcium, and stabilized to prevent rancidity. GROUND OR WHOLE FLAXSEED, from the flax plant, is high
in fat, fiber and protein. Many horse owners prefer to feed ground flax, and most supplement products are sold that way; it is believed to be more nutritious without the hard shell. Like rice bran, ground flax goes rancid quickly, so consider a stabilized product.
CORN OIL is a quick, easy way to boost calories without adding bulk to a meal. Pour it over the grain meal for a 99% fat top dressing. Equine nutritionists recommend adding no more than a cup of corn oil a day. Oil does leave a slimy residue on bucket and tubs, especially if a horse doesn’t “lick the bowl clean,” so plan for additional scrubbing.
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and associate director at the Rutgers Equine Science Center. “Horses use fat stores to mobilize fatty acids -- through a process called fatty acid oxidation. It’s a long, slow process to mobilize the fat but it keeps the horse sustained. However, once the horse loses weight, it takes weeks for a horse to start gaining again.” To prevent weight loss in your hunt horse, first assess his condition. Look at the areas where fat is 6 The Kit
stored: along the ribs, crest, withers, the back, tail head, and behind the shoulder. Apply your horse’s appearance to the equine body condition scoring system. Sometimes called the “Henneke System” for its founder, body condition scoring allows a handler to evaluate fat deposits and score the horse from a range of one (“poor”) to nine (“extremely fat”). Ideally, performance horses score a five, though anywhere
from four to six is acceptable. Versions of the Henneke’s body condition score, with supporting photos, are found online. In addition, estimate your horse’s weight. You can use a weight tape – sold through tack stores – which requires a measurement of your horse’s heart girth, or measure both heart girth and body length and plug your findings into one of the many equine weight calculators online.
THE EDIBLE COMPLEX So, you’ve assessed your horse’s weight and condition. The next question: how many pounds of food does he eat each day? Nutritionists recommend that the average horse consume the equivalent of two percent of body weight daily (approximately 20 pounds for a 1,000-pound horse) though active field hunters and performances horses require more. However, many owners don’t know how much their horses eat. They measure rations by the flake and the scoop, not by the pound. “People ask me why their horse isn’t gaining weight,” says Carey. “And I’ll discover that they haven’t weighed their feed or hay. When they do, they find that their horse only gets 12 pounds a day.
contain protein, as well as thinner stems, and little or no seed heads. “Horse owners tend to think that timothy is a high quality hay,” says That’s why the horse isn’t gaining.” It’s easy to weigh a scoop of feed. “You don’t need anything fancy – an $8 food scale will do,” says Kathleen Crandell, PhD, a nutritionist at Kentucky Equine Research. “I’ve even heard of people who weigh a ration on a produce scale at the grocery store. The point is, weigh it once and you’re set.” It isn’t feasible to sneak a bale of hay into the grocery store, so use a standard home scale. If it’s difficult to see the reading beneath an unwieldy flake, place the hay in a container. Otherwise, weigh yourself while holding a bale, and divide
To offer more nutrients in a forage meal, Vough recommends mixing alfalfa with grass hay. Alfalfa is high in protein; in fact, it exceeds the average horse’s
your finding by the numNot sure if your hay is immature and leafy, ber of flakes or stemmy and mature? Williams offers this (subtracting tip: “I tell horse owners to grab a handful of hay yourself, of course). in your bare hand, then squeeze it or crumple it Ideally, up,” she says. “If it hurts your hands, those are the hay to the thick stems you are feeling. But if you ball grain ratio in it up and it’s nice and soft, it’s less mature and your horse’s diet reflects higher in quality.” his herbivore design. daily requirements. “Most Lester Vough, PhD, a Using the 1,000 pound horses don’t need straight forage crop specialist and horse example, 15 of the alfalfa,” says Vough, “but a consultant. “And they 20 pounds in his ration mix will have a higher enwant to see mature seed should come from forage. ergy content than straight heads like they see with a While weight is a grass hay.” small grain crop. But timvaluable measure, it othy is low in protein, low isn’t a good indicator of in nutrition. And when it’s Joanne Meszoly is a freenutrition. Ideally, any lance writer who hunts with species of hay is harvested fully mature and ‘headed Potomac. She is a frequent out,’ crude protein levels when it is immature and Covertside contributor. drop even more.” has more leaves, which
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Kit Care BY TRISH BOSLEY
BRUSH, STEAM, HANG Whether you buy your clothes ready-made or from a custom tailor, a few simple steps will help improve their longevity. Sending everything to the cleaners each time you wear them can lead to premature aging or disintegration. Here are a few basic steps to minimize that disintegration and improve the life-cycle of your riding apparel:
1
Acquire a quality clothes brush, with real hair bristles stiff enough to loosen any dirt or mud that might set up on the surface of the fabric of your coats.
