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Kennedy joined the field after hounds moved off. Riding her bay gelding, Bit of Irish, she wore rat catcher: brown boots, riding breeches, tweed jacket and black velvet hunting cap.* There were around 25 riders in the field. A grey fox was "treed," and, according to a member of the hunt, this didn't make Mrs. Kennedy too happy.
Mrs. Kennedy went out with the Orange County Hunt last Saturday, "beautifully turned out," according to a member of the hunt, in formal hunting clothes: canary breeches, dark Melton coat, derby and black hunting boots. This is the approved outfit for fox hunting. She stayed out for an hour or so. Hounds met at Meetze's Scale, near ex-Ambassador George Garrett's Chilly Bleake farm. Again she joined the field after hounds had moved off. Having a fox-hunting First Lady is definitely more stimulating to the housewife than having one who bowls or knits. When and if the President starts hunting, it will be even more provocative. He has ridden at Glen Ora. and a young Secret Service man is being taught to ride and hunt by a local girl.
Steaks at Home. President and Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy's sister and brother-in-law, the Princess and Prince Radziwill. attended 12 o'clock Mass at the Middleburg Community Center on Sunday. The President arrived by helicopter just before Mass. There was at least double the usual congregation, but only about 50 people waited to see them emerge. Most of these were local good Methodists and Baptists who were already out of their own churches. There were no Episcopalians hanging around.
Mrs. Kennedy's companions when she is down here are of the horsy jet set.
After her first Monday's hunt, she was invited to cook steaks over the living-room fire at the home of her neighbor. Paul Fout, who sells hunters and rides amateur races. Other guests included Nelson ("Monk") Noland of Warrenton, who owns the Fauquier Laundry; James (Jim) Wiley of Middleburg, who breeds and raises thoroughbreds at Benton Farm near Middleburg; and Mrs. Magalen Crane of The Plains, who hunts with Orange County.
Monk Noland says that he used to squire Jackie around. Jim Wiley is a drawly Virginian, and sells his yearlings at Saratoga for enormous prices. Eve Fout was skiing in Switzerland at the time of the steak roast, but has since returned. She is, probably, Mrs. Kennedy's closest friend down here. Eve paints and sells traditional horse pictures, shows horses, and is one of the district commissioners of the Orange County-Middleburg U.S. Pony Club, into which Caroline will no doubt be absorbed.