PrintTalk to any foxhunter, and he’ll have a story for you about the best mount in the field. Time after time, it’s not the boldest staff horse or the most sure-footed guest packer that he’ll describe, but a shorter and scrappier fellow: the ideal hunt pony.
Nearly every hunt has one of those special animals that becomes the envy of everyone in the field: game, athletic, smart, forgiving, with an instinctive understanding of the sport. Those extraordinary individuals become hand-me-downs, reserved and spoken for years ahead of time.
“That pony’s got to be able to get across a groundhog hole or a bridge or whatever else is in the way, on his own,” said Iona Pillion, who has been producing hunt ponies and young riders in Northern Virginia since the 1960s. “If your pony can’t do that brilliantly, you don’t want to put your little darling on it.”
We tracked down a few of the legendary first mounts who have left a legacy of capable, confident foxhunters across the country.
The Most Famous Pony In The Valley
It may have been nearly five decades ago, but Nancy Donnan Coleman still remembers the day that launched her children’s riding career like it was yesterday. She’d been on the lookout for a suitable mount for her children—four under the age of 8—and all she’d found were runaways.
One day she looked out her window and saw aman walking a tiny butterscotch and cream pony around her yard. Coleman marched out and politely informed the pony dealer she wasn’t interested, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. She finally agreed to keep the pony a week, but at the end of the time that barely-broke 4-year-old had found himself a permanent stall in her barn.
“He didn’t know anything, but he was so sweet,” recalled Coleman. “The kids taught him to do everything, and he was fantastic. They joined Genesee Valley Pony Club [N.Y.], and he became the games champion. He showed, raced, jumped cross-country, everything. To this day my four children still have horses.”
Coleman’s children took turns aboard the reliable 12.2-hand fellow with Genessee Valley Hunt (N.Y.), and Freddy earned a reputation for jumping any fence and galloping through any terrain without a second thought.
“I remember there was a well-known man from Buffalo hunting with us on this big, beautiful white horse,” recalled Coleman’s son Greg Donnan. “He said something to me about buying the pony. I told him I’d maybe trade him his big horse for my pony. Everyone got a chuckle out of that.”
After Donnan and his siblings outgrew Freddy, Austin Wadsworth, MFH, and John Chanler, whipper-in, went in together to buy the pony for their children. Martha C. Wadsworth had Freddy first, until 9-year-old Andrew Chanler demanded that his father deliver the pony to him. Freddy took Andrew from barely posting to helping his father whip in.
“There was no coop he wouldn’t jump, no ditch he wouldn’t go through,” said Andrew, Geneseo, N.Y., who passed Freddy to his sister after he outgrew him. “I remember one time we were out when Austin Wadsworth was hunting the hounds, and he was trying to collect hounds. But they were in a covert and they weren’t coming. He said, ‘John, you go get the hounds out. Andrew will stay with me and help keep the hounds here.’ I felt like a big-shot because the master said I could help. I could crack my whip off him and the whole shooting match.”