2
Use steam to remove wrinkles and the occa-
8 The Kit
sional dirt or stain that has worked its way into the weave of your fabric. A hand held steamer or steam from a hot shower will freshen the fabric and release any lasting odors and wrinkles.
hanger should stop at the top of the sleeve head — where the sleeve joins the shoulder of the jacket, and the hanger should have a slight curve or bow shape.
the garment, not in the closet — often the shower rod works nicely. The next day, brush and shake the garment to loosen any remaining dirt.
3
At the end of the day hang your jacket on its hanger where air can circulate freely around
4
Leave jackets unbuttoned in cloth bags when hanging for an extended period. Plastic and vinyl bags are great protection
Hang coats on a properly sized wooden clothes hanger. The frame of the
5
to use when traveling, but not for long-term storage. If they must be used, leave them open to ensure air circulation.
6
Cotton shirts, whether you wash and iron them yourself or send them to a cleaner, are best laundered without starch. Fine cloth ages and disintegrates faster when its pores are filled with starch.
A FEW WORDS ON FOOTWEAR LEATHER REQUIRES special maintenance to keep it healthy, especially boots that traipse through manure and urine. Try to clean leather as soon as possible after drying at normal room temperatures. Using a ph neutral cleaner, be especially careful to clean along the area where the leather “upper� joins the sole of the boot. Once the boots are dry and clean, apply the conditioner, oil and polish that your bootmaker suggests. With new boots, rub mink oil into all of the leather and then more frequently where the sole and the boot meet. Rub
briskly to raise the surface temperature of the leather slightly. If using a cream polish, it is not necessary to use a conditioner; it is part of the polish. Waxbased polish provides the dual benefit of protection from damp conditions and a relatively high shine. The key to longevity for all of your leather footwear is to keep the underlying leather properly conditioned and shaped. When possible, use wooden trees for your boots. The relationship between wood and leather is symbiotic, making it far superior to plastic or rolled newspaper for storing boots.
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SUMMER 2015
The Kit
Horse Health and Equipment
Guide for a Successful Hunt
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First Aid BY JOANNE MESZOLY
Wire Laceration CONSIDER THESE TRIAGE AND TREATMENT GUIDELINES. We all strive to safeguard our horses and conclude a day of hunting in the same fashion as we started: with a sound, unscathed mount. But injuries can and do occur, sometimes in a spectacular, dramatic fashion and other times in the most
innocuous forms. While it is fruitless to fret over the “what ifs” that you or your horse may encounter, it is prudent to have a plan.Here’s a rundown of some injuries that occur more frequently in the hunt field than in other horse sports.
LIKELY CAUSE: We are all familiar with the call, “ware wire!” when someone stumbles on a strand or section of abandoned wire fencing. Typically, the offending material is concealed by leaves or overgrown cover and is not evident until a horse treads over the wire or snags a leg. At a walk, a horse can usually step free of the impediment, provided he remains calm. But if the strands are tangled or the horse is moving quickly, the downed fencing can snag the leg. THE INJURY: Wire wounds usually occur on the lower legs though a strand strung over a coop can scrape the forearms of a horse. Injuries span the gamut
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from superficial cuts to severe lacerations involving tendons or joints; the latter may require surgical repair. Consult your veterinarian as soon as possible, even regarding seemingly superficial cuts. “When a horse gets cut by wire, the wound is going to be contaminated by dirt and mud as you take the horse back in,” says Lora Howell, DVM, who hunts with Caza Ladron in New Mexico, and grew up hunting in upstate New York. “At minimum, the horse will likely need antibiotics and a tetanus booster.” KEEP THIS IN MIND: Fencing varies by region and all wire is not alike. In the Mid-Atlantic states, for example, high tensile wire can be troublesome,
Puncture Wounds but downed page wire contributes to more severe leg lacerations. “If the foot goes through [a square of fencing], the wire can saw through a pastern or tendon,” says Elizabeth Reese, DVM, who is a longtime member of Maryland’s Potomac Hunt. “The severity of the injury and the damage to tissue often depends on whether the horse panics, or is sensible enough to stand still and wait to be cut free.” In Colorado and many Western states, barbed wire is the preferred choice for livestock fencing, says G. Marvin Beeman, DVM, who is MFH of the Arapahoe Hunt and has served as the hunt’s whipper-in or huntsman for 72 years. When encountering this fencing, Beeman recommends a response that might seem counter intuitive to most riders. “If you
find your horse in barbed wire, don’t dismount if you can possibly help it,” he says. “Staying on might go against your mindset, but if you get off, the horse will turn around and can get caught in the wire even more. If you stay in the saddle, chances are, the wire is going to break and cause less damage to the leg.” IMMEDIATE CARE: If your horse’s leg is cut, you can use your stock tie to bandage the injury. Do not wrap the injury using a tourniquet which can damage the tendons in the leg. Once the wound is covered, resist the urge to remove the bandage should blood seep through; the steady pressure of a saturated bandage can help slow the bleeding and prevent further contamination until your veterinarian arrives.
