Oh Heavenly Father, you have in your creation knit together all the creatures on earth as a seamless garment:

Grant to us, therefore, on this our nation’s day of Thanksgiving, the wisdom and grace to see all about us the works of your hand; grant that everyone of us who looks into the eyes of horse or hound this day may see the reflection of your face; and grant that the skilled and cunning fox may be our pilot to a deeper understanding and love for your natural world.

Bless our solemn friend, the horse, who bonds himself to us in silence and does our will so freely.

And bless our brothers the hounds who guide us upon the chase and whose voices ring with such triumph and joy as to make an anthem worthy of your hearing.

And finally, Oh Lord, may all who participate today in this sport, ancient from time beyond reckoning, return refreshed and renewed in body and spirit to do you will for us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, world without end. Amen.

Robert L. Ashcom