Anyway, still not being on a horse, I get an e mail from Mason Lampton saying that after the Southern Hound Show, Martin Scott is coming and we are going to have a little hunt in his honor. And we should all come.
Being a bit of a hunting fanatic, Mason knew I couldn’t pass it up. (He calls me the Midland Hunt Ho). The only problem is that I had not been on a horse in a little over five weeks. So, the big question came, ride or don’t ride?
Julie Whitlock McKee: Great Day Hunting!
So, I picked the flatest jumper just in case I had to jump. I chose the smallest so I could get on and off to get gates as I was not planning on jumping anything if I didn’t have to. Called my hunt buddy and she was in.
My good friend Laura Medley had also had a bad fall in February which had put her out for quite some time with a shoulder injury, so we decided to just toodle in the back and save ourselves.
After we got home I wrote Mason a little “Top 10″ why I should never trust myself out hunting!
The Top 10 Reasons you don’t/do hunt with Midland after 5 weeks off
10. Price of gas to high
(Have credit card!)
9. Might fall off again
(Then again, might not!)
8. Horses haven’t been ridden in three weeks
(Horses were hunting 3 days a week when turned out, should be somewhat fit.)
7. Too hot!
(High 40s @ 7:30 am.)
6. Horses might be inclined to buck.
(Did, but we kicked them on through it.)
5. Probably will not see any game.
(Viewed coyote coming out of the woods 15 minutes into the hunt.)
4. You KNOW you will not be able to walk the next few days.
(Heating pad for hours and lots of Ibuprofen.)
3. Back not healed from the triple Salchaw with horse five weeks ago.
(Purchased a back brace.)
2. Hounds will not be able to run anything, to0 hot and dry.
(Hounds ran for three hours and we jumped every coop in our path.)
And the #1 reason . . .
1. You CAN NOT trust yourself to not jump and ride in the back like the cripple you are.
(Just a small coop just off the road to start, hounds hit, adrenalin hit, Mason takes off and you look at your other crippled friend who is going to stay with you in the back and then both say “screw it” and take off, throwing all caution to the wind, and have a blast!!)