LIKELY CAUSE: Virtually any sort of sharp, pointy matter can pierce the skin, including a nail, a stick, a wood shard on a damaged jump, even the frozen tip on corn stalk stubble. (Hoof punctures are addressed below.) THE INJURY: Compared to a laceration, a puncture isn’t very bloody and, at first glance, may appear fairly harmless. But these injuries require prompt veterinary attention. Punctures can be deceptively deep and remnants of foreign matter may be embedded deep within the tissue, even when the object has been removed. Infection also is a concern as bacteria can be trapped within. In general, these wounds are difficult to clean, and they drain poorly because the entry point is small.
KEEP IN MIND: Though any puncture wound requires attention, one near the joint calls for emergency veterinary attention, due to the risk of infection which can be life threatening or cause permanent lameness. “Studies have found that the joint capsule in the fetlock and pastern can extend farther than you might think,” says Reese. “So a puncture that looks like it’s an inch away, can still communicate infection to the joint.”
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Hoof Injuries IMMEDIATE CARE: In most cases, a puncture will curtail your day in the field — certainly if your mount shows any signs of soreness or lameness. In the rare case of a puncture on the upper body, you may be able to continue hunting. But contact your veterinarian immediately afterward. Once you are back at your trailer or barn awaiting the vet, says Beeman, “you can hose the wound and apply a Fura-Zone bandage [over a leg injury], but I wouldn’t spend a lot of time messing with it. Your vet will flush the affected area and clean it out.”
LIKELY CAUSE: In the hunt field, anything hard or sharp on the ground is suspect. Acute injuries can occur when a sharp object punctures or cracks the sole or frog. Flinty rocks fall into that “sharp” category as do nails, discarded from construction, dumped with trash, or lodged in downed board. THE INJURY: Shortened stride and soreness are primary indicators of hoof injury. You may notice your horse’s tenderfooted response to a stretch of rocky footing or he may take a buckling step as his hoof presses against a sharp object. Immediate or escalating lameness suggests that the material is embedded in the foot. KEEP IN MIND: If possible, try to walk your horse home without removing an embedded item; pulling it out, then walking your horse, further exposes the wound to contaminants. What’s more, “if you remove a nail, we can’t be sure where it went,” says Howell. “There are so many important structures that can be penetrated. If we can X-ray the nail, we can determine whether bone, tendon or ligament have been compromised, and how aggressive we’ll be with treatment.” IMMEDIATE CARE: To prevent the nail from pressing deeper into the foot, cut off the nail head so the metal is flush with the foot or shoe.
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A Kick LIKELY CAUSE: We all try to maintain a safe distance between our mounts and other horses at all times, but accidents happen — especially when you let your guard down. A blow might come not from a known kicker (whom you already avoid) but from a well-behaved horse who responds uncharacteristically when suddenly crowded. THE INJURY: The majority of kicks are not bone-breakingly severe, but ensuing damage depends on whether the kicker is barefoot, shod, or wearing studs. Proximity also factors in (usually a kick has less force when the horses are sidled close togeth-
A BLOW MIGHT COME NOT FROM A KNOWN KICKER BUT FROM A WELL-BEHAVED HORSE, WHO RESPONDS UNCHARACTERISTICALLY WHEN SUDDENLY CROWDED.
er); and location of the blow. The body absorbs force better than spindly, bony legs.
