Then there
are the well-bred foxhounds who know and care about one
thing - hunting. They are tireless, maybe running a fox
or coyote eight miles in an afternoon. As one hunter
observed, "If mankind would serve the Good Lord as
well as these hounds serve their master, the world would
surely be a better place."
Along with
the sport, fox hunters love to celebrate this season with
parties. Homes and halls of Thomson ring with elaborate
Southern hospitality, from the Opening Meet Hunt
Breakfast to barbecues to February's Hunt Ball.
As horses and
riders thunder over the 40,000 lush green acres of hunt
country, spectators snap pictures and passers-by slow or
stop their cars to see the fabulous scene. Belle Meade
not only draws viewers and visitors from as far away as
Canada, Switzerland, and Australia. It also accounts for
many who arrive for a hunt or a season, then return to
live and retire in Thomson.
One of the
founders of the Belle Meade Hunt wrote, "It is like
nothing else - a world of its own - a group of people
who, twice each week from November to March, leave the
hectic pace (of the modern world) to participate in the
grand tradition of fox hunting, kept alive at Belle
Meade."
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