Oak Grove Hunter Pace It’s All in the Timing & the Timing is in the Pace Oak Grove Hunt Club members, fox hunters, and friends gathered in perfect sunny weather on Easter weekend at Blackwater Creek Ranch, near Laws Hill, MS, for Oak Grove’s annual Hunter Pace, Saturday, April 3. Many guest riders, both junior and adults, got a chance ride over some of the prettiest country around: rolling pastures interspersed with woods. The horses were quite fit as most riders had just finished a full season of fox hunting. Even an Oak Grove hound, a retiree from the pack named Quartet, got in on the action. Separate courses were flagged for jumpers and non-jumpers. The Hunter Pace is a timed trail ride over a flagged course. The idea is to simulate what may happen on an actual foxhunt, with a little whimsy thrown in. At beginning of the ride, riders get a story line, telling the tale of a hunt: where the hounds, huntsman, whips and field members go and what they see in a day of sport. The story sets the stage for the pace of several miles, which varies from slow walk to brisk trot to a fast hand gallop down the valley known as “Armadillo Alley.” Riders must follow the flagged trail. At places, the trail may double back, just as a fox would do to elude the hounds. Turnout for the Hunter Pace is where the whimsy comes in. Riders form teams of two or three, and each team may have a theme with a corresponding name and costume. The more outlandish costume and the cornier the name, the better. One team was called “The Black Eyed Peas,” with the letter P painted on the rumps of the horses and on the backs of the riders’ shirts, plus black paint under one eye of each horse to simulate a “black eye.” Another team were the “Totem Trotters” wearing stereotypical American Indian attire. The “Desperate Horsewives” found a good pun on the TV show Desperate Housewives. After the pace everyone gathered for dinner on the grounds. Awards were given to the winning teams whose ride times were closest to the ideal, predetermined time on both the jumping and non-jumping courses. Johann Bruhwiler and Sarah Hadskey were winners of the jumping pace. Tom Brannon and Kayla Eick placed second. Brynna Bartlett, Ashley Evans, and Lauren Kloek won the non-jumping Hunter Pace. Other awards were given for best theme, slowest team, and fastest team.