If the kick grazes your horse or hits a fleshy part, you may be able to continue riding.
KEEP IN MIND: Some kicks smart right away and a horse who takes a few bad steps might be sound once the sting of the blow recedes.
IMMEDIATE CARE: As always, if your horse is lame, he’s done for the day. And if you suspect a leg fracture, stabilize the limb before moving
the horse. Says Beeman, “If you can’t get a trailer there, use a few stock ties and two or three whips to make a splint.” All sorts of scratches, swellings, soreness and bruises may surface several hours after work, so give your horse the once-over when you’re
back from the meet and again the following day. Once you’ve confirmed his healthy status, you’ll know he’s ready for the next meet and the challenges to come. Joanne Meszoly hunts with Potomac in Maryland and writes for Covertside.
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FOUR WAYS TO SAVE MONEY ON HUNTING COSTS
16 The Kit
MIDDLEBURG PHOTO
In college, I drove a Dodge Ram Hemi that ate its weight in gas; I couldn’t afford to fill the tank. It had a diamond-plated toolbox in the back and when I popped the lid up, instead of jumper cables and a lug wrench, I kept a velvet lady’s helmet, a dried-out IF YOU CAN ONLY AFFORD tin of Kiwi boot ONE ENSEMBLE, GET A BLACK polish and the long, COAT, DRESS BOOTS AND ONE braided thong of my PAIR OF BROWN GLOVES. mother’s hunting I learned whip. There were a number of valuable in saying that no one also three or four empty lessons while at university knows how to hunt on 7-Eleven coffee cups, a about hunting economithe cheap better than a plastic baggie of spare cally — without sacrificing college student. Meager hairnets and a water botsafety or turnout — that college jobs rarely pay tle of liniment cut with can apply to a foxhunter rubbing alcohol — all the enough to cover the capof any age. I humbly subping fee, horse upkeep, less-sexy trappings of a mit them here. kit and gasoline to drive foxhunter and none of it impractical pick-up worth as much as the gas 1. RENT OR TRADE. trucks into obscure and I put in the truck. If you’re a competent distant counties. I feel pretty confident
Consignment stores like Middleburg Tack Exchange offer a range of items at very good prices.
rider, finding a horse to borrow isn’t difficult. I recommend keeping a little “riding resume” that you can pass along; mine gave my background and provided contact information for a few trainers who could testify to my riding ability. If you are new to a particular club (or hunting in general), this
is an easy way to give people the confidence to loan you a horse. You can also find someone in your hunt that may need help in their barn in exchange for catch rides in the hunt field, says Colleen Roberts, who runs the Deep Run Hunt Club stable along with her husband, Huntsman Richard Roberts. “I find horse people love to trade services,” Roberts says. If you’re not a member, you can sometimes work out an arrangement where a horse’s owner pays your cap in exchange for letting you take a green horse into the field — provided you’re a good rider. Over the years, I have ridden young horses that needed some experience under their belts, and the
owner would cover my capping fee. The same applied to staff horses — I would get the huntsman’s second horse fit and I would get to hunt without writing a check that, at the time, constituted half of my monthly budget. Even if you are paying a capping fee (or membership dues), borrowed horses are a significant financial improvement over owned horses. You don’t have to feed them, you never have to call the vet and if they misbehave, you can shake your head and say, “He’s not mine.” This brings me to the more important point: If you’re going to borrow someone else’s horse, do your homework. A borrowed horse — named “Buckie,” after his most salient characteristic —
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once left me impaled on a jagged stump in Fluvanna, Va., jumping three fences without me before anyone in the field noticed I was missing. I don’t feel bad about telling this story, because the owner of the horse in question was my mother, who, like all good horse parents, apparently has little to no concern for my physical well-being. Bad jumpers, bad actors, bad spookers — none of them are worth it (especially bad jumpers). The take-away: If I’m borrowing a horse from someone I don’t know well, I always try to make a phone call or two beforehand.
