[jen-s]

Picture 205 of the Middleburg photos--HELMET CAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MMacallister]

Awesome pics and Awesome gals! I want to be like them when I grow up!! (please don't ask my age )

[SidesaddleRider]

Am I missing something? H&H identified the rider as Becca Holland and SidesaddleRider calls her Martha.

Did you all see the young girl in the photo links on the paint pony that rode sidesaddle that day also? http://www.middleburgphoto.com/Horse...4231&k=v3SRQZ9

None of the women riding were wimps http://www.middleburgphoto.com/Horse...2462&k=KMTQkN8
hit the next photo button!

LOVELY big boned! hunt horses.

Martha is on the chestnut smoking a cig. Becca is here on the bay: http://www.middleburgphoto.com/Horse...G56s&lb=1&s=XL. The H&H article was done a week PRIOR to the meet (Jan. 12), and did not identify anyone in any of the posted pictures, obviously, as they hadn't been taken yet! They did interview Becca for the article, however.

We had several young girls out with us, the youngest at 9. The girl on the pinto pony is 12, and she has already flown the hedges with the Quorn and done some team chasing. FAB rider! Her mum rides aside too.

[SidesaddleRider]

SSR - I hope that by now you have alerted Martha to her new fan club on COTH!!

Yes, I sent her the link on FB.

[JLD]

I am digging the whole Clockwork Orange thing she's got going on.

[Lady Eboshi]

Whooo--WHOOO!!! Many degrees of awesomeness! On the video I especially love the "no hands" photos, as they're great illustrations of how secure riding aside really is. Betty Skelton used to say, "Anything you can do cross-saddle you can also do aside--and some rather better!" This video proves it!

Also, fun to see that somewhere in the world the Health & Safety Police haven't gotten to yet . . .

[Appsolute]

Hum - I am confused as well! The H&H calls her Becca, and mentions the broken hand, and then photos of my idol show a rider with a broken hand, but she is identified here as Martha.

Maybe the H&H article was wrong?

[ccoronios]

I'm just too flabbergasted to be coherent.

OMG...WOW... I believe I'll have to buy me some Tullamore Dew and have a drink to you ladies tonight! DAMN....

Slainte!
C

[lep]

I saw in the Irish Times that the rider was a "Lady," so I google'd her and found this interesting article. I'd say that the story matches the picture!
http://www.kenyacentral.com/world/49...-families.html

[puddleplasher]

Picture 205 of the Middleburg photos--HELMET CAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now THAT's some footage I'd like to see!!

'plash

[SidesaddleRider]

Hum - I am confused as well! The H&H calls her Becca, and mentions the broken hand, and then photos of my idol show a rider with a broken hand, but she is identified here as Martha.

Maybe the H&H article was wrong?

Sigh. Please see my post #63 above.

[sketcher]

We had several young girls out with us, the youngest at 9. The girl on the pinto pony is 12, and she has already flown the hedges with the Quorn and done some team chasing. FAB rider! Her mum rides aside too.

Kudo's to the mom's who bring the love of the sport to their daughters, despite the danger. They will grow up to be special (and tough! women).

[Appsolute]

Sigh. Please see my post #63 above.

Why the heavy sigh? I see what you posted, and it appears that YOU are correct, that the photo was of Martha. The other article provided confirms that. It appears that MARTHA has a broken hand – she has fingers tapped together (which you confirmed), yet this article states:

Flora Watkins, H&H news editor

12 January, 2013
Up to 60 riders from England, Europe and the USA are due to descend on Co Meath next week to tackle the country’s fearsome drains and ditches riding side saddle.

The Meath Foxhounds side saddle meet (19 January) is being organised by Susan Oakes, who set a British high jump record of 1.80m in July 2012.

“I wasn’t expecting so many to come,” said Susan, who is currently schooling the 60 hunters she has sourced for the meet sideways.

“Last year we did it for the first time and had 12 ladies, so I thought maybe 25 would come. It is great for hunting to have so many people coming from all over the world.”

Interest has been such that riding applications are closed, although there are still tickets available for the hunt ball which takes place that night.

A sizeable contingent are travelling to Ireland from Virginia, USA. A host of gutsy British riders are also expected, including former H&H Thruster of the week Lucy Holland and Becca Holland of the Flying Foxes side saddle display team.

Becca, who attended last year, described it as “the best day’s hunting of my life”.

She added: “It was epic. You have an idea of what hunting in Ireland is like, but then you actually see what you’re about to hurl yourself off!

“We hit a series of banks that were vertical and some of the biggest ditches I’ve ever seen in my life.”

She will also be riding one-handed, as she is due to have surgery on a broken hand a few days before the meet.

“It will be fine,” she told H&H.

“I have solved my main problem — how to do my hip flask. The daughter of a friend of mine is going to ride next to me and do my flask.

“Kick on!” she added.
This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (10 January 2013)

Perhaps BOTH of these women have broken hands?

I am sorry to exacerbate you, but the mention of Becca with a broken hand, and the photo of Martha with a broken hand was the source of my confusion.

I really enjoyed the photos you shared links to. Looks like it was a blast.

[equinekingdom]

Gosh this looks like SO MUCH FUN!!!! I'd love to someday have a good horse to do something like this with! awesome photos!!

I picked up a sidesaddle last year at a tack sale for a great price, and have had a LOT of fun riding in it, including jumping!! unfortunately there was no stirrup or leather with it, and I can't find any thin enough to fit (i think the saddle is sort of an antique), so I took a regular stirrup leather and a western stirrup and draped it over the leg support. Works great, even though I have to work a little harder to keep my leg back in the correct position.

[Pat9]

http://www.horsenation.com/2013/01/3...und-the-world/

This is the link to the incredible adventure and the stories behind all those fabulous pictures we've seen. I now know that there is no blanking way that I can ever do an Irish hunt, but I'd go for the ditch country before I'd take on those monster hedgerows I saw in other pictures.

I especially loved this quote from the article: After about the second ditch, a very kind Irish gentleman handed me his flask and assured me that the more I drank now, the smaller the ditches would get, and the more I drank at the pub later, the bigger they would get.

[pony grandma]

AWESOME! tks for sharing. Look what happened to lady Martha!

[Isabeau Z Solace]

Well that's even better than the few pics. Wonderful story. What a game group!

[cu.at.x]

That's freaking awesome.

[Martha Drum]

We had just finished 2 hours of the craziest hunting any of us had ever experienced, had been snowed on, rained on, were freezing, had been getting whacked in the face over every ditch with branches, had been drinking at every opportunity to try to warm up, plus she had a broken finger which was hurting, and needed to stretch her legs out and damn well have a cigarette.

Can I get an AMEN!!! Hallelujah!

[Eye in the Sky]

This picture makes me want to learn how to ride sidesaddle - and pick up smoking LOL!

I cannot feel but happy when I look at this picture.