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50 SIDELINES MAY 2011 FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE F O X H U N T I N G

By Lauren R. Giannini

Every year a party of fve, complete with horses, tack, hunting kit, tailgate gear, and adventurous spirits, trek from Missouri and Illinois to spend a long weekend at the Kentucky Rolex Three-Day Event. They volunteer as outriders on the cross-country and consider it a huge honor and privilege to spend Saturday morning on horseback on the hallowed grounds of the only four-star event this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Fortunately, Rolex takes place after hunting season ends, because these ladies are genuine enthusiasts of the chase. They are crazy about horses, and several have evented to the preliminary level. Mary Hensel and Jill Wagenknecht have been Masters of Foxhounds (MFH) with Bridlespur Hunt since 2001. Lei Ruckle is Master (MBH) of Three Creek Bassets and foxhunts when she can. Leslie Granger and Geri Washausen are subscribing members of Bridlespur Hunt.

Sidelines: When did you get hooked on hunting?

Leslie: I started riding saddleseat when I was eight or nine. We moved from Missouri to Connecticut, and I had my frst horse in the Philippines. I started hunting in 1981. I married in 1986 and my in-laws were very active members of Bridlespur; in 2003 I started hunting more seriously. I acquired my current hunter as a yearling and trained him myself.

Geri: I took up hunting later in life. My husband Roy had a Quarter Horse and did team penning quite successfully for many years until he had to have back surgery. I had some friends who foxhunted and my horse was too hot, so I threw an English saddle on my husband’s horse and took him out hunting and I liked it. That was back in ’93.

Sidelines: Do you have a favorite foxhunting memory?

Mary: Visiting a hunt in Illinois in mid-January, hounds were doing that little whine and feathering, because they were starting to fnd the line. We went across the feld and watched two coyotes as they trotted off. Then one sat down where everyone could see him, and the other hooked left towards the covert. Hounds were pursuing, we were galloping. All of a sudden the sitting coyote took off in the exact opposite direction. It was neat to see their survival skills, how he sent the female off to the side. They’re not as pressed or scared as most people think they are. They’re cunning. They know the hiding places. They know how to outsmart hounds.

Geri: One year we were at an old fxture, Hill and Hound – it was the most glorious day. We were way far behind the coyote but we could see him. We had a great time.

Leslie: The last time I hunted at the old clubhouse, we got up a coyote and we did a lot of galloping and jumping. By the time we got to the end of the run, there were only three of us.

Sidelines: How did you get involved with Rolex as an outrider?

Mary: Jill and I went to Rolex as spectators. Being masters

and staff of the hunt, we weren’t used to being without a job. We looked around and thought that outriding looked like fun. We got an application and flled it out. We didn’t hear anything. Then I wrote up a little resume about Jill and me and the horses. We didn’t hear anything. So I called Helen Sproat, who wanted to know a lot more about the horses, because they needed to be bombproof and okay about the huge crowds on cross-country day. That’s how we got started, and I’ve been riding the same horse every year, but one, since. Ransom will turn 21 on March 30 – he’s done it all. He’s my frst horse and we learned to do everything together. He’s retired from foxhunting, but we trail ride and we outride at Rolex. We did the WEG too, because that might be a once in a lifetime thing.

Geri: It was Mary’s idea. A friend and I decided to go to Rolex one year, because none of our group had ever been. The next year I took Mary and Jill down and they said ‘this is the most fabulous thing I’ve ever seen.’ Then Mary – she likes to take fun and make it work – said ‘I want to be an outrider’ and the next year, we were all outriders.

Sidelines: Do you ride to hunt or hunt to ride?

Mary: I have to say I’m neither. I ride all the time. When I’m out hunting, I’m enjoying the hounds – so I guess I’m riding to hunt that day, but I ride all the other times.

Jill: I hunt to ride. My horse is the most important thing. I love hunting, but I wouldn’t do it on foot.

Leslie: I love to ride and I love to hunt. I have a pack of beagles at our farm – started by my mother-in-law in 1992, but she passed away. I go out with foot packs, too. I really do enjoy the hunting aspect. I guess I hunt to ride.

Geri: I hunt to ride. It’s a great training tool, a great set of friends, I love our hunt club and I get out when I can. I do eventing also: Darth Vader has come so far and he’s kind of a hot one to hunt so I quit hunting him. We were second at the American Eventing Championships in ’09 [Beginner Novice Amateur Rider] because I was 13 seconds too slow on the cross-country – I pretended I was a hunter. I’m bringing along a young Oldenburg/Percheron mare and I hope she’ll hunt.

Sidelines: What is the most diffcult part of outriding at Rolex?

Mary: I don’t think any of it is diffcult. We enjoy it. We enjoy talking to all sorts of spectators. We are the only horses they get to pet and smell and feel. We’re ambassadors of the horse world.

Four of the fve Bridlespur enthusiasts who outride at Rolex: Geri Washousen, Jill Wagenknecht MFH, Mary Hensel MFH, Leslie Granger Photo by Donald Granger

A Few Questions for Bridlespur Hunt’s Rolex Outriders