2. GET COMFORTABLE WITH HAND-ME-DOWNS. My favorite pair of breeches were my mother’s, circa 40 years ago. They are of indeterminate 18 The Kit
brand and although they were once a gorgeous brick, they’ve faded to a kind of Halloween orange
now — a color not too far off the dusty red clay of South Carolina cotton country. They are also
deeply, deeply unfashionable: They flare out at the hips, button at the calf and have a drop-
MIDDLEBURG PHOTO
front that occasionally comes unbuttoned in the middle of a spirited run and flaps like a flag in
the wind. I love them. First, they were free (thanks, Mom). Secondly, I come from the school of thought that as long as your kit is clean and well-mended, old-school — er, hopelessly outdated — is cool. Friends call me a foxhunting hipster — they are always flawlessly turned out in gorgeous and au courant kit — but I believe if you can pull it off with style and grace, you can save a mint by embracing older clothes and look great in the bargain. If you don’t want to crowdsource your entire kit, there are a lot of great options for used gear. eBay is a terrific resource, although caveat emptor applies strongly here. eBay does provide avenues to dispute your purchase and you can check out seller reviews,
but you do have to wait until the product shows up on your doorstep to see what you’re getting. That said, everyone knows someone who knows someone whose cousin once found a beautiful pair of custom Dehners that fit him like a dream. It’s like the foxhunting unicorn. My personal avenue of choice is the consignment shop. You can try before you buy and, if you go on the right day, you might steal a gorgeous vintage Harry Hall tweed. The Middleburg Tack Exchange in Va. is my favorite — the go-to location for second hand items. Their inventory is extensive, changes frequently, and prices are fair. The Snooty Fox Tack Exchange in Alpharetta, Ga. and the Grey Pony in Highland, Md. also have great selections.
Roberts also points out that there are a couple of key times to shop for kit. “Be prepared to wait for the end of season sales,” Roberts says. “It’s hard to think about buying blankets for your horse in March, but this is when you get the best discounts.” Plus, Roberts mentions, the best time to shop for used hunting equipment is the beginning or end of the season, when people are making decisions about what to replace or discard in their kit. There are a few things, though, that I don’t recommend going the consignment route for. Do not skimp on your helmet — and replace it after every serious fall. I also think if you are going regularly, it’s worth ponying up for custom or semi-custom boots. You’re going to be in
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4. MISCELLANEOUS sammy (especially if me when I ran past in them a lot and there’s you put nuts in them). ADVICE the boots he had just nothing to ruin a good spent almost half an hour You’re burning off all day’s sport like ill-fitting THE BACK OF THE the extra calories in the getting me out of. Moral boots. Once, before a FIELD is the best place saddle, anyway. of the story: Always, day’s visiting with the to catch nips off of other The layers vary from always wear your handGalway Blazers, I pulled people’s flasks. chef to chef, but I start me-downs with your on a pair of hand-medown boots I hadn’t worn coldest day hunting socks with graham cracker IF YOU WANT TO GO crumbs and butter stirred out hacking before you much over several layers visiting, check out the up at the bottom of a attempt to hunt in them. of socks. I realized very silent auction table at your Pyrex casserole dish and quickly that they were so hunt ball for good deals then add choctight across the calf that on guest caps. 3. LEARN TO MAKE olate chips, butthey were cutting off the SEVEN-LAYER COOKIES. terscotch chips, circulation to my feet. It FORMAL IS ALWAYS pecans and shredded Seven-layer cookies, was agony and I didn’t CORRECT, so if you can coconut. From there, just for the uninitiated, have a boot jack. It took only afford one ensemble, pour a can of condensed are exactly what they the poor bartender at get a black coat, dress milk evenly over top and sound like: seven the B&B 20 minutes to boots (not field boots) bake at 350 degrees for 25 and one pair of brown layers of sweet things wrestle me out of those minutes, or until they’ve leather death traps (while all glommed together gloves and forego the all melted together. with condensed milk. I wept on the floor). I brick and tweed. If you’ve noticed that They’re easy to fix, the peeled off three or four I’m not including any ingredients are cheap layers, jammed my feet …and if you can find and they’re a fan favorite measurements, that’s back into the boots, and someone to carpool with because there aren’t any. at tailgates. They also fit went. Even without the who has a gas-efficient Seven-layer cookies are nicely into a sandwich padding, they were still vehicle, there’s nothing pretty hard to mess up, case, and I carry them tight and I worried over more I can teach you. another thing that made for a pick-me-up on every fence that my pinsthem ideal for a college long, cold days. They’re and-needles legs were Katie Bo Williams is a cook. You can make a pure sugar and I think going to give out. Not to freelance journalist, blogger big old platter of them they give you more mention the murderous and ex-pat Southerner who for 10 bucks. energy than a plain-Jane look the bartender gave hunts with Mooreland. 20 The Kit