A Clean Sweep: Hounds Win Fox/Hound Riding Competition

In fact, it was a clean sweep with the orange and brown winning not only the Big, Middle, and Little Team titles, but also being named champion of the Lead Line Class! The Lead Line Class is light-hearted and fun, but the significance is not to be under estimated with the winning team getting a one second advantage factored in to a Big Team rider's score before the times were averaged to determine the team’s official time. Considering the fact that Hound Big Team won with an optimum time of 33.86 to 33.31 seconds over the Foxes, that’s a valuable reward. It was earned by Hounds Seabrook B. ’19 and Haley B. ’19, who were awarded first and third places by judge E. Robyn Anderson, of Unison, VA.

In the other classes, Anderson awarded a Style Award — also worth a one-second time advantage — to the rider who best demonstrated a correct position, safe and smart decision-making skills, and proper technique. Hounds Emma D. ’20 and Gigi G. ’22 won the honor in Big and Middle Team competitions, respectively, while Fox, Ella S. ’22 won for the Little Team competition.

The format and course for Fox/Hound Riding is based on the show jumping style of riding. There is a single round over a course consisting of verticals and oxers with areas where riders have inside turn options which can be used to create an efficient line between jumps. The course is timed and scored as would be an optimum time class where the goal is to get as close as possible to the time set by the course designer. This optimum time is determined with the goal of recognizing the ideal ride which carries the proper pace and utilizes the proper track to safely and effectively navigate the course. The rider’s individual times, minus one drop score, are averaged together to figure the team's time. The closest to the optimum time wins. For the Big and Middle Teams, the optimum time was 35 seconds and for the Little Team, the optimum time was 40 seconds.

Complete results follow: