Greenville Business Magazine 2009 November : Page 60
››executive lifestyle recreation outdoor BY KATRINA DANIEL W e live in a high-tech world that’s updating at lightening speed. Technology, in thousands of forms, permeates every aspect from communications and travel to data exchange. But technology is essentially conducted by machinery. There are no animals involved, few people, and Mother Nature plays no role. That’s why foxhunting, a tradition-filled sport with strict rules and requirements for everything from what riders may wear and how horses are groomed and tacked, to the order in which a rider may ride, has attracted many Greenville area business people. Greenville financial advisor, John Hicks, Senior Vice President with Stern Agee, says foxhunting is a specialized skill that he believes translates directly to his business life, “Riding to hounds is a relationship between you and your horse. It takes time and effort to make it work and continued care to keep it. There is an old saying that if you don’t have respect for your horse, they will teach it to you. I think this can be applied to our business life in respecting our clients and employees.” There are two fox hunt clubs in the Greater Greenville area and many Greenville riders hunt with both clubs. Tryon Hounds, nationally recognized in 1920, is the great granddaddy of foxhunt clubs, one of the oldest in the country. Green Creek Hounds, a relative youngster in this old sport,was founded in 1988. continued on page 62 utive lifestyle
recreation
outdoor
BY KATRINA DANIEL
W
e live in a high-tech world that’s updating at lightening speed. Technology, in thousands of forms,
permeates every aspect from communications and travel to data exchange. But technology is essentially
conducted by machinery. There are no animals involved, few people, and Mother Nature plays no role.
That’s why foxhunting, a tradition-filled sport with strict rules and requirements for everything from what riders
may wear and how horses are groomed and tacked, to the order in which a rider may ride, has attracted many Greenville
area business people.
Greenville financial advisor, John Hicks, Senior Vice President with Stern Agee, says foxhunting is a specialized skill
that he believes translates directly to his business life, “Riding to hounds is a relationship between you and your horse. It
takes time and effort to make it work and continued care to keep it. There is an old saying that if you don’t have respect for
your horse, they will teach it to you. I think this can be applied to our business life in respecting our clients and employees.”
There are two fox hunt clubs in the Greater Greenville area and many Greenville riders hunt with both clubs. Tryon
Hounds, nationally recognized in 1920, is the great granddaddy of foxhunt clubs, one of the oldest in the country. Green
Creek Hounds, a relative youngster in this old sport,was founded in 1988.
continued on page 62
Thrill Thrill of the Hunt
>>executive lifestyle - Outdoor Recreation
Katrina Daniel
Thrill of the Hunt
We live in a high-tech world that’s updating at lightening speed. Technology, in thousands of forms, permeates every aspect from communications and travel to data exchange. But technology is essentially conducted by machinery. There are no animals involved, few people, and Mother Nature plays no role.
That’s why foxhunting, a tradition-filled sport with strict rules and requirements for everything from what riders may wear and how horses are groomed and tacked, to the order in which a rider may ride, has attracted many Greenville area business people.
Greenville financial advisor, John Hicks, Senior Vice President with Stern Agee, says foxhunting is a specialized skill that he believes translates directly to his business life, “Riding to hounds is a relationship between you and your horse. It takes time and effort to make it work and continued care to keep it. There is an old saying that if you don’t have respect for your horse, they will teach it to you. I think this can be applied to our business life in respecting our clients and employees.”
There are two fox hunt clubs in the Greater Greenville area and many Greenville riders hunt with both clubs. Tryon Hounds, nationally recognized in 1920, is the great granddaddy of foxhunt clubs, one of the oldest in the country. Green Creek Hounds, a relative youngster in this old sport, was founded in 1988.
Tryon Hounds Hunt Master Bonnie Lingerfelt is a real estate broker. She has been devoted to fox hunting for 40 years,“ A foxhunting club is a business. We have employees, hounds, a kennel building, a clubhouse, and storage building on 24 acres. Members’ dues pay for part of the expenses, and the remaining expenses are covered by fundraising events. My real estate focus is on horse farms, and my in-depth knowledge of horse country, hunt country, and trails is invaluable,” she says.
Foxhunting works roughly like this; the hounds chase a fox, riders follow the hounds. There are at least two groups, or “fields.” The first field is for faster riders who jump their horses over fences, hedges and coops. The second flight, “hill toppers,” follows at a fast pace, but doesn’t jump for various reasons - untrained horses, inexperienced young, or older riders.
A mounted huntsman controls 20 or so couples of hounds, males and females. The hounds answer only to the huntsman. The huntsman “casts” the hounds, which then follow the scent of a fox, although increasingly coyotes are chased because they are becoming more common.
As the hounds come on a scent, they call or “sing out,” and the chase is on. “What really excites me,” says Hicks, “is when the hounds are at full cry running through the valleys, the sound just wraps around you. The sound of hound voices bounces off the hills and trees and you’re riding as fast as you can to keep up with the huntsman. It’s magic to me.”
Greenville realtor and member of Green Creek Hounds, Cathy Griffin, agrees, “It’s hard to imagine anything more thrilling to the senses than galloping cross country on a magnificent horse, behind hounds following their instincts.”
The goal of foxhunting is not to kill the fox, “We have no interest in killing the fox – none,” says Tryon Hounds member Bob Begley, “the goal is a successful chase.”
As far as tradition, few sports have more. The scarlet, (pink) coats are worn only by men unless the woman is a member of hunt staff. Riders have to earn their colors with a hunt club in order to be allowed to wear the pink coats or, for women, colored collars on black hunt coats.
In old English tradition, a rider would smear fox blood on his face to earn colors, but in the U.S. riders have to prove themselves accomplished on horseback, and adhere to the fierce protocol of fo hunting – no perfume, jewelry, makeup, hairnets for women, no talking in the hunt field, specified tack for horses – the list goes on.
Investor Bob Begley stopped riding after he was severely injured (never tell your insurance agent you foxhunt. Never.)
Reluctant to give up the social aspect of the hunt club, Begley holds the Stirrup Cup before Saturday morning hunt meets. He serves sherry or port to riders at the fixture (site of the meet- which varies every week).
Picture an early fall Saturday morning in November, steam rising from the backs of 40 or so horses gathered in a farm field where a gentleman in a Burberry overcoat serves liquid courage to the riders before they begin the chase. Cathy Griffin continues, “It’s such a lovely experience on a chilled winter morn, to hear, ‘Good morning’ as the gentlemen greet the ladies with a tip of their hat, and a nod of their head – all while mounted on a well-turned out horse surrounded by hounds. It just doesn’t get any better.”
You’ve just witnessed the turning back of a clock by a hundred years or so. You can’t get that on your Blackberry.
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