Roedown

Today my friend Rebecca and I went off to the Marlborough Hunt Races in Davidsonville. It was cold, windy, and raining. The parking lot at the race track was a sea of mud. Many little cars got stuck.

We foresaw this might happen so we took Rebecca's Ford Explorer, which we affectionately refer to as The Global Warmer. The Warmer outdid itself. Got us there, got us back (we lucked out with no trailering duties or horse chores). What more can you ask. We gave the Warmer a pat when we got back.

First -- the bottom line. We won the relay race which means Howard County is ahead of all the other hunt clubs in the relay standings. Hoo ya! Also, our group horse My Boy Kyle came in second in his race which is remarkable because the horse has only galloped twice since his last race, which was the first time he'd galloped in years. Our little horse must be fast if he can do well without being in shape. Heh heh heh.

Despite the actual racing, there was lots of down time to wander around in the mud. Our friend Mary Anne Ridgely was there and she carted us about in a protective manner. I have learned she is 59. She claims there is no hat in the world that fits her peanut head. So I put my waterproof hat with ribbons on her head and it fit and she practically passed out in shock. I too have a peanut head, you see. Also, every time we went from the tailgate to the rail to watch a race, she would make sure we passed by the tent with the lemon bars. "They might be gone next time, ladies! Better get 'em while they're still here!" She introduced us to a famous steeplechase jockey who we probably should have known but didn't. The nice part of that was she said to Mr. Famous Man, "here, these are two of the nicest people -- Rebecca and Kim!" That made me happy because Rebecca is surely the nicest person ever and Mary Anne is pretty up there on the niceness scale. I am not a nice person but no-one seems to have figured that out yet.

Mary Anne is also starting to get excited about next week's hunter paces at our farm. Occasional expostulations of "oh girls, we're going to have so much fun!" followed by a little jumping up and down and hand clapping. Recall that Mary Anne (Scout), Rebecca (Giggles) and I (Burton) are a hunter pace team. We also got a lecture about carpe diem and all that and she being 59 is "riding her heart out" while she can because who knows what will happen next year and how she never had so much foxhunting as she did with us this year etc. etc. She also thrilled us by repeating her mantra that, "Ladies! In foxhunting, it doesn't matter how you look. You're just riding to survive!" Now that I think of it, Mary Anne Ridgely is rather like Maggie Smith in the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. "Come along, girls! Today we are going to have an adventure!"

The other interesting thing about these gloomy races was that our master Roger (who is also our veterinarian) was the announcer. So everywhere we went we heard the voice of our Master booming over everything, calling races. It was like the voice of God. He sounded slightly like a tobacco auctioneer. He was a very happy man. Especially when he was calling our relay victory and Kyle's race. "And it's Howard County in the lead....!"