EUREKA!

Sometimes everything just goes right. So went our annual 3 day meet at
Pete & Cindy Lazetich's ranch in Eureka, Nevada this October. Check it out:
Weather: 2-4" of snow cover on the ground, which conveniently fell the
day before our arrival. For our hunt days, temperature was 45-55 degrees,
with brilliant sunshine and minimal wind. The Diamond mountains literally
shone down upon us as the sun leaped off their snow covered slopes onto our
backs.

Hunting: We tend to rank our hounds relatively high in the area of
sporting enthusiasm. Well, give these dry high desert hounds a light snow
cover to bring scent to life and enthusiasm rapidly metamorphoses into
passion. Hounds came in on Saturday after 2 days of unrelenting work foot
sore and tired. Sunday morning they moved off slowly in front of Lynn, and
it looked like we might have a quiet third day. Fat chance. We were out 45
minutes when First opened. Hounds moved rapidly out of Lynn's sight and away  in front of Bodie and myself, whipping-in to the south. Twenty-one couple in full cry plummeted over a ridge, down the 1200 foot drop on the far side,
across a dirt road, through an old ranch site and ascended into the juniper
trees covering the steep hills to the north before I could open my mouth to
call Tally-Ho. Down the ridge we galloped, thanking the gods for good horses and great living.

Bodie and I followed hounds for over an hour on our own as they  unerringly carried the line to the northeast through steeply undulating  foothills of the Diamond Mtns. Our horses travelled at a hand gallop and  strong trot through the rugged country. The snow was deeper in the woods and  there were frequent ravines and creek beds to negotiate which periodically  left us behind hounds. Emerging from one such crossing, We moved on lead by  hound voices. Looking down, the snow told the story in living color. A mass  of paw prints lead into the trees ahead.

Put yourself there with us: your heart races as an enormous wave of
wonder hits you. Why do horse and hounds push themselves beyond reasonable  physical limits like this? Can you meet their demand? Can you stay the test  and help to bring hounds safely back to the huntsman at the end of the line?

You feel no doubt in your horse, and hear no doubt in the voices of the
hounds, but you sense your own doubts - will we lose the hounds to the
mountain? how far away is Lynn? how long can our horses keep up this pace?
We were out of radio contact with Lynn due to the intervening ridge  lines. The first five miles were sheer euphoria; after ten we began to wonder  if we were still in Nevada; as we passed fifteen we started to think  seriously about stopping the hounds when lo and behold came the faint but so  sweet sound of the horn. Unbeknownst to Bodie and me, Lynn had been  following the hounds by ear above and behind us along the mountain edge,
slowly but surely closing the gap between us. Like the ending to all good
fairytales, just as the horn became audible, the line turned toward the
mountain: the hounds followed to finish their amazing journey at Lynn's feet.
A great symphonic conductor, she had allowed the glorious allegro vivace
movement to carry itself along below her, only to gently restrain the rhythm  as the hounds came to her in a largo dolce finale to a truly fulfilling
weekend of hunting.

Don’t miss the spring hunter pace/poker run at the end of March!

The Company: One would expect that after hunting experiences like this,
it would have been all we could do to drag ourselves back to the hotel, take
a hot shower and go to bed. Not so in Eureka this year. Not so when your
hosts are Pete and Cindy Lazetich and your quests are the likes of Caroline
Doyle of Phoenix and Jill McEwan of Chicago and Eureka's own trick riding
cowgirl Kelly. Not so when the original extroverts and RRH members Pete and
Cindy, Liza Cotter, John Schafer, Mary Reese, and Chrysann are performing.
Marshall Ward hosted a party Saturday night at Ron Carrion's Owl Club.
After an excellent meal served by proprietor personally, the fun began in
earnest. Perhaps the only reasonable explanation for the events of evening
was a state of exhaustion that rendered all present slightly hysterical. How
else does one account for John Schafer dropping his drawers and calling "Moo Moo Buckeroo" to a somewhat bemused Pete Lazetich?

And how do we explain Pete
lifting Chrysann into his arms and draping her around his neck as she sang:  "I want to bite my initials in a sailor's neck." At least no one was
surprised when Liza Cotter told the uproarious story of Leroy and Penelope's  wedding plans that somehow became hung up on the issue of Penelope's  unfortunate personal hygiene habits. And then Cindy and Liza had that "Titt-Off" competition that Cindy won hands down, despite Liza's generous
god-given boomba's. Thank you Marshall, for providing the setting that
lowered us all to a wonderful common denominator.

Friday and Sunday saw us at Pete and Cindy's ranch for hunt breakfasts of
extraordinary proportion. As usual, Pete was at the grill turning out
exquisite cuts of lamb, chicken, pork, and beef will Cindy laid out the
beans, salads, cheeses and sundries. On Sunday, after the aforementioned
hunt, we were so wooped and so far from the original cast that we walked into
Pete and Cindy's on horseback, tied our horses to fence posts with baling
twine and drank ourselves silly until Dean came to our rescue with the
trailer to pick up our trusty steeds.

We could not have asked for more from our hosts. Thank you, Pete and
Cindy, for everything that you are and do for the Red Rock Hounds. And
thanks to all of our members who were part of the party and the hunting. In
addition to those mentioned above, our field was augmented by the presence
of Gayle Horn, Sherri Hill, Terry Kauffman, Paul Griffin, Mary Ann Healy,
and MA and Howard Bensen. And a special mention to Dean Greenhill, who
looked after our horses and kept us all in one piece for three days.
P.S. After hearing of our success at Winnemuca, Pete and Cindy have
invited us and our hounds to join them in the 4th of July parade in Eureka
this summer. If you have other plans, don't worry, I'm sure we won't have
any fun and you won't wish you were there when you hear what a lousy time we  had.

Lynn Lloyd Would Love
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