Jet lagged and operating on extremely minimal sleep, I managed to pop up out bed when my alarm clock went off at its ungodly hour so that I could embark on today’s adventure: foxhunting with the Santa Ynez Valley Hounds as Allyson’s guest. Caffeine was made for just this reason although I was mentally calculating when a nap might be possible!
Allyson, and my longtime USPC acquaintance Katie Graham and her husband Jeff, both Masters of the hunt, had very graciously found me a mount to borrow for the hunt. His name was Billy, and I had gotten a giggle out of the bio of him that Allyson had sent me- that he was “alleged to be a good boy.” It’s always a crapshoot when you’re riding a borrowed horse, heck, it’s always a crapshoot when I’m riding my own horse, so I was a little apprehensive about how the hunt would go- me on a horse I’d never ridden, and hunting over the rugged terrain of the California coast, characterized by chaparral, canyons, and steep mountains and hills. Territory so incredibly foreign to me than what I am accustomed to riding over on the East coast.
It turns out I didn’t need to worry. 6 year old Billy, a flunked out former professional bucking horse, was a perfect gentleman and didn’t put a foot wrong the entire four hour hunt. Foxhunting can be mentally hard for me- as a dressage rider it’s tempting to want to micromanage and be constantly balancing and correcting, so letting go and trusting the horse to sort out his own footwork and balance is challenging. Going through some of the tricky terrain, specifically the thick and forbidding looking chaparral, I finally just told myself that Billy had so far proved himself to be quite self sufficient and that he didn’t want to stumble or fall, so I should trust Billy to safely carry us through. By the end of the hunt I was confident cruising along and going over or through whatever came our way.
The hunting conditions that day weren’t ideal for scenting. It was windy, warm, and quite dry. Despite the hounds not striking on much it was enjoyable to watch them work. Santa Ynez Valley Hounds uses a mix of hounds but the majority are Grand Gascon Saintongeois hounds, much more robust in build than the typical foxhounds (American, English, and Penn-Marydel) I’m accustomed to seeing on the East coast. These Gascon hounds are bred for hunting the rugged Santa Ynez Valley territory. They looked almost like Bloodhounds in their build- thick boned, quite stout and tall, and with fleshier, jowlier faces.
During one of our checks which was on top of a mountain that overlooked vineyards and farmland as far as the eye could see below, I had a moment that caused me to wax reflective. I owed it to United States Pony Club for being able to enjoy the scenery I was currently witnessing through a horse’s ears. I owed it to USPC for bringing so many incredible friends and people into my life. I owed it to USPC for allowing me to travel around the world and experience so many incredible adventures.
After the hunt finished we had a 30 minute hack back in to get back to the barn and trailer parking. The sheer vastness of the property that we had just hunted was mind boggling to me. Kick On Farms, home to the Santa Ynez Valley Hounds, is 12,000 acres and was previously owned by Chevron. It is subdivided into 600 acre parcels with easements that allow the hunt and hounds access to it all. The owner, Steve Lyons, is a huge proponent of land conservation for equestrian use.
Allyson and I enjoyed a hunt breakfast after our horses were tended to. It was fun meeting some of the other members and enjoying the picnic Allyson had brought for us. She said that we could officially change Billy’s bio from “alleged good boy” to “confirmed good boy” and I agreed!
After dropping off the horse that Allyson had hunted (Argentinian Sport Horse and former polo pony Nelson), we headed home to meet up with the boys and see what they’d been up to. Scott and Alex had a chill Saturday morning and then visited a local brewery and beer garden. Allyson had joked that Alex and Scott were the same make and model so she was confident that they’d hit it off and able to entertain themselves for the day despite never having met. (Poor Alex was already asleep when we arrived late Friday night, trying to sleep off a migraine.)
The next phase of the day was wine tasting at Kalyra Winery in Santa Ynez. The winery is owned by a Pony Club family and clients of Allyson’s and looks exactly like what you would envision when you think of a wine country vineyard- fields of grapevines in a bucolic valley with the foothills and mountains in the background. (Fun fact: the winery made an appearance in the 2004 movie Sideways, a rom-com that took place in Santa Barbara wine country.) We each tasted four wines (all were delicious so it’s hard to pick a favorite) while enjoying looking out over the vineyards and fields.
Our next stop was to Dos Carlitos, a tequileria and restaurant, for dinner in the small cowboy town of Santa Ynez. Scott and I both enjoyed the chance to get some authentic Mexican food and the house margaritas that Alex and Allyson recommended were fantastic- fresh squeezed lime juice for the win! At this point I was bleary from jet lag, nearly no sleep the previous night, and the margaritas, so we called it an evening and headed back, but I was satisfied knowing that we had extracted every possible molecule of fun and enjoyment out of the day